The Jackson Symphony taps Lynne Barker as Development VP

Staff reports

The Jackson Symphony has announced that Lynne W. Barker has joined the team as Vice President for Development. 

Barker will cultivate new sources of support, strengthen current donor and sponsor relationships, spur endowment growth, and serve as a liaison and touch point for individual, business and industry supporters. 

Barker brings expertise in revenue growth, thought leadership, and product and service positioning with her more than 30 years of sales and management experience, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry including Gilead Sciences, Inc., Abbott, and Pfizer. 

She has received numerous sales awards including multiple “President’s Club Awards” for top 10% in sales production. 

With past territory focused exclusively in Jackson and West Tennessee, she is deeply familiar with the region’s communities and is excited to tell The Jackson Symphony’s story to a broader audience. 

“There is a lot of opportunity for the Symphony to grow into new areas of West Tennessee,” Barker said. “And with the launch of The Jackson Symphony Music Academy and our annual Symphony on the Move tour, we have unlimited potential to expand our reach to audiences from river to river.” 

A resident of Jackson for 22 years, Barker looks forward to joining the Symphony team as she and her husband, Jim, and the extended Barker family have been season ticket holders for more than two decades. 

Her son, Harris, also volunteered as a Symphony ambassador while in high school. 

“We have been proud supporters of The Jackson Symphony since we moved to the community,” Barker said. “And I am thrilled to give long time and new Symphony patrons that extra pat on the back for ensuring that live orchestral music is thriving throughout West Tennessee.” 

Barker received her Bachelor of Science degree in journalism at Texas Christian University, studied abroad at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna, Austria, and has completed various training specific to the pharmaceutical and therapy industry.