Ernest Barrens, CAE
Director of Chapter Relations, Northeast Region
American Inns of Court Foundation (AICF)
Ernest Barrens has worked in the association and education sectors for more than 28 years. Currently, he is the Director of Chapter Relations for the Northeast Region of the American Inns of Court, where he advises leaders on the formation of new chapters and the delivery of meaningful professional development and mentoring experiences for judges, lawyers and law students. Additionally, he manages the organization’s annual series of chapter officer training sessions.
Prior to joining AICF, he served as Executive Director for the Central/ East Central Regions and International Education for the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), having returned to YPO to lead a global team responsible for chapter support and educational programming. He previously served as director of the Family Business Council (FBC) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (now the Chicago Family Business Council at DePaul University), where he worked with the owners of family and closely held businesses to grow and sustain their enterprises. Before joining the FBC, Ernest held positions at YPO in member affinity networking, membership development, chapter and regional support, and events management.
Ernest received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and holds the Certified Association Executive (CAE) designation.