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Portrait of Jessica Barker, Insolvency Practitioner

Jessica Barker

Insolvency Practitioner · Associate Director, Xeinadin Corporate Recovery

Jessica Barker is an Insolvency Practitioner and Associate Director at Xeinadin Corporate Recovery in Manchester, holding IP Number 32050 under the ICAEW. She leads corporate insolvency appointments, including administrations and both solvent and insolvent liquidations, and advises company directors and charity trustees through financial difficulty.

She joined Xeinadin in September 2025 (with press coverage of the senior hire following in November). Before that she was an Assistant Manager at Cowgills (2023 to 2025), running a team of three across a portfolio of administrations, insolvent liquidations, bankruptcies and CVAs, following a period at KBL Advisory. Earlier she spent close to four years at The Business Debt Advisor in Manchester, a small boutique firm where she progressed from Corporate Insolvency Administrator to Insolvency Assistant Manager, working closely with the firm’s Insolvency Practitioner and managing her own caseload from opening to closure, investigating directors’ conduct, and preparing statutory reports.

Her route into insolvency began in law: paralegal and debt-management roles at Parry and Welch Solicitors and Caddick Davies Solicitors, and pro bono advisory work at Citizens Advice. She is Chair of R3’s national New Professionals Steering Group and Chair of R3’s North West New Professionals Committee, and sat and passed her JIEB corporate insolvency exam in 2023, an achievement she names as one of the proudest of her career so far.

On how she actually works with directors, Jessica puts it plainly: “Easily showing directors the options clearly in an empathetic way, there has to be a balance between empathy and our duty to creditors, and having a job to do, though.” She has also spoken about the misconception of insolvency practitioners as the “Grim Reaper” of business, and about being a positive role model for her daughter as a working parent in the profession.

Qualifications

  • JIEB: Joint Insolvency Examination Board exam, corporate, passed 2023, the qualifying exam for licensed appointment-taking
  • CPI: Certificate of Proficiency in Insolvency, passed with merit
  • LLB: Bachelor of Laws, Liverpool John Moores University

Career

  1. Sept 2025 to present

    Associate Director & Insolvency Practitioner

    Xeinadin Corporate Recovery, Manchester

  2. 2023 to 2025

    Assistant Manager

    Cowgills

  3. Before Cowgills

    Insolvency roles

    KBL Advisory

  4. Almost 4 years

    Corporate Insolvency Administrator → Insolvency Assistant Manager

    The Business Debt Advisor, Manchester

  5. Earlier career

    Paralegal & debt-management roles

    Parry and Welch Solicitors; Caddick Davies Solicitors

  6. Earlier career

    Pro bono debt advisory

    Citizens Advice

R3 & industry roles

  1. Feb 2026 to present

    Chair, New Professionals Steering Group

    R3, Association of Business Recovery Professionals (national)

  2. Mar 2024 to present

    Chair, North West New Professionals Committee

    R3, Association of Business Recovery Professionals (regional)

Case record

Named office holder (IP No. 32050) on active appointments, cross-verified via each company’s Companies House insolvency filings and The Gazette:

The Prestat group administration above (Feb 2026), covering four linked companies including Marasu’s Petits Fours, was a pre-pack sale of the luxury chocolate maker to L’Artisan du Chocolat, jointly handled with fellow Xeinadin administrator Alessandro Sidoli.

Featured & speaking

  • FeaturedR3 Member Spotlight: Jessica Barker (20 Jul 2026)
  • SpeakerR3 New Professionals Forum 2026, Wedlake Bell, London (10 Sept 2026, upcoming)
  • SpeakerJIEB Examination Support Masterclass (upcoming)
  • PressAccountancy Today, on joining Xeinadin (10 Nov 2025)
  • PressAccountancy Age, on joining Xeinadin (13 Nov 2025)
  • PressBdaily, on joining Xeinadin (16 Nov 2025)

Find Jessica