Randy Barth

Life and career

Barth was born in the Los Angeles, CA suburb of Lynwood, CA, and grew up in Downey, CA the middle of three boys in a two-bedroom house. He attended UCLA. After graduating in 1981 with a degree in economics, Randy launched his professional career as a stockbroker with EF Hutton in Whittier, CA, a suburb not far from Downey. He also worked at Drexel Burnham and Smith Barney.

He attended the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.

In 1994, Barth became an elder at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, where he was head of the church’s Mission Committee, focused on helping the area's homeless population. He read about gang problems in the Shalimar area of Costa Mesa, an area a few miles away, and how a group of local mothers were trying to take their neighborhood back from the gangs. He met with parents, youth, the police, city officials, and church leaders to put together a plan to set up a location where local students could go after school without being threatened by gangs. Local groups, including St. Joachim's Catholic Church and Women of Vision, offered support, and St. Andrew’s provided funding to establish the Shalimar Learning Center in February 1995. Randy's wife Mary was the center's first director.

Momentum grew to expand the program, and THINK Together was founded, to build on the success of the Shalimar model. The name THINK came from the first letters of Teaching, Helping, Inspiring and Nurturing Kids. Barth served as the organization’s volunteer Board Chair, while also holding the role of CEO for five years at National Management, a $40 million privately held regional transportation company he joined after a client's spouse, the CEO, unexpectedly died. In 2003, National Management was sold and Barth joined THINK Together as the CEO.

Further expansion took place after the passage of California Proposition 49, the After School Education & Safety Program Act (ASES), which provided dedicated state revenues to after school programming. A large expansion of state funding occurred in the 2006-2007 school year with California’s implementation of ASES.

By Winter 2006, THINK Together was a three million dollar organization with one hundred employees, serving four thousand students at twenty-five locations around Orange County. Due to the 2006 increase in state funding, THINK Together scaled up to 180 sites in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

In 2008, Barth secured an $8.5M donation from billionaire Donald Bren, which at the time was the largest donation made by Bren outside of his Orange County base.

In 2015, Barth published his first book, THINK Together: How YOU can play a role in improving education in America, co-written with former LA Times reporter, Jennifer Delson.

When interviewed by the Huffington Post, Barth stated that "Part of the reason for the book is: Hey, we're seeing some good things happening, and nobody's talking about them! We're trying to shine a light onto that and kind of change the conversation so the conversation becomes more solution-oriented, and say, 'Hey, where are the things that are working?' Because the conversation is so dominated by the major media markets -- what happens in L.A., New York, Chicago, and D.C. -- and actually, we see innovation happening in places outside of that, and it doesn't get the visibility. I think that's the hopefulness, as we have this spread of suburban poverty, and even the inner-city stuff. I do think there are promising solutions, and we have to get the conversation to be more solution-oriented."

In addition to his work with THINK Together, Barth served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and serves on the leadership team of the California Afterschool Network. Barth is also on UC Irvine's Department of Education Leadership Council.

Awards and recognition

In 2004, the City of Santa Ana, CA awarded Barth their Community Building Award, for contributions to making the community a better place.

In 2009, Barth was honored for his support of afterschool programs by The Afterschool Alliance and the California Afterschool Network at their “Breakfast of Champions” gala in Washington DC.

In 2011, Concordia University awarded Barth their Servant Leadership Award, for his work and contributions to the Orange County community. Barth was also named as one of the top 10 CEOs in Orange County by OC Metro Magazine.

Personal life

Barth and his wife, Mary, live in Santa Ana, California with their daughters, Emily and Katie.