Barry McIlheney (born 1960) is a British journalist, editor, broadcaster and publisher. Born in Belfast in 1960, Barry is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and London's City University.
After a brief spell in local newspapers and at Melody Maker magazine, Barry was appointed editor of Smash Hits in 1986. From there he moved on to become launch editor of Empire magazine.
In 1994, McIlheney became managing director of EMAP Metro, publishers of titles such as Q, FHM, and Mojo. In 1999 he launched Heat and a year later became chief executive of EMAP Elan, publishers of Elle, Red, and The Face. In 2003, Barry moved into new product development, overseeing the launch of Zoo both in the UK and Australia.
At the end of 2006, McIlheney moved to a consultancy role, working on new titles at EMAP and taking a senior management role at Sport Media Group. In 2009 he launched media consultancy mcilheneybovis with newspaper art director Julian Bovis and has written for publications including The Word magazine.
McIlheney is currently Chief Executive of the Professional Publishers Association (PPA).
In his youth, Barry was a founding member of the moderately successful punk band "Shock Treatment"[1]