HE'S been a successful businessman at some major international companies and even studied at Stanford University in the United States.
But Barry Sullivan has one major regret missing the 1988 Wangaratta Rovers premiership.
"It's probably one of the biggest regrets in my life," he said.
"I played the first few games of the season then went over to the United States to work.
"We had a really young side and I thought we're going to be a good side but thought we'd be better the next year.
"Then when they won the grand final, they (Rovers players) all rang me up at about three o clock in the morning and stirred me up about it.
"In 1993 and 1994 I went back to the US and they won both those flags so obviously I wasn't a great contributor."
Barry was part of the 1991 premiership team, and played for the Rovers between 1981 and 1992.
Barry also played in Greta's 1993 senior football premiership side in the Ovens & King FNL.
Tennis has also been a lifelong passion, with Barry still competing with the best at Wangaratta Lawn Tennis Club, after having spent about 20 years travelling to Country Week.
He almost had a shot at the big time in the VFL, but once again work got in the way.
"I got invited to train with Melbourne in Barrassi's last year of coaching," Barry said.
"It was in preparation for the next year but I got sent overseas with work for what was supposed to be two weeks, but didn't come back until three months later and the opportunity had gone.
"It was very clear after a while that I was never going to be good enough at football to make enough money to survive and the business side of things was going to be able to support the family."
Barry's decision paid off, with his business career going from strength to strength.
Starting out as an electronic engineer, he has spent the past 20 years in senior management roles.
He ran the IBM manufacturing facility in Wangaratta as site general manager, before helping set up Bluegum, a contract electronics manufacturer run out of the old IBM factory.
But after several years in the corporate world, Barry decided to take a step back to spend more time with his family and doing the things he enjoyed.
He spent a year doing manual labor before friends at Australian Defence Industries (ADI now Thales) encouraged him to get back into the industry.
After a couple of years at ADI Barry found himself in charge of 1000 people across 20 different sites in Australia.
And it's only just recently that Barry has taken another step back from the corporate coalface, now running his own business advisory company, which still includes some work for Thales.
"I was starting to get to the point where there was a lot of travel and I was having to make too many personal sacrifices," he said.
"Now I can control my work flow and spend a bit of time doing the things I want to do.
"Most importantly, I can spend time with my family."
That includes a position on the board of Wangaratta Rovers Football Netball Club, which he hopes will soon return to the lofty heights of the 1990s.
By - STEVEN BURKE.
13th September, 2011.
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FRESH START: Barry Sullivan has taken on the role as chairman of the Wangaratta Unlimited board.
PHOTO : Cheryl Browne
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Last Modified on 14/09/2011 11:00