Corie Barry

If you’ve ever been told to “stay in your lane”, read this.

Corie Barry started at Best Buy as a 24-year-old financial analyst.

With a CPA license, a double major in accounting and management, and zero experience in retail.

She was supposed to stay in finance.

Instead, she said yes to the roles no one wanted and the ones she didn’t feel ready for.

She ran Domestic Finance, then took over the struggling Geek Squad.

She launched Best Buy’s first-ever Strategic Growth Office.

She helped lead the “Building the New Blue” strategy.

Cutting costs, fixing vendor relationships, and bringing stores and eComm into the same conversation.

Every pivot made her more valuable.

Every lateral move gave her leverage.

By 2016, she became CFO.

By 2019, CEO. One of only women leading a Fortune 500 company at the time.

Then came COVID.

Within days, Corie:
– Converted stores to curbside pickup
– Protected jobs across 1,000+ locations
– Accelerated the shift to digital retail

Result? 16% profit growth in 2020.

But Corie didn’t stop at survival. She also pushed for reinvention.

In 2024, she unveiled “Imagine That”.

A full Best Buy brand refresh built around experience, personalization, and purpose.

New in-store tech zones.

AI-powered recommendations.

And a mission: enrich lives through technology.

“If you’re curious, self-motivated, and you act with integrity, you will stand out"