Barclay Knapp is an American business executive and academic. He is currently a senior fellow at the Center for Financial Economics at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and the founder of Charles Street Partners, a firm focused on investments and advisory in the telecommunications and technology sectors.

Early life and education

Knapp earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from

and later completed an MBA at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Career

CableTel, NTL, and Virgin Media

Knapp co-founded International CableTel, which later became

NTL Incorporated NTL Incorporated, branded as ntl:, was a United States-listed British company founded in 1992, which provided cable television, cable internet and fixed-line cable telephone services. While NTL had its headquarters in New York City, the compan ...

—a major cable television and telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom. NTL ultimately merged with

Telewest Telewest (previously Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) was a cable internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was also ...

to form

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

, one of the UK’s leading broadband and pay-TV operators. During the late 1990s, Knapp led NTL through a period of aggressive expansion, with the company's valuation peaking at approximately £21 billion in 2000. However, the subsequent collapse of the telecom sector required a major financial restructuring. NTL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2002, resulting in an $11 billion debt-for-equity swap.''Knapp quits as NTL chief''
The Guardian, 12 August 2003 Knapp stepped down as CEO in October 2002 amid both praise for preserving the operating business and criticism over executive compensation and shareholder losses.
The Telegraph, 17 July 2007 Despite the severity of the restructuring, NTL was one of the few large telecom bankruptcies at the time to avoid fraud or legal scandal, contrasting sharply with contemporaneous collapses such as

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

Worldcom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...

, and Adelphia.

Post-NTL activities and academic work

After leaving NTL, Knapp kept a relatively low public profile but continued his work in business and academia. He founded Charles Street Partners, a firm aimed at identifying financing and management opportunities in telecommunications. Concurrently, he became a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University, where he has contributed to research on corporate restructuring and financial policy.

DeepGreenX

In the 2020s, Knapp became associated with DeepGreenX, a venture positioning itself as a sustainable, AI-enabled digital exchange for green assets and ESG-linked instruments. The company claims to leverage blockchain and machine learning technologies to increase transparency, traceability, and liquidity across ESG investment markets. DeepGreenX has announced several large-scale strategic initiatives. In January 2025, the company disclosed a US$25 billion investment programme in partnership with Sente Ventures, aimed at accelerating the deployment of green infrastructure, energy storage, and carbon mitigation technologies globally. Previously, in November 2024, DeepGreenX had also publicized a US$140 billion project and leasing fund commitment with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) to support decarbonization projects across emerging markets. In May 2025, DeepGreenX filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to list American Depository Shares (ADSs) on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "DXG". The company, a Canadian holding entity with operational subsidiaries primarily in China, is expanding from its green logistics roots into a platform that converts sustainability data and real-world assets into tradable digital instruments.

References

External links

Johns Hopkins University profile
Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Johns Hopkins University fellows People from Bellevue, Nebraska People from Sarpy County, Nebraska Harvard Business School alumni {{US-business-bio-stub