About Barberry
Barberry’s Founder has spent over a decade as a finance and operations executive for an innovative food manufacturing company in central Illinois. In addition to his expertise in financial analysis, reporting and complex tax matters, he’s engaged with a wide range of customers from small start-ups to large national retailers and global consumer packaged goods (CPG) conglomerates. A majority of his time was spent leading the accounting/finance team and supply chain team. He spent a significant time collaborating with the President, Board of Directors and Ownership and engaging with customers and key suppliers, both from a project leadership role and in negotiating supply agreements.
Prior to Derek’s time in manufacturing, he spent several years with the global public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) initially in Silicon Valley auditing start-ups, Venture Capital funds and medical device manufacturers and later in central Illinois auditing a Fortune 100 heavy equipment manufacturer and related support businesses. He also engaged in tax work both on large company provisions and returns in addition to high net worth individual returns.
Derek attended Illinois State University in the Honors Program and received a Master’s in Professional Accountancy and Bachelor of Science in Accounting, graduating summa cum laude.
Meet Derek
Derek is the Founder and President of Barberry Consulting. He grew up as the fourth generation on Meiss Family Farms, a corn, soybean and swine operation in central Illinois. Prior to graduating high school, Derek spent a lot of time working alongside his father and grandfather. While his professional pursuits took him off the family farm, Derek took with him many key principles learned from the family farm. While not often, Derek occasionally sneaks some tractor cab time in.
Derek married his high school sweetheart and lives in their hometown with their four children. Derek and his family are active in their church, community and local school district. When Derek isn’t diving deep into a spreadsheet or researching a topic, he enjoys spending the early morning hours swimming, biking and running (usually just one per morning but every now and then all three) and the evening hours supporting his children in their extracurricular activities covering various sports, musical performances and theater.