Age: 38

Title: Director, Des Moines Civil and Human Rights Commission

Family: Wife Lorena Alomia

A reason why he is a Forty: Community engagement has improved during his time as director at the Civil Rights Commission, leading to a 170 percent increase in the number of civil rights complaints. 

What drives him: After returning to South Carolina and his grandparents’ community to practice law, a man told him during an interview, “There has to be someone getting rich off all this poverty.” 

“Those words have stuck with me and I work hard every day to do what I can to improve life opportunities for impoverished persons because the world treats poor people horribly,”
Barr said.

An interesting fact about Barr: He spent two years in Cali, Colombia, which he said changed his life.