Gene Barr

Gene Barr is the president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the commonwealth's largest broad based business advocacy group. Prior to his work at the Chamber, he spent almost twenty years in the energy field including more than twelve years with BP America, the U.S. subsidiary of British Petroleum, and seven years at the Pennsylvania office of the American Petroleum Institute including three years as executive director of that operation. He also served for ten years as a local elected official in the Philadelphia area.

Barr is a board member and past chair of the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg, PA, among numerous other community and professional activities.

A native of the Philadelphia area, Barr has had a longstanding interest in American history, particularly the Civil War period, sparked by his first visit to Gettysburg as a youth. He enhanced his knowledge while residing in Atlanta where he became familiar with the western theater of the conflict. He was active in living history for more than a quarter century and participated as an 'extra' in four films depicting the Civil War period, including "Glory" and "Gettysburg."

He has a bachelor's degree in political science from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. This is his first book.