Background
Barclay was born in Oberlin, the seat of Decatur County in northwestern Kansas.
Barclay was born in Oberlin, the seat of Decatur County in northwestern Kansas.
He was also the director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration under Republican Governor Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee. In 1992, he lost a primary election for the United States House of Representatives to then fellow State Representative Tim Hutchinson of Bentonville, the seat of Benton County. Barclay began work as an accountant in 1961.
He is a partner in the firm Beall, Barclay, and Company.
He is a director of the Federal Savings Bank in Rogers and United Bank. He is a former vice president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce.
He is one of sixteen commissioners of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. In 2000, Barclay was elected president of the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants.
That same year, he was named "Arkansas Business Person of the Year" by Beta Gamma Sigma of Sam Walton College of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Barclay was executive director of Legislative Affairs and Budget until tapped by Huckabee in 1999 to head Finance and Administration. He left state employment in the spring of 2002 to return to his business in Rogers and was succeeded by Richard A. Weiss, who left the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to take the Finance and Administration position. Barclay did not seek a ninth two-year term in the Arkansas House in 1992.
Instead, he ran for the Third Congressional District seat opened by the retirement of longtime Republican incumbent John Paul Hammerschmidt.
However, he lost the Grand Old Party nomination to Tim Hutchinson, who would serve in the United States. House from 1993–1997 and in the United States Senate from 1997-2003. In 2003, Barclay served as chairman of the Benton County Republican Party.
He is a member of the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Accountants and of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Brokers National Life Assurance Company. He is a member of the Disciples of Christ.
