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Today is International Women’s Day, and we celebrate and commend all the women who have enhanced our lives and made this a better world.

Our Today notes that the Guardsman Group has had at the helm a number of senior executives who are women who have played an invaluable role in growing the fortunes of the Group as it evolves and enters industries other than its core business, which is security.

This is an illustration of the confidence reposed in these women by lead principal Kenny Benjamin, and he has been justly rewarded by the tenure of these executives who have remained at Guardsman in each instance for more than a decade.

For the most part, the security industry is run and defined by men; it exudes masculinity. But at Guardsman, women play a vital role at the Group and have a significant presence as part of its senior leadership cadre, both in management and at the Board level.

This makes Guardsman unique both in  Jamaica and in the wider Caribbean.

We will be featuring these women, who include Roxan Wais-Shirley, Sheila Benjamin-McNeill, Valerie Juggan-Brown, Nadia Thakur and Kadeen Turnbull 

Today we put the spotlight on Guardsman Director Laura Heron, who is the Group’s General Manager for Hospitality, chair of the Corporate Governance Committee and also wears a number of other hats at the Group.

Laura Heron joined the Guardsman Group in 2014 after spending six years at the  Government’s St. Ann Development Company (SADCO) and helping to run the family business, which included building out of Sharkies Restaurant. The family business also provided scuba-diving services to a number of hotels in Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril.

“St. Ann Development Company was a state agency which managed properties, including Dunns River. I made many changes there and I got a good insight into what government is all about..

She recalls that it was difficult to get things done because of the opaque bureaucracy and internecine manoeuvrings by some of its senior staff members who imperilled her position there. She did manage to work at SACO across both JLP and PNP administrations. What tends to happen is an administration comes in, puts plans in place, then a different one takes the helm and then shelves those plans.

Heron continued: “I was fortunate that the plans made when presented before the new administration were agreeable to.  They said alright, let’s keep going. After I completed two major projects, I felt it was time for me to go and get back to the family business. I didn’t plan to remain at SADCO for as long as six years.

“Then Kenny Benjamin called me and said  Laura, I’m looking for someone just like you. I replied, but you are in the security business. He then said, I want to get into tourism and have this project I want you to manage for me.”

That was Konoko Falls in St Ann. Laura Heron told Kenny Benjamin she was in but couldn’t get started for another six months as she needed to finish up with a project which would see her overseeing the entry management system at SADCO. The Government asked her to stay on for one more year. But with the politics in the organisation becoming unbearable and attempts being made to oust her despite having the support of the then Chairman, she relished the challenge of Konoko Falls.

“Kenny had a vision for what he wanted to accomplish at Konoko Falls. We made Konoko Falls into a viable attraction, adjusted the rates, and developed contracts with the cruise lines. It is a challenging property because it has some limitations in terms of volume and parking. We had to be vigilant about protecting the property. It is a beautiful site with a natural waterfall. It has a history of being a former Taino settlement. We wanted the design to emphasise its history, and the tour would feature the Taino connection. Kenny wanted to integrate his animals into it. We now have a section that houses endemic species. We have two endemic species in Jamaica, one being a bat and the other the Coney. The yellow snake is endemic to Jamaica.

“We built out a fantastic jerk pit which, if I may say so, is one of the best in Ocho Rios. We don’t get enough credit for that. We also built a restaurant there and added a children’s area with a swimming pool.

Once work on Konoko Falls was completed and it started to attract volumes of t visitors, Kenny Benjamin got word that  Puerto Seco Beach was being put out to tender. Guardsman submitted a tender in 2015 and was successful. At this time, Laura was living not too far away in Runaway Bay.

She explained: “ This was a much bigger project. We demolished everything that was on the property and widened the beach. We put in a swimming pool, bar, restaurant, cabanas, and a dolphinarium. We had a lot of pushback from the local community about the dolphins, and we don’t have them now.

“It took us two years to build out Puerto Seco, with it taking a year to get the approvals. We began construction in 2016. We only had one good year of operations before COVID came and changed the world.

“ We have big paid party events at Puerto Seco, but we try to limit them because we are cognisant of the surrounding communities and villas there. We hold about three parties a year there.

“We contracted with an event party organiser which saw at least 10,000 patrons last year. There is no other property in Jamaica that can accommodate those kinds of numbers. Every year, Zimi’s numbers grow year-on-year. When they first booked with us, they were bringing in about 3,000 patrons. Now they are up to 10,000. FOF is the same, and they are contracted to hold two events a year with us.”

After Puerto Seco, Guardsman Group secured the Fort Clarence beach property in St. Catherine. It has proved difficult to make meaningful progress there as the country has been beset by successive natural disasters – COVID, Hurricane Beryl, incessant rains, then Hurricane Melissa.

“To be honest, I wanted the UDC  to take it back because I was concerned that, given where the Group is now, we couldn’t justify financial input into Fort Clarence, said Heron in concerned tones.

The Guardsman Group have utilised the Private Public Partnership (PPP) model efficiently, and it has paid dividends for it. It is here where Laura has proven to be an ace in the hole. Given her vast experience in both private enterprise and the public sector, she has been a boon to Guardsman. She knows her way around the UDC. She also serves on the Board of TPDCO.

At TPDCO, she would have come across many underutilised assets, particularly from National Properties when the Government was acquiring hotels, attractions and other such properties. There are still a significant number of properties on the books.

Laura Heron gave insight into the role PPPs played in the management of Guardsman’s property portfolio.

“In order to get our properties functional, we needed a PPP structure. I saw it effectively deployed at SADCO, and we have utilised it well at Guardsman. Puerto Seco is really a PPP, public land used for private investment. I’m very proud to say we have done it the right way at both  Guardsman and at TPDO.

“Guardsman has developed public land for the people of Jamaica to enjoy. This has also helped to attract tourists. We went into Fort Clarence with a PPP model, and it was not a small investment. Puerto Seco has a mixed market. With Fort Clarence, we will be working with another government agency- that’s something you will hear about in the near future.”

What Kenny Benjamin and the Guardsman Group found in Laura Heron is priceless. A dedicated top executive with both public and private sector experience who succeeds at every mission she is assigned with quiet grace. 

Addressing the number of senior executives who are women in the Guardsman Group, Laura Heron observed: “ To Kenny’s credit he recognises the strength of women He has had very strong and capable women in the company. I find women are more passionate and dedicated to the task at hand. It must be said that we women have to walk a fine line. If we get to the point that we are outshining a man it can turn out to be a problem because there are some men who are not so secure in their skin.

“Valerie Juggan-Brown was our first Managing Director and she is extremely talented and capable. My style of management is to allow people to grow.”