The Regional Eminent Persons Selection Panel (EPP) is appointed by the ANSA McAL Foundation. This is an autonomous committee responsible for the governance of the programme and the final selection of the Laureates. In respect of the Awards, the decision of the Panel is final. The current panel members for 2018 are: (Left) Prof E Nigel Harris (Guyana, St Lucia); Justice Christopher Blackman (Barbados, back), Sir Shridath Ramphal, Chair (Guyana, Barbados); Justice Rolston Nelson (Trinidad & Tobago, back); Prof Bridget Brereton (Trinidad & Tobago); Mr Christopher Bovell (Jamaica); Mrs Charmaine Gardener (St Lucia); Maj Gen Joe Singh (Guyana); Sir Royston Hopkin (Grenada); Prof Compton Bourne (Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana).
Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, a national of Dominica, recently demitted office as the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a position he held for ten years, from August 2011.
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THE MOST HONOURABLE PROFESSOR SIR KENNETH O HALL, ON, GCMG, OJ
The Most Honourable Professor Sir Kenneth Octavius Hall, ON, GCMG, OJ, was appointed Governor-General of Jamaica on February 16, 2006. He is the fifth person, and fourth Jamaican, to hold this position since Independence in 1962. He is currently a Honorary Distinguished Fellow of the Mona School of Business, at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies.
Diana Mahabir-Wyatt graduated from Mc Gill University, Quebec, Canada in 1963 having worked in the field of Education. In the early 60’s she coordinated a class at the Lady Hochoy Home and taught at St Augustine Girls’ High School, going on, from 1963 -1966 to teach a survey course in communications skills at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies. She is a certified Psychometric Testing specialist and has been trained in Domestic Violence counseling and in Executive Coaching by the Institute of Executive Coaching in California, USA. In 2001 she got her M.Sc. (Edu) from CSUH, specializing in online education and adult learning, and in 2012 was awarded an LLD (Doctorate of Laws – honoris causa) from the University of the West Indies. In that year she was also awarded a Community Service Medal (Gold) for her work in the field of Human Rights specifically work with women. She is also certified in Psychometric Testing, Mediation, Executive Coaching, and Counselling.
Dr Charmaine Gardner has been involved in the private and public sectors in St Lucia, the regional and beyond for several years. A distinguished entrepreneur, she is the Managing Director of Carasco and Son Limited, a well-known and long-established fourth-generation 93-year-old family company. Dr Gardner is also a Director of Clay Products, St Lucia Ltd and Nexxa Auto Colour, St Lucia Ltd.
Prof Bridget Brereton is Professor Emerita in History at UWI, St Augustine, where she held several posts, including head of its history department and the pro-vice chancellorship of the St Augustine campus. As an academic, Professor Brereton has published several groundbreaking works of Trinidadian history including A History of Modern Trinidad 1783-1962, Race Relations in Colonial Trinidad (1870-1900), and Law, Justice and Empire, The Colonial Career of Chief Justice John Gorrie. She also edited Volume V of the UNESCO General History of the Caribbean, on the Contemporary Caribbean.
Prof E Nigel Harris, born in Guyana, is the Chancellor of the University of Guyana and the former Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (2005-2015). He is known for his medical research work as a Rheumatologist. With Drs Aziz Gharavi and Graham Hughes in London, he helped to define a disorder which they called the Antiphospholipid Syndrome and devised a diagnostic test (the anticardiolipin test) for it. For this work he shared with Dr Graham Hughes, Dr Aziz Gharavi and others, the Ciba-Geigy Prize awarded by the International League Against Rheumatism (ILAR) in 1990.
The Honourable Mr Justice Rolston Nelson was sworn in as a Judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2005. As Senior Judge, Mr Justice Nelson has served as Acting President of the Court on several occasions. He is the author of several articles and case notes appearing in legal journals including the British Tax Review and the Jamaica Law Journal. From 1987-1999, Mr Justice Nelson was the editor of The Lawyer, the journal of the Law Association of Trinidad & Tobago. He is an Honorary Distinguished Fellow of the University of the West Indies, and a former chairman of the Trinidad & Tobago Unit Trust Corporation, the Workers’ Bank (1989) Ltd, and a former director of Republic Bank Limited. Mr Justice Nelson was selected from among senior Commonwealth judges as the Inns of Court Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies for 2010-2011.
Is Chief Executive Officer and General Manager, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Co. Born in 1945 at Pln Ogle, EC Demerara, he was among the first batch of officers recruited for the Guyana Defence Force in 1965 and retired as Chief of Staff, Guyana Defence Force in 2000. He holds the Military Service Star from Guyana and six other local military decorations, and awards as well from Brazil, Suriname, Venezuela, French Guiana and Cuba. A graduate of the University of Guyana (1976) in Public Administration, he was awarded the Guild of Graduates Gold Medal. He is also a graduate of the Royal College of Defence Studies (1995) and the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Greenwich (2005). He was appointed Chairman, Guyana Elections Commission, for the 2001 General and Regional Elections. He was Executive Director, Conservation International Guyana from 2001-2005 and was made a member of the Order of the Golden Ark of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2003 for his conservation work. He chaired the Guyana Country Nominating Committee for the Anthony N Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence in 2006.
He was admitted to the Bar in Jamaica, Barbados, England and Trinidad & Tobago. He is a Partner with DunnCox, Jamaica; Chairman of Barnett Limited; a Director of Grace Kennedy; First Caribbean International Bank (Jamaica); and Allied Insurance Brokers. He served as a Government Senator, 1983-89. He is the Treasurer of the Jamaican Labour Party, 1993, and Secretary of the Incorporated Lay Body of the Anglican Church of Jamaica.
Mr. Justice Christopher Blackman was appointed Chairman of the CARICOM Competition Commission and Chairman of the Employment Rights Tribunal of Barbados in July 2018. He is a former non-resident Justice of Appeal of the Belize Court of Appeal, having been appointed to that post on October 1, 2014 for a period of three (3) years. Prior to that, he was a Justice of the Court of Appeal of The Bahamas, serving from March 1, 2008 to December 5, 2014. He served as a High Court Judge of Barbados (2003-2008) and Belize (2001-2003).
Prof Compton Bourne, OE, assumed the Chairmanship of the EPP in 2022. He is the former President of the Caribbean Development Bank (2001-2011) and former Executive Director, Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance. He. Prior to this appointment he was principal of the UWI, St Augustine, and former Pro Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development at the university. Professor Bourne is the author or editor of ten books and more than 50 scholarly papers in addition to more than 50 research reports for Caribbean governments, foreign governments, and international institutions. He is a Fellow of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences, a Member of the Order of Excellence, the highest honour of the Republic of Guyana, and was a recipient of the Caribbean Studies Distinguished Service Award (1989), the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Caribbean and the National Coalition on Caribbean Affairs International Service Award, 2005. He was awarded an Honorary LLD from UWI in 2011.
