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The Honourable Sir K Dwight Venner served as Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, from December 1989 to November 2015.
Prior to that he served in the position of Director of Finance and Planning in the St Lucian Government between November 1981 and November 1989.
The Hon Sir Dwight was an Economist by training and was educated at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica where he obtained both a Bachelor of Science (BSc) and a Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Economics. He served as a Junior Research Fellow at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of the West Indies and then as a Lecturer in Economics from 1974 to 1981.
He wrote and published extensively in the areas of Monetary and International Economics, Central Banking, Public Finance, Economic Development, Political Economy and International Economic Relations.
Selected publications include Monetary Policy and a Stable EC Dollar, 1996; Surmounting the Barriers to Development, 1996; The Prospects for a Unified Caribbean in the New International Economic Order, 1996; Prospects and Policy Options for the ECCB Area, 1997; Economic Theory and Development Options For The Caribbean: The Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lectures 1996-2005, 2007.
Sir Dwight was a member of the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network, and a member of the Commission for Growth and Development, World Bank. He was also Chairman of the OECS Economic Union Task Force Committee, and the UWI Open Campus Council.
He received the award of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1996 in St Lucia and was recognised as a Distinguished Graduate of the University of the West Indies on its 50th Anniversary in July 1998. In June 2001 he was awarded Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for services to the financial sector. In October 2003, the Hon Sir Dwight was recipient of an honorary degree, the Doctor of Laws from the University of the West Indies. In December 2011, he was awarded the Saint Lucia Cross for distinguished and outstanding service of national importance to Saint Lucia.
His hobbies included cricket, racquet ball, netball, pistol shooting, hiking, jogging, music, reading, collecting paintings, crystals, miniature boats and coins, travel and photography.
Sir Dwight passed away on Thursday, 22 December 2016 at the age of 70 and is survived by his wife Lady Lynda Arnolde Winville Venner nee St Rose and their seven children.
The Bank thought it befitting to formally recognise Sir Cecil Jacobs, first Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for his sterling contribution to the promotion and development of the financial sector in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. Accordingly, in July 2002, the Monetary Council agreed that the auditorium at the headquarters building be named the “Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium”.
Sir Cecil’s illustrious career began in the Treasury Department of the St Kitts Government Service in 1941. In 1952 he was awarded a scholarship and pursued studies in accounting in Leeds, England. Sir Cecil became an Associate of the Association of Certified Accountants, and later, a fellow of the Association. He received further training at the Crown Agents and the Colonial Office in London. Sir Cecil made a rapid rise within the St Kitts Government Service; he acted as Financial Secretary from 1958 – 1961, before being appointed on transfer as Financial Secretary, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
In 1973 he was appointed Managing Director of the East Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA) which was then based in Barbados. He led the negotiations for the withdrawal of Barbados from the ECCA in 1974, and organised the transfer of the operation of the institution from Barbados to St Kitts in May 1975. Sir Cecil was appointed Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank when it was established on 5 July 1983.
During his tenure in office, Sir Cecil managed the process of conversion of the link of the EC Dollar from the Pound Sterling to the US dollar. Thereafter, through appropriate monetary management he ensured that the external value of the currency was maintained. Sir Cecil retired from the Bank in 1989.
On 15 June 2002, Cecil Albert Jacobs, MBE, CBE was awarded Knight Bachelor of the British Empire (Civil Division) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, for his lifetime service in the financial and banking industry in Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.
Trevor Brathwaite was Deputy Governor at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank from April 2006 to September 2021.
An accountant by profession, he worked with the Government of Saint Lucia in various capacities, over a 14-year period. From 1992-1995 he served as the Assistant Comptroller, Audit, in the Inland Revenue Department. He was appointed Comptroller of Inland Revenue in 1995 and held that position until his selection as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, International Financial Services and Economic Affairs from 2002 to 2006.
Before joining the public sector in 1992, Mr Brathwaite was employed by KPMG Peat Marwick in Saint Lucia, New Zealand and Barbados and Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co, Saint Lucia.
A member of the Certified General Accountants of Canada and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of St Lucia, he was educated at the Lambton College of Applied Arts & Technology in Ontario, Canada, where he obtained a diploma in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting
Mr Brathwaite was Saint Lucia’s representative on the ECCB’s Board of Directors from October 2002 to March 2006. He also served on the boards of the East Caribbean Financial Holding Co. Ltd and Jalousie (1996) Ltd. He was the chairman on the boards for the Saint Lucia Air and Seaports Authority and National Insurance Corporation Investment Committee.
Sir Errol N Allen, a Vincentian, received his tertiary education in the United Kingdom. He was awarded a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Economics by the University of London, and a Master of Science Degree in International Economics by the University of Surrey.
Sir Errol worked for a period in the United Kingdom Government Service following his graduation, before returning to the Caribbean to take up a position with the Guyana Development Corporation in 1972.
In 1974 he joined the then East Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA) in Barbados as Manager, Research Department, before the Institution moved to St Kitts in 1975. He received Executive Management Training at the London Business School and attended Specialist Training Courses in Banking and Finance at the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund. He also spent a year with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a Special Appointee.
Sir Errol was appointed Deputy Governor in 1983, when the Institution was upgraded to a Central Bank, and became the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. He was named in the ‘Who Is Who in Central Banking 2001’, and in the 2001-2002 edition of ‘ International Who’s Who of Professionals’. He is an active member of the Rotary Club of St Vincent and is a Double Paul Harris Fellow.
Sir Errol describes himself as a sports enthusiast and lists reading and music as his hobbies. He retired from the Bank on 31 March, 2005 and now serves as Chairman, Special Olympics, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, on the Turks and Caicos Islands Financial Services Commission and on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Bank of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and National Commercial Bank of Anguilla.
