Therese Turner-Jones who hails from The Bahamas is among three candidates in the running to succeed Dr Gene Leon as president of the Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados.

The result should be known by the end of this week.

Turner-Jones was appointed Jamaica’s country representative for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2013. She did a very good job and was respected by all, including professionals from other multilateral agencies.

In 2016 she was promoted to the position of general manager of IDB’s Country Department Caribbean Group (CCB), responsible for not only Jamaica but Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Suriname, The Bahamas, Belize, and Guyana. This role saw her continued to be headquartered in Jamaica.

She acquitted herself well and there was speculation that she could become a future president of the IDB; however, politics put paid to that. In 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic, she was unceremoniously dismissed without an explanation given. This caused consternation across Caribbean because Turner-Jones was highly regarded.

In an effort to douse the disgruntlement, IDB Chief Staff and Strategy Officer Jessica Bedoya offered: “We have changed almost 50 per cent of our country representatives in our 26 member countries and we have changed several regional managers. We have also changed regional hubs from one country to the other.

“So with Therese and her departure, it’s part of a normal process where strong reviews and deliberations were done. These were not done lightly or taken in a silo and they were taken with purpose. It’s about having the right people, in the right place at the right time and with the right team.”

Bedoya continued: “Her (Turner-Jones) situation with the bank is a confidential matter so I was shocked and displeased when it came out in public. We are on the hunt for a successor and I would like to reiterate that the Caribbean is of pre-eminent importance. We need the highest calibre people that are held to the highest standards and have the highest standard of professional integrity. They must have an understanding of the needs of the region and the institution.

The then president of the IDB, Donald Trump-appointed Mauricio Claver-Carone, said nothing of Turner-Jones’ tenure or her abilities. He gave her no credit.

In a twist of fate, the board of directors of the IDB dismissed him in September 2022, after he was accused of having a romantic relationship with an IDB employee and of having benefited her financially. This violated the IDB’s ethical standards. Claver-Carone refused to cooperate fully with the IDB’s investigation.

In the summer of 2023, Turner-Jones was appointed director of projects at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), tasked with managing and leading operations and project development across the Caribbean. Her main focus in this position was on climate finance, private sector and digital transformation.

She has recently been elevated to acting vice-president of operations. Now she has a shot of succeeding Dr Gene Leon and becoming the first female head of the CDB. It would be a fitting milestone in a stellar career of a woman dedicated to the Caribbean’s development.

She studied at the University of Toronto, got her masters from the UK’s East Anglia University and worked as an economist at the Bank of Jamaica, the Central Bank of The Bahamas, and the International Monetary Fund.

Dr. Gene Leon was the sixth president of the CDB. He was elected at a special meeting of the CDB’s board of governors held on January 19, 2021 and assumed office on May 4, 2021.

Nominations for his successor began on August 26, 2024.