About Barry J. Beck
Based in Washington, D.C., Barry Beck is an industry disrupting serial entrepreneur, visionary brand builder and seasoned Chief Executive Officer who has won multiple awards, including Retail Innovator of the Year in 2016 and Retailer of the Year in 2017 for his transformative business contributions. Beck has created multiple successful companies, including Tower Systems, now US Maintenance [NYSE:EME], Bluemercury [NYSE:M] and currently serves as the Founder and CEO of Evenly Technologies, a high-growth AI enabled telemedicine platform. Mr. Beck’s innovative companies are broadly respected for generating a long-run lift to dynamism in each of the industries in which he has operated.
Revolutionizing Industries with Vision and Innovation
Barry Beck created Bluemercury in 1999, a national omni-channel beauty retailer, after noticing customers were not satisfied with their beauty buying journey at department stores. Several product categories had already been pulled out of the department stores – furniture by Pottery Barn and electronics by Best Buy. Beck had a hypothesis, and bet correctly, that there was an opportunity to pioneer a national luxury beauty retail chain with a unique neighborhood siting strategy.
While living in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Mr. Beck purchased an independent beauty boutique, renamed it Bluemercury and, over the course of more than 15 years, grew it into the largest luxury beauty retail brand in the United States. With a reputation for being a meticulous, detail-oriented entrepreneur, he served as COO for Bluemercury as a private and, later, part of a public company [NYSE:M]. Mr. Beck managed all aspects of the company’s operations from finance, human resources, merchandising and real estate development, but also had his hand in product development and other functions. In 2015, Bluemercury was acquired by Macy’s, this Fortune 100 Company’s first acquisition in more than a decade.
Founder of Industry-Leading Companies
Mr. Beck also founded M-61 Laboratories, known for creating M-61 Skincare and Lune+Aster Cosmetics, the first clinical, vegan, and sustainable cosmetic brands. In addition, he co-founded Tower Systems, a contract services company working with national retail chains, which was acquired by The Emcor Group [NYSE:EME], a Fortune 500 Company. In 2020, Beck also founded Evenly Technologies, a high growth artificial intelligence enabled telemedicine platform, and serves as its CEO.
Board Member
Mr. Beck served as a member of the Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and the Board of Advisors of The Fashion Institute of Technology. He serves on the Advisory Council for the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University, his alma mater, and is also a member of the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors. He also created The Beck Entrepreneurship Fellows Program at Cornell University to inspire and support the next generation of business leaders and The Beck Visiting Social Innovator Program at Harvard University to advance positive social impact around the world.