Ja-born VP of Federal Reserve Bank is keynote speaker for Jamaica People’s Ball
Olympian Veronica Campbell-Brown, saxophonist Dean Fraser among honourees
Published:Friday | August 9, 2024 | 12:05 AMDave Rodney/Gleaner Writer
NEW YORK:
Clive Blackwood, executive vice president and general auditor at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, is the keynote speaker for this year’s Jamaica People’s Ball in New York in celebration of Jamaica’s 62nd anniversary of Independence.
The black tie event takes place on Saturday, August 10 at Terrace Park in Queens, New York at 7pm. It is being hosted by the Jamaica Independence Foundation, Inc, a New York-based charity organisation.
Each year a number of Jamaican luminaries are presented with special awards for outstanding accomplishments, and this year the awardees include Clive Blackwood in the field of banking. Others are saxophonist Dean Fraser in music, assistant commissioner Lamona Worrell in community affairs in the New York City Mayor’s office, and Jamaican Olympian Veronica Campbell-Brown in the field of sports.
“This year we are absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome Clive Blackwood as our keynote speaker”, Lexy Brooks, executive producer of the event told The Gleaner. “Blackwood is not only supremely accomplished but he is also a fountain of great motivation for our Caribbean American people”, she added.
Blackwood joined the Federal Reserve Bank in 2005 and has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility within the Internal Audit Group. In June 2015, he was named executive vice president of the largest federal bank in the country, becoming too the first black person in the position. Blackwood was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He grew up in the Waltham Park area and is a graduate of Chetolah Park Primary School, Ardenne High School and New York University. To enable the completion of his study goals in New York, Blackwood held down several jobs including as cooking at McDonald’s and working as a sales clerk at Macy’s Department Store.
Emcee for the evening of celebration is social media sensation Julie Mango and the theme of this year’s ball is “The Rise of the Black, Gold and Green”.