American Foundation for UWI to honour Caribbean stalwarts

Washington, DC:

GraceKennedy, one of the Caribbean region’s largest conglomerates with operations headquartered in Jamaica, joins three of the region’s political leaders headlining a group of eight distinguished recipients of the upcoming 25th Anniversary Awards of the American Foundation for The University of the West Indies (AFUWI).

At its 25th Anniversary Gala set for Thursday in New York City, AFUWI will honour Jamaican business executive and GraceKennedy CEO Don Wehby with its Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in global business leadership, and the GraceKennedy Group will receive the AFUWI Corporate Award for Global Business Excellence.

The Jamaica-based GraceKennedy this year marks a century in business, with operations spanning Jamaica, several other Caribbean countries, North and Central America, the United Kingdom, and several European countries.

Antigua & Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston A. Browne and St Kitts & Nevis Prime Minister Dr Timothy J. Harris will be presented with the AFUWI Legacy Awards, while the Vice-Chancellor’s Award will go to Premier of Nevis Dr Mark A. Brantley.

Other prestigious AFUWI awards will be given to Wayne Berson, chief executive officer, BDO USA, who will receive the Pinnacle Award for Excellence in financial advisory services; Dawnn Lewis, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, producer and actress, will receive the Bob Marley Award; Ambassador Ralph S. Thomas, the former Jamaican ambassador, will get the Pelican Award; and Graham Robinson, SVP and president, Stanley Industrial, the Caribbean Luminary Award.

The US-based AFUWI has conferred its annual awards on notable individuals and companies that represent high levels of achievement within their respective fields of industry, enterprise, and service in their communities. AFUWI partners with UWI alumni, the Caribbean community in the USA, American foundations, and corporations to raise funds for projects, scholarships and academic programmes at the university’s four physical and one virtual campuses.

“Indeed, a distinguished group deserving of acknowledgment at the 25th anniversary of the AFUWI Awards Gala,” University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor, Prof Sir Hilary Beckles, said of the 2022 honourees. “This is a time, too, when we must pay homage to the many sponsors of the event and the persons who annually attend the gala, thus contributing to the raising of scholarship funds for hundreds of worthy students.”

Sir Hilary added that “the UWI, which is preparing to celebrate its 75th anniversary next year, has worked tirelessly to develop sustainable strategies in the face of many economic challenges that have caused many governments to reduce student support and, of course, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made our situation even more difficult”.

He said that The UWI has forged linkages with industry and academia, sports, entertainment, and culture to deliver innovation and value for the economic growth of Caribbean nations and will soon be going to the bond market to raise US$60 million to finance the establishment of an offshore medical university in Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a range of measures to place the institution on a sound financial footing.

“The UWI is working to transform itself into a global university, providing education to 100, 000 students all over the world online. We have already forged partnerships with leading universities in Africa, Cuba, the USA, England, and China,” Sir Hilary declared.