A native of Mississippi, Barrett grew up in the Memphis, Tennessee area. He graduated from Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas, and the Kellogg School of Media Management at Northwestern University.

Barrett began his publishing career in Dallas, Texas, in 1981 with Royal Publishing, a regional magazine publishing house. He has published newspapers for Thomson Newspapers, American Publishing Company, Community Newspaper Holdings and Community Media Group.

Barrett has been an active advocate for economic and community development and has served two  terms as Chairman of the Board of the East Mississippi Business Development Corporation. Following on the heels of the Nissan Motors move to Mississippi, Barrett served on the Kia Motor Company Development Task Force for Governor Haley Barbour as well as serving on the Governor’s Katrina Advisory Committee after the devastating storm rocked the state. He also served on the Board of the Mississippi Economic Council, under Governors Barbour and Fordyce.

After 10 years as Publisher of the Finger Lakes Times Barrett is retiring at the end of the year. He will continue to serve as President of Finger Lakes Publishing and as Vice President on the Board of Directors of the parent company Community Media.  Among other plans, he will look for redevelopment opportunities in the Finger Lakes on behalf of CMG.