Ambassador Milton Nathaniel Barnes was raised in Harper, Maryland County and Monrovia,  Liberia. He graduated from the College of West Africa High School in 1972.  He studied at the University of Liberia and worked as an intern in Liberia's banking system, Barnes entered Rider University (then Rider College) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, in 1975 and majored in Finance. Upon acquiring a B.Sc. degree from Rider in 1978, he matriculated to Pace University in New York City where he obtained an MBA with concentration in Finance and Banking in 1979.

 

Barnes began his professional career with The Insurance Company of Africa of Monrovia, after extensive training in management and insurance operations at affiliate company offices in Des Moines, Iowa, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He returned to Liberia in December 1979.

 

Barnes and his family left Liberia in July 1980, because of the violent coup in April 1980. Eventually they lived in Nashville, Tennessee, where Barnes worked for Northern Telecom as a treasury analyst. Barnes worked for the company for fourteen years before leaving in 1996 to run a successful telecommunications consulting firm.

 

He returned to Liberia in April 1998 and worked as an analyst at the Ministry of Finance.

 

In March 1999 he was appointed to the National Social Security and Welfare Corporation (NASSCORP) as Director General.  

 

In September of 1999, Barnes was appointed  Minister of Finance for Liberia, and held that position until July 2002.

 

Barnes’ differences with then president, Charles Taylor, led him to leave his post in 2002. Barnes eventually ran for presidency in October 2005, although he ultimately lost to and eventually supported current President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

 

In May 2006, Barnes was appointed Liberia’s Ambassador & Permanent Representative to the United Nations.  

 

Official Biography 

Curry College Biography