Award Winners’ Spotlight: Brent Barkin
UWSWA would like to congratulate Brent Barkin for his 2020 award of Philanthropist of the Year. Brent graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University and the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He is now the President of Shoe Station and oversees and ensures the company’s success and future. His father Terry S. Barkin founded the company and Brent continues to honor his legacy at Shoe Station today.
Brent enjoys spending as much time with his family as possible and in his free time he is an avid polo player. The family enjoys time with one another and celebrating their family tradition of playing games together, including Rummy Cube, which Brent says the children win without him letting them! When asked what leadership means to him, Brent responded, “You must lead by example. Don’t ask anything of anyone you wouldn’t do yourself. Recognize that the greatest asset of any organization is its people and recognize their value.”
What do you want Southwest Alabama to look like?
“I want people to recognize that we have an obligation to try every day to make the lives of those around us better. I firmly believe in personal responsibility, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has had the same access to education, family, health and the essentials that many others have been lucky enough to have. Becoming involved is bettering the lives of others is not just something we SHOULD do, but something each and every one of us MUST do. I want Southwest Alabama to improve every day. This should not be measured by how the luckiest of us do, but how the least fortunate of us do. I want us all to look at our community ten years from now and be PROUD of how far ALL of us have come in a decade.”
What your favorite quote?
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
By: Robert Frost