Robert Barnard grew up in a family shaped by both science and curiosity about people. His father was a marine biologist and his mother studied psychology, and together they raised Robert in a life that involved constant travel and exploration. His childhood was spent living along some of the world's most beautiful coastlines, including California, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia, while also visiting South Africa, the Canary Islands, Portugal, and England. The experience gave him an unusual global perspective early in life--though it also meant attending four different high schools in four years.

 

Over the course of twenty-four years, Robert founded and later sold three businesses before building a long career in the insurance and financial services industry. With more than two decades of experience in the field, he now focuses primarily on retirement and estate planning, helping individuals and families prepare for the future with clarity and confidence. Robert is also currently helping organize a nonprofit initiative in Otero County designed to provide equine empowerment programs for children.

 

Family remains central to Robert's life. He has three children and several grandchildren living in Las Cruces, North Carolina, and Virginia. At home, his immediate household includes one dog, two horses, four Longhorn cattle, and two ravens that seem particularly fond of playing aerial games and hide-and-seek with "A," his blue heeler.

 

Outside the office, Robert has long been involved in public service and western horsemanship. He served thirteen years with the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Mounted Patrol, a reserve law-enforcement unit, and captained the team for seven of those years. An avid student of western history, Robert spends much of his free time in the saddle. He competes in cowboy mounted shooting and has won New Mexico State Championships in 2013, 2014, and 2017, as well as the Arizona State Championship in 2017. He has also competed in team roping and volunteered in mounted search and rescue. Several weekends each year are spent working cattle on a large ranch in central New Mexico.

 

Robert enjoys exploring and sharing the stories of the American West--its trails, gunmen, chiefs, and explorers--and he lives by the traditional informal Code of the West:

Live each day with courage

Take pride in your work

Always finish what you start

Do what has to be done

Be tough, but fair

When you make a promise, keep it

Ride for the brand

Talk less and say more

Some things aren't for sale

Know where to draw the line.