Word is that the long serving president of the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) is to step down.

Diane Edwards invigorated JAMPRO and championed investments in Jamaica.

She winds up her tenure on December 31, 2022 and heads into 2023 pursuing new challenges.

A release from JAMPRO read: “Under Edwards leadership, the BPO industry has moved from 12,000 jobs in 2013 to 54,000 jobs in 2022.”

Edwards is a former trade commissioner for JAMPRO in New York, United States; Brussels, Belgium; and London, England.

She was also general manager of J. Wray & Nephew UK Ltd before returning to Jamaica.

Edwards took on the position as president of JAMPRO in September 2013, and may well feel that now approaching 10 years in the job, the time is right to exit with grace and a slew of accomplishments she can readily call upon.

She is credited with doing a very good job at the investment agency, and shepherding investors to the island.

Fluent in Spanish, French and German she proved an invaluable asset to JAMPRO. Her personal style was tailor-made for encouraging both local and international investors to set up shop in Jamaica.

Melaine Subratie, chair of JAMPRO, said: “I have long been a champion of the sterling work done by JAMPRO and as a fellow female leader, I have admired Diane’s transformation of the organisation into a client-centric results driven agency.”

Edwards is currently in Guyana with Senator Aubyn Hill, the minister of industry, investment and commerce, as part of a delegation of Jamaican public and private sector interests on a business mission to that country and could not be reached for comment.