Meet Your Tinubu Surety Team: Keith Barnard, Product Manager

Keith Barnard’s career has taken him from training nonprofit volunteers in South America to shaping the future of Surety tech in Florida—and discovering a new way to look at the world in the process. 

As a Product Manager for Tinubu Surety for Carriers (TSC) platform, he bridges the gap between client needs “and the software solutions that help them run their businesses more effectively,” he says. 

He may also be the most well-traveled member of the Tinubu team.

So you don’t have the most obvious background for a Surety professional…

Keith: I was the training director at an international nonprofit, running a six-month program for new staff. My job was to onboard and educate them—everything from curriculum design to hands-on facilitation. 

I did my training in Colombia, then spent seven years in Peru. Later, I met my wife—she’s from China. We moved there together for her work with the same organization. We lived in Kunming, in southwest China.

How did you go from nonprofit work in South America and Asia to Surety in Florida?

Keith: I was moving back to the U.S. to start a family, and a friend referred me to Tinubu back when it was a much smaller company. I started in support and have worked my way up over the past decade. I had no background in Surety, but I learned on the job and grew to love it.

Tell me more…


Keith: Surety is very interesting—it’s an industry that’s hidden, but it’s everywhere. When you work in Surety, you look at the world and constantly see the results of Surety, but most people have no idea it exists. 

I enjoy seeing how things are connected, and being part of the solution to make those connections work well. I also really enjoy solving problems, providing solutions to clients, and building software that makes the industry work better.

Is there any crossover from your nonprofit work to your Surety role?


Keith: Yes. Training has always been a through line. Early on at Tinubu, I managed support operations and training, creating materials and leading sessions. I would spend five days on site with customers, training them on the system. I’d do the same thing with new hires at Tinubu. Even now that I’m in product, I still educate teams and clients on new features. One of the key things that helped me grow at Tinubu was that I’m a learner, and then I’m a trainer.

Speaking of learning, how do you incorporate customer feedback into product decisions?

Keith: Heavily. We have meetings with our customers at least every couple of months. Whenever we’re going through a feature release or creating the idea for a feature, we seek feedback from customers. We’ll ask about what they need and how they would use a feature, so we can perfect it for them. Even if just one client asks for a particular feature, we’ll explore whether others would benefit from it.

Where do you see Tinubu heading?

Without sounding cheesy, the sky’s the limit right now. We’re the market leader, but that means we can’t let off the gas. We’ve been in existence for about 25 years, and our current modernization effort is laying the groundwork for many more years of growing. By unifying our broker and carrier platforms, we’re creating a juggernaut that covers both, creating a seamless experience that’s really valuable for everyone in Surety. It’s a point of differentiation that's going to be noticeable to all our clients: It’s an exciting time to be here.