Meet a Staffer: Michael Barratt

Title: Senior Vice President, Meetings and Events
Department: Meetings and Events
Years at the Association: 22
Phone number: 240-333-1034
Email address: michael.barratt@autocare.org
Words to live by/motto: “If you think you are too small to make a difference…try sleeping with a mosquito in the room.” – Dalai Lama

Michael Barratt went from growing up in Massachusetts on a small, self-sufficient farm in the Berkshires to living in the nation’s capital and overseeing one of the largest annual conferences in Las Vegas as the Auto Care Association’s senior vice president of the Meetings and Events department.

Since joining the association 22 years ago, Barratt has grown the once one-man-show meetings department into a now eight-member team that is dedicated to the development and planning of more than a dozen events each year, including AAPEX, community conferences, association meetings, education initiatives and international trade promotion activities.

What is your favorite part about working at the association?

Working closely with our volunteer leadership.

What are the biggest rewards of working for the association?

Seeing an idea take shape and result in an Auto Care event or new a business opportunity for our members both domestically and internationally.

What is your proudest professional accomplishment at the Auto Care Association so far?

I am extremely proud of Auto Care’s Latin American trade missions which we organize in conjunction with the U.S Department of Commerce to support export promotion opportunities throughout the region.

Tell us a few fun facts about you that would surprise people.

While at Boston University I took French cooking classes with both Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. I love tennis and hope one day to attend all four Grand Slam tournaments. I once worked as chief steward on a charter yacht in the British Virgin Islands.

Favorite apps:

AAPEX, Auto Care Events and Weather Underground