In 1983, having received a BA in Mathematics from The Johns Hopkins University (1979) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1983), Barclay co-founded Cellular Communications, Inc. (CCI), serving first as CFO and later as President and COO. CCI became one of the largest independent cellular system operators in the US, growing from start-up to over 1.25 million customers by the time of its sale to Airtouch in 1996 for $2.5 billion. The company also gained widespread recognition as an award-winning industry leader in marketing and customer service, with industry leading penetration, market share, and churn rates.

In the late 1980's Barclay and his cofounders began extending their cellular expertise to off-shore markets, starting up first Cellular Communications of Puerto Rico (CCPR), Inc. and then later Cellular Communications International, (CCIL), Inc. CCPR quickly became the largest cellular operator in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and CCIL was an operating partner with Olivetti in the highly successful Omnitel cellular company in Italy. CCPR and CCIL were sold in the late 1990's at valuations totaling approximately $2 billion to SBC and Mannesman, respectively.

In the early 1990's, keen to spread the skills he had gained in the cellular mobile industry, Barclay began investigating opportunities in other telecommunications markets and was soon following developments in the UK cable industry. In 1992, when the British Government gave UK cable TV companies permission to offer telephony over their own networks in competition with British Telecom, Barclay and his CCI co-founder, George Blumenthal, seized the opportunity by acquiring cable franchises in Scotland, Wales, and suburban London. NTL's precursor, CableTel, was founded in 1993.

Using experience gained at CCI, Barclay and his management team set about revolutionising the marketing of bundled cable TV and telephone services in the UK. CableTel was quickly outperforming its peers - achieving record penetration rates, all-time lowest churn figures and the highest ever percentage of dual TV and telephone customers. By 1998, CableTel, re-named NTL, was far and away the industry leader, winning 1998's JD Power Service awards for best multi-channel TV operator and best telephone service operator, over both Sky and BT.

From 1998 to 2000 NTL became a prime consolidator of the fragmented UK cable industry and the UK's biggest inward investor, committing £8 billion to its future-proof, fibre-optic network passing 8.8 million homes and 600,000 business premises, and leading ultimately to the company's present position as the UK's largest cable operator.

By acquiring the former engineering arm of the IBA, NTL also became the number one broadcast transmission provider in the UK, and a top-five business telecommunications company in the UK. And in early 2000, NTL began extending its experience outside the UK, directly or indirectly owning the largest cable operators in Ireland, France, and Switzerland, and one of the largest in Germany.

Towards the end of 2001 it became clear that the turbulence in the telecommunications market would not be short-lived and by early 2002 Barclay had confirmed NTL's intention to re-finance its balance sheet. By May 2002 NTL had reached an agreement with its creditors on its recapitalisation plan, whereby approximately £7.5bn billion in debt would be converted into equity of two newly formed companies – NTL UK and Ireland and NTL Europe – through a US Chapter 11 Bankruptcy process.

In June 2002, Barclay was confirmed as President and CEO to lead the newly formed NTL Inc after the successful completion of its financial restructuring in January 2003, with a mission to restore the company to operational and financial health.

From June 2002 to August 2003 Barclay and his team restored NTL to customer and revenue growth, cut churn to its lowest level ever, and recorded four straight quarters of EBITDA and cash flow growth - culminating in the company going free cash flow positive in the second quarter of 2003. From its emergence from Chapter 11 in January 2003, NTL's stock rose from a low of $8 per share to a high of $73 – and was 2003's best-performing US stock. Barclay resigned from NTL on August 12, 2003, having completed the mission set out by the new board of NTL a year earlier than expected.

Barclay is now a Senior Fellow in the Center for Financial Economics at The Johns Hopkins University, and has formed a new firm, Charles Street Partners, to pursue financing and management opportunities in the telecommunications industry.

Prior and current Telecommunications business experiences include the following:

• Co-founder and Chairman of Dispatch & Data of Ohio, Inc., a current provider of dispatch (2 way) radio services to businesses in Northern Ohio and South Eastern Michigan.
• Directed Strategic Planning and Acquisition services for a major Midwestern CLEC and Internet Service Provider, CoreComm, Ltd. from 1996 to 2001.

• Mr. Schneider provided Strategic Planning and Acquisition services to Cellular Communications of Puerto Rico. (CCPR) where he assembled 100% of the independently owned and operated non-wireline cellular licensees in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands under a single operating company which was sold to SBC/Ameritech in 1998 for $800 million dollars.
• Mr. Schneider provided Strategic Planning and Acquisition services to Cellular Communications Inc., which was the dominant a Cellular One operator in Ohio and Michigan from 1986 to 1996. Mr. Schneider strategically assembled all of the significant independently owned cellular licensees in the states of Ohio. In 1990, Mr. Schneider was instrumental in originating the formation of a joint venture with Pactel Cellular, which combined CCI’s Ohio operations with Pactel’s Michigan operations. The transaction value in 1990 was in excess of 3 billion dollars and CCI sold its interest in the joint venture, which then had over 1.3 million customers in 1996 for $2.6 billion.