Barney worked to grow the company from a small pack manufacturer to a large brand, expanding to 65 countries around the world, he said. He helped to bring Osprey Packs to big-name retailers such as REI and Amazon and brought lots of great people on board, he said Wednesday at a retirement party at Stonefish Sushi restaurant in Cortez.
In the early days of Osprey, Barney and his business partner, Osprey founder Mike Pfotenhauer, didn’t expect the company to become what it is today, Barney said.
“We didn’t really know where the business could grow,” he said.
A running joke among colleagues was that Barney could always sell packs faster than Pfotenhauer could design them, Barney said.
Barney also is proud of keeping the company’s headquarters in Cortez. Osprey has a development facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Although Barney will leave Osprey, he won’t be fully retired, he said. In the next few months, he will be traveling to Israel with his mother.
After taking some time off, Barney will start an unconventional project, working the sales floor at Backcountry Experience in Durango, he said. Outdoor industry news website SNEWS will track his experience, and he will be writing about the project for the website, Barney said.
It will be interesting to go from being the head of a company to working an entry-level sales job, Barney said.
“I’ll be seeing what it’s really like to sell,” he said.
Barney said credit is due to Pfotenhauer and his wife, Diane Wren, for bringing him in to the company.
“It’s been a pleasure and an honor,” Barney said. “Cortez has been a great community.”