Barry Wolpa
Vice president, meetings and incentive trips
Genworth Financial Inc.
San Francisco

PAST His wide-ranging career has included practicing law for four years; being a Club Med G.O. (director of entertainment) and salesman; and several positions as a marketing director.

CRED While working as marketing director for AMEX Life Insurance Co., he realized that he wanted to work on incentive programs. “I spoke to the president and was able to take on the responsibility for meetings and trips in addition to my position as marketing director.” Even after the company was acquired by General Electric, he continued both until the late 1990s, when he realized “I wanted to be more strategic when it came to meetings and incentives, and it made sense to give away the marketing end to focus on that.”

SUCCESS STORY While Wolpa loves the strategy and planning and relationships that go into meetings, his true love is incentive planning. “Creativity really comes into play with incentives,” he says. “And I can really make a difference in the lives of the salespeople.”

FORWARD-THINKING At press time, he was looking forward to his retirement, which coincided with an incentive trip planned for Beijing in May. “I'm ending my career with a dinner on the Great Wall of China on a night with a full moon,” he says. “I expect it to be an emotional moment when the fireworks go off.”
After that? “Nothing is off the table, and nothing is on the table,” he says. “Somewhere out there lies my future.”

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