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So why not add Sheree Martin to the list  –  not as an interim

With Bruce Bowen stepping down as CEO of NCB Bank Jamaica, it has been announced that Sheree Martin will fill in as interim CEO.

Martin has held senior positions at NCB over the last fifteen years, including Head of Retail Banking, Head of Marketing and Chief Operating Officer. She knows the Bank’s DNA and has been a loyal and credible senior executive.

At a time when NCB has to re-engage with the public and deliver stellar results, who better to lead the charge than Sheree Martin?

Rather like Michael Carrick at Manchester United, she has been placed in a holding position while NCB bring in someone with undoubted experience and commands respect both locally and regionally.

It will take that person time to get up to speed, a year at minimum. Sheree Martin can hit the ground running and would have the support of the entire Bank, both line workers and management.

It is said that when one can, promote from within the organisation, and Sherre Martin exemplifies that. It would send a positive signal across the organisation. Hard work, dedication and loyalty pays off – look at Sheree. 

She is very personable and interfaces well with all sorts, which is an invaluable asset. She will have assessed what has transpired and have remedies at hand to be executed. All she needs is the Board’s support.

There is a predilection in Jamaica to bring in a “Big Shot” from abroad but the Board here must resist this and bet on local management.

Sheree has survived the “Night of the Long Lives” and seen personnel come and go. That in itself speaks volumes about her abilities and how she is regarded. NCB must undergo a period of continuity and stability. It has to remove the dark cloud over its head.

While some may scoff at the idea of Sheree being chosen as CEO of NCB Bank Jamaica, on a permanent basis, due to her not cutting her teeth as a boss of a banking institution, her operational know-how should not be discounted. In NCB’s case, it should be horses for courses, and it needs a period of tranquillity without the eyebrow-raising headlines that draw concerns for shareholders and the wider public.

Jamaica has had a number of women do a great job of heading banking institutions.

Audrey Tugwell-Henry

Audrey Tugwell Henry readily springs to mind.  She has run a steady ship at Scotia Group Jamaica and has assembled a performing team. Its insurance business has grown, and it continues to build its mortgage business. Many of her señor executives are now moving into regional positions. Since her tenure began as Group CEO, there has not been any untoward news emanating from its downtown Kingston headquarters.

Audrey is always approachable and forthright. She is a credit to the top bosses in Canada. Ironically, she once was a senior executive at NCB before going on to better things with “The Reds”. 

Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Deschamps, Scotiabanks Group Head of International Banking and Digital Transformation, said of Audrey in 2022, “A seasoned executive with over 30 years of financial services experience, Audrey is uniquely suited to lead Scotiabank Jamaica. She is a transformational leader who has consistently demonstrated that she is a catalyst for our performance culture and customer focus.”

What Nacho said then, still holds true today.

In an interview, Audrey noted: “I have personally seen a shift. I think Jamaica still stands out on the world’s stage as a country that has the most women at the management level. Most of my supervisors were women, and there were a few managers. But once you get to that C-suite, it was all me.

“Now what you are seeing is a shift where you go all the way up to middle management level, and it is still largely dominated by women, but now you are also seeing a better shift in the C-suite where we now have women as well. So Jamaica is in a very unique place today where about half of the deposit-taking institutions are run by women.”

Chorvelle Johnson-Cunningham 

Chorvelle Johnson-Cunningham left Proven eight years ago to become  CEO of Sagicor Bank. It now is Jamaica’s third-largest commercial bank, but Chorvelle is not satisfied with that. In the words of Curtis Mayfield, “ Take nothing less than the second best. And that’s her attitude. She is not content to sit on her laurels. Last year she insisted her team get out of the office and get out there and bring in business. 

It has paid off, and Sagicor Bank continues to make strides under Chorvelle Johnson-Cinningham’s leadership. She has recently completed studies with Harvard University. She continues to weigh in with significant contributions to Sagicor Group and has the respect and admiration of her team. 

Donna Duncan-Scott

Donna Duncan-Scott became CEO of JMMB in 2000 at the age of 36 and stepped down in 2005 to focus on raising her children and transitioning to a role in culture and human development.

She is widely recognised as one of Jamaica’s best performing CEO’s of a homegrown financial institution over the last quarter of a century.

Donna placed people and their welfare at the heart of her management approach. She holds a degree in Industrial Engineering as well as a Master’s in Business Administration. She brought these disciplines to her leadership of the company her mother founded. She continues to make Joan Duncan proud.

The irrepressible Donna Duncan-Scott presided over the formation of JMMB Securities Limited in 2002 and JMMB Insurance Brokers in 2005. She guided JMMB’s listing on the JSE in 2003. She was also at the helm when Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CMMB) was launched. This was a precursor to JMMB planting its flag in Trinidad, Barbados and the Dominican Republic.

In an interview back in 2008, Donna said: “Every decision is not about making money, it’s about serving our clients, serving team members and about making money for our shareholders. In everything, all three have to be considered.

 On knowing what to look for in selecting staff, she added: “Behavioural patterns are as important to us as the technical qualification and now we actually select for both. When  we started out we would look at experience and skills set but we soon understood that we also had to look at the behavioural side and consider if a person’s belief system conforms to what we believe and if they would be willing to live the values.”

Lisa Bell

Lisa Bell was appointed Managing Director of the National Export-Import Bank (EXIM) in 2010 after serving as a Vice President of JAMPRO. She stepped down from that position in 2023. She was a tireless champion of small to medium enterprises and put her heart into finding funding for Jamaican small businesses..

She saw to it that EXIM Bank attained ISO status and presided over loaning out over J$10 billion a year to businesses. She advocated for funds from dormant accounts to be used as low-interest loans for ventures in the productive sector.

In 2021, she said, “Our aim is to delve deeper into the exporting sector and find ways in which we can better serve this group and to leverage emerging trends in areas like e-commerce which can help to catapult our exports into both existing and new markets.”

Lisa also saw to it that EXIM provided loans for solar energy solutions.

She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Miami and now sits on the Board of VM Pension Management.

Speaking on her management style, she said in an interview: “Early in my career, I had the privilege of spending some time with a very successful businessman, I daresay a mogul. He gave me some advice, which I remember was counter to all the management theories which I had been taught at university relating to the importance of detailed analysis in decision-making. 

“He said that sometimes you need to make a decision when you only have 80 per cent of the data and use your gut to guide you. Learning to trust your instincts is important in decision-making because it’s the confluence of all the experiences you have had up to that point. 

“He cautioned that sometimes we get so caught up with overanalysing a problem that we remain frozen in inaction and oftentimes lose the benefits of a speedy decision. I have since learned through experience to learn when to trust my own instincts and act, knowing that I will usually have the time to tweak and/or correct the decision.”

Minna Israel 

With over 30 years in corporate, commercial and retail banking, Minna Israel paved the way for many of today’s top female bankers. They all owe her a debt of gratitude.

Minna should have been the rightful successor of Bill Clarke when Scotiabank Jamaica strode like a Colossus over its dominion. Politics prevented that. In January 2003, she was appointed the first female Country Head at Scotiabank and spent three years as Managing Director of Scotiabank Bahamas, leading 700 employees.

In 2008, she became the President and Country Head of RBC Jamaica/RBTT Bank Jamaica. This was a major appointment as it saw a Jamaican woman heading a leading banking institution in Jamaica.

Minna went on to be elected the first female President of the Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA) in 2009, holding the position until 2011. 

In 2012, she was announced as a Distinguished Business Fellow at the Mona School of Business, the Caribbean’s pre-eminent business school.

She sits on the Board of First Global Bank.

Anne Shirley

No nonsense Renee Anne Shirley took up the position of Managing Director (Chief Country Officer) of CIBC Jamaica Limited in 1999. Before getting the nod for one of the biggest banking jobs in Jamaica at the time, she headed Eagle Unit Trust.

At CIBC Jamaica, Anne oversaw operations of the commercial bank’s 12 branches, trust and merchant bank and building society, managing a staff of 700 persons. Anne was tasked with downsizing the bank’s operations, reducing expenses, executing a major redundancy plan and putting in place Y2K systems.

In 1991, she was appointed Managing Director of Eagle Unit Trusts Management Company Limited. She was hired to turn around the operations of the organisation. She grew its asset base from $4 million to $96 million in June 1993 and gross income from $18 million in 1991 to over $100 million for the fiscal year 1993. Funds under management moved from $46 million to over $400 million in 1993.
Anne has gone on to become a well-sought-after senior consultant locally, regionally and internationally.

Eva Lewis

Eva Lewis has been a respected banker for close to four decades and is viewed as the obvious choice to succeed Peter Moses at Citibank Jamaica.

Today, she is Country Officer and Corporate Bank Head for Citi Jamaica, succeeding Peter Moses in 2017. She is renowned for her expertise in corporate and investment banking. She served as Managing Director of Citi Investment Bank as well as head of Citi Corporate Bank.

Throughout her time as the Corporate Bank head, Eva played a key role in a number of significant transactions that include the two debt exchanges for the government of Jamaica and international bond transactions for both corporate clients and the government.

Speaking during an interview in 2019, Eva said, “Despite the advances in technology, what really counts is client relationships. We need to be with our clients on a continual face-to-face basis in order to serve them appropriately. That is the one thing I believe should not be done virtually. We have a strong banking and product sales team on the ground, which is the key to effective relationship management. We are committed to Jamaica, to supporting its growth and to the development of the nation.”

Jacqueline Sharp

Jacqueline Sharp served as CEO of Scotiabank Jamaica from 2013 to 2017. A twenty-year career at Scotia Group Jamaica saw her hold senior positions in Finance Administration, Risk Management, Treasury, Finance and Private Banking. Today, she is a director of her family business, Coffee Traders Limited and is a co-founder of Qantas Financial Group.

In an interview with Harvard Business Review, Jacqui said, “Being solutions-oriented and forward thinking has worked well for me over the years. So when there’s a problem, I’m less interested in whose fault it was or what went wrong but to focus instead on how we can fix the problem, assigning responsibilities for resolution and ensuring that we prevent the same mistake from happening again.

“I would also say that just focus on excellence and doing everything to the best of your ability. I often say “Never settle for mediocrity with anything you’re doing. Just go for the best and do it  the best way you can.”

Maureen Hayden-Cater

The first decade of this new century was a notable time for women heading banks in Jamaica.
In 2010, Maureen Hayden Cater was appointed President of the GraceKennedy Bank, First Global.
She spent 22 years at Citibank Jamaica and holds a Master of Science Degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics.

In 2015, she was appointed Managing Director of JN Bank and has served as  President of the Jamaica Bankers Association.

In an interview with the IDB, Maureen said: “I am leading the Bank (First Global) at the very best time of my life to do so. I certainly would not have been prepared to assume such a position, not being interested, 20 years ago, because other things were important to me at the time. Things like balancing work and raising my daughters.

“Where I am in life today is more informed by my experiences of harmonising the traditional female gender role with that of the revised definition of leadership.”

Anya Schnoor

Anya Schnoor has been a top banker for over three decades and continues to fly the flag for Jamaica.
Her career is widely admired. Anya remains very personable and takes things in her stride. Anya started as a management trainee with Eagle Unit Trust in 1992 and became General Manager between 1994 and 1998.

She has made her mark in wealth management, insurance and banking. Some of us remember the good work she did at Pan Caribbean back in the day.

She moved to Scotia in 2006, and it was mooted whether she would head Scotia Group Jamaica. She went on to lead Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago as its Managing Director. 

In October 2020, she was appointed EVP for the Caribbean, Central America and Uruguay for Scotiabank’s International Banking Division.

In 2022, she became Chair of Scotia Group Jamaica.

Anya is a top operator at Scotia’s headquarters in Canada and in 2024, was appointed EVP for Global Insurance.

According to Scotiabank’s 2023 Annual Report, insurance underwriting income net of claims brought in CA$482 million.