2017 Men of the Year: Jackie Barger

Motivating Factors

Family: Two adult children living in Oklahoma City: Jared, 28, and Abbey, 26.
Childhood dream: I wanted to be a preacher or a musician; both wishes came true on a part-time basis.
Advice for other men: True success can be found in what you do for others and for your community; find ways to give back. You can always give more than you think you can.

Jackie Barger doesn’t shy away from a challenge. During his 32-year career in the nonprofit world, Barger has tasked himself with recruiting members, collecting donations, doubling budgets and expanding service areas – and that’s just his day job. Outside the office, he’s taken on challenges such as writing partnership agreements, crafting bylaws and creating a women’s philanthropy initiative.

The Children’s Smile Center executive director is the man with a plan for many in the Christian County community.

“Jackie was my go-to person for advice on navigating strong personalities and tense situations,” says Dori Grinder, current membership manager for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and former executive director of the Ozark Chamber of Commerce. “He can see the invisible undercurrents, has the ability to understand the perspective of others and helped me successfully navigate community politics.”

When Barger joined the Children’s Smile Center in 2010, the nonprofit that provides dental services for low-income children in southwest Missouri served roughly 3,000 children in two counties from one location with six employees and an $800,000 budget. Barger has more than doubled all those stats. Today, the center serves more than 6,200 children in six counties from three locations with 25 employees on a budget of $1.6 million.  How did he do it?

“By recognizing the ability of capacity to expand services to a larger population and working with staff to provide more production volume in the original dental clinic,” he says.

Originally based in Ozark, the center now has a clinic in Aurora and satellite dental services in remote locations of Stone County. Barger attributes the budget increase to grant writing and new special events, such as the Hot Air Balloon Glow.

Originally conceived as a tie-in to the Ozark Christmas parade, bad weather often hampered festivities. Barger moved it to the summer and more than 55,000 people attended.

In addition to grants, Barger also uses his writing talents to help the community at large.

“He volunteered for the monumental task of organizing and writing a new partnership agreement between the chamber and city of Ozark,” Grinder says, noting the document was created from scratch. “This required focus over a nearly nine-month period.”

Barger also helped found, organize and write bylaws for a women’s philanthropy initiative in Ozark,  dubbed Impact 100, resulting in 94 inaugural members and $48,000 in three large grants for the community.

“I have been able to improve the quality of communication in the nonprofit agencies I have worked with,” he says.

Before leading the Smile Center, Barger worked three years as regional director of Make-A-Wish Foundation of Missouri, for the Springfield Symphony Association and Fair Haven Children’s Home, among others. The work has led Barger to participate in five different area chambers of commerce, but the longtime leader also serves outside organizations. He is current president of the Finley River Community Foundation and volunteers at the St. Joseph Food Pantry in Billings, for Care to Learn, Ozark Rotary and the First Christian Church of Republic.