Marion Vernese Williams [1] GCM, is a Barbadian economist, banker, accountant and diplomat. She is a recipient of the Gold Crown of Merit.
Marion Vernese Williams [1] GCM, is a Barbadian economist, banker, accountant and diplomat. She is a recipient of the Gold Crown of Merit.
Williams was born Marion Mottley, the daughter of two Barbadian teachers, Rudolph and Cledlene Mottley. She was educated at St George's Primary School, St Michael's School, and from the age of 12 at Queen's College. [2]
She earned a degree in Economics in 1968 from the University of the West Indies, and later a Master's in Economics as the first postgraduate in the field at the university's Cave Hill campus. [2]
In 1995, she earned her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Surrey, with a thesis on prudential regulation and economic liberalisation. [2]
After her bachelor's degree, she worked for the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority, the precursor of the Central Bank of Barbados, where she was eventually appointed Research Director. [2] In 1973 she joined the Central Bank, [3] where she held numerous senior and managerial positions and was appointed Governor in 1999. [3] [4]
During her tenure leading monetary policy of Barbados, then-Barbadian Prime Minister David Thompson credited the team led by Williams as helping the Barbadian economy emerge relatively unaffected by the financial crises affecting other parts of the globe. [5]
Upon her retirement in 2009, Thompson announced that he had appointed her as the Barbadian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva. [5] Williams assumed the post on 1 February 2010, and presented her credentials to the UN Office Secretary-General, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, four days later. [6]
She is married to Clyde Williams; they have two children. [2]
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It lies on the boundary of the South American and the Caribbean Plates. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.
Owen Seymour Arthur, PC was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013.
The governor-general of Barbados was the representative of the Barbadian monarch from independence in 1966 until the establishment of a republic in 2021. Under the government's Table of Precedence for Barbados, the governor-general of Barbados was regarded as being the most important of all personnel of the Barbados government.
The Central Bank of Barbados (CBB) is the national monetary authority and central bank responsible for providing advice to the Government of Barbados on banking and other financial and monetary matters. The Central Bank of Barbados, was established by Act of parliament on 2 May 1972. Prior to the establishment of CBB, Barbados' monetary policies were governed through its membership in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA). The Central Bank operates as the banknote issuing authority for Barbadian currency.
Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford, KA, PC was a Barbadian politician. He served as the fourth prime minister of Barbados from 1987 to 1994, and later served as Barbados' first resident ambassador in Beijing, China, from 2010 to 2013.
The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is a public radio and television broadcaster, located in The Pine, St. Michael in Barbados. It was founded in 1963 as Radio Barbados. The CBC falls under the ministry and jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office.
Sir Courtney Newlands McLaurin Blackman, KA was a Barbadian economist, international business consultant, and diplomat. He served as the first Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados from 1972 to 1987. At the time of his appointment, he was the youngest central bank governor in the world.
Queen's College is a public secondary school in Barbados that was established in 1883. It is a multi-racial school with students drawn from a wide cross-section of the Barbadian community. It comprises eleven departments in which approximately thirty-three subject areas are taught.
On 30 November 2021, Barbados transitioned from a parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the hereditary monarch of Barbados to a parliamentary republic with a ceremonial indirectly elected president as head of state. The prime minister remained head of government while the last governor-general, Dame Sandra Mason, was elected as the country's first president on 20 October 2021, and took office on 30 November 2021.
Mia Amor Mottley, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold either position. She is also Barbados' first prime minister under its republican system, following constitutional changes she introduced that abolished the country's constitutional monarchy.
The historical ties between the governments of Barbados and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) are long and complex, including settlement, post-colonialism and modern bilateral relations. The two countries are related through common history spanning 339 years (1627–1966). Since the Barbadian date of political independence, these nations continue to share ties through the Commonwealth of Nations. Until becoming a Commonwealth republic in 2021, Barbados also shared the same Head of State, with Queen Elizabeth II as their Monarch.
Freundel Jerome Stuart, OR, PC, SC is a Barbadian politician who served as seventh Prime Minister of Barbados and the leader of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013; and from 21 February 2013 to 25 May 2018. He succeeded David Thompson, who had died in office on 23 October 2010 from pancreatic cancer.
The following is the Barbadian Table of Precedence.
Violet Eudine Barriteau,FB, GCM, is a professor of gender and public policy, as well as Principal of the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill. She was also the president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) from 2009 to 2010, and she is on the advisory editorial boards of Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International, published by SUNY Press, and Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, published by University of Chicago Press.
Dame Sandra Prunella Mason is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who is serving as the first president of Barbados since 2021. She was previously the eighth and final governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2021, the second woman to hold the office. On 20 October 2021, Mason was elected by the Parliament of Barbados to become the country's first president, and took office on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic.
Dr. DeLisle Worrell is a former governor of the Central Bank of Barbados. He served as governor from November 2009 until March 2017. He has also served as executive director of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF). Since June 2018, he is a member of the Financial Policy Council of the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
University of the West Indies at Cave Hill is a public research university in Cave Hill, Barbados. It is one of five general campuses in the University of the West Indies system.
Barbados–Kenya relations are bilateral relations between Barbados and Kenya. Both countries are members the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the Commonwealth of Nations.
Henrietta Elizabeth Thompson, widely known as Liz Thompson is a Barbadian lawyer, politician and diplomat who has made significant contributions to sustainable energy policy. While an elected Member of Parliament representing the Barbados Labour Party for the St. James South constituency from 1994 to 2008. She served as on different occasions as Minister of Health, Minister of Housing, Minister of Physical Development, Minister of Energy and Environment, and Acting Attorney General. She joined the United Nations in 2010, first serving as Assistant Secretary-General of the UN, a Special Adviser to the UN President of the General Assembly, and as the UN Secretary General’s Senior Advisor on Sustainable Energy for All. In 2018, she was appointed Permanent Representative of Barbados to the United Nations.
The president of Barbados is the head of state of Barbados and the commander-in-chief of the Barbados Defence Force. The office was established when the country became a parliamentary republic on 30 November 2021. Before, the head of state was Elizabeth II, Queen of Barbados, who was represented on the island by a governor-general. The first and current president is Sandra Mason, who previously served as the last governor-general.
