Employee Spotlight – Meet Julie Barth

August 9, 2021

What does a typical day in the life of a Business Development Director look like?

During my typical workday, I am responsible for ensuring the WBD business development engine continues to run. So, I may be meeting or communicating about 5-10 pursuits throughout the day. My activities include mentoring and encouraging our BD team, meeting with potential teaming partners, reviewing new pipeline pursuits, and constantly strategizing on how to position WBD within our target customer spaces. My day is a constant flow of communication, with the goal of always advancing the firm to a favorable and winning position.

What three skills do you think are essential to fulfil your role?

1) Interpersonal skills
2) A strategic, yet agile mindset
3) Fearlessness

What do you like best about working at WBD?

The accessibility and agility of working with our teams. There are no bureaucratic hurdles to forming a tiger team for solutioning, which allows us to leverage the best of what WBD has to offer.

How do you think current teleworking will impact the future of work?

I think everyone has learned so much from the past year and half, especially in the workplace. It has affected our interpersonal needs and relationships, our work habits, the tools we use, our abilities to self-motivate, and our accessibility to resources. It has also tested our emotional toughness. Being solely virtual has caused everyone to rethink the importance of connecting. Undeniably, our future workplaces have changed forever, and many will remain virtual businesses forever. I believe we have filtered through what functions can be performed at home and what needs must be met face to face. I think the ultimate positive impacts will be 1) our environment will benefit from less commuting, 2) our supply chains will become more efficient, 3) our world will make leaps in digitization of operations, and 4) hopefully our people will become more patient and compassionate.

Describe WBD in three words.

Small, Mighty, Smart

What’s been your most memorable moment at WBD so far?

My most memorable moments are every time I meet a new WBDer for the first time … in person! The TEAMS ‘Flat-Stanley’ versions of ourselves just aren’t the same!

What motivates you?

I believe as human-beings we are in constant search for our ultimate purpose. With time and experience, I feel more settled in my ‘Why’ than ever. I knew at a young age I wanted to be a ‘businesswoman’. Little did my 12-year-old-self know the fortitude it would take to succeed.

My 25-year academic/professional journey, combined with motherhood, has left me with a professional contentment I’ve never experienced before. My professional goals are to be useful, purposeful, compassionate, and courageous. And doing so with a steady stream of goal-crushing grit! Living life this way is my ‘Why’.

What advice do you have for new WBD employees?

Embrace your customer’s mission immediately, always assume good intent, and sell your best ideas. This is the place to be an entrepreneur!