DR William Warren Smith, who currently serves as the Director of Finance & Corporate Planning at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), is Jamaica’s choice to be the new president of the institution over the next five years.

Dr Smith, a Jamaican, conceptualised and developed the financial instrument which was eventually called “The Finsac Paper”, which was used by the Government of Jamaica as its principal mechanism for intervening in the failed banks and insurance companies during the country’s financial crisis in the latter part of the 1990s.

More recently he has championed the need for far-reaching internal reforms at the CDB in an effort to improve efficiency, reduce administrative expenses and enhance special delivery. He managed to galvanise support within the CDB and helped to design a financial rescue package for the regional airline LIAT, which provided Caribbean shareholder governments with a viable alternative to the Allen Stanford-led bid to acquire the airline. Dr Smith has also served as CEO of Prudential Stockbrokers Ltd as well as CEO of LIAT. During the 1980s he was the Director of Economics and Planning at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica. The 1990s saw him as the Vice-President of Investments at life insurance giant, Life of Jamaica.

In 1974 he received a degree in Economics (magna cum laude) from Cornell University. Three years later he obtained a Master’s in Agricultural Economics, again from Cornell University. In 1985, he completed a PhD in Resource Economics and Public Policy at Cornell University. As well as English, he speaks Spanish and French fluently.

Speaking with Caribbean Business Report, the Minister of Finance Audley Shaw said: “Dr Warren Smith has been nominated by the Government of Jamaica for the upcoming presidency of the CDB. The incumbent, Dr Compton Bourne, is seeking to be renominated but we believe Dr Smith will serve the region very well. He is a career development economist who has held senior positions across the Caribbean. He is now acting vice-president of the CDB.

“Throughout the 40-year history of the CDB, although Jamaica (the largest shareholder with 17.4 per cent) together with Trinidad& Tobago has 35 per cent of the shares of the institution, we have never named a president to the CDB.”

Dr Compton Bourne, who is nearing 70, has already served two terms and is now seeking a third term. It is generally felt that the CDB needs a change of leadership that will bring new dynamism to the organisation.

Shaw continued: “While in Washington, earlier this month, I put it to my Caribbean colleagues that we are not backing a new candidate simply because he is Jamaican. The fact is the organisation is in need of an injection of new energy and a new philosophical approach to how the CDB can be an effective partner in the region’s efforts in going for growth. I’ve put it on the table that there is a need for new leadership. Dr Warren Smith is the right person at the right time to become the president of the CDB. We are hoping that members of the Caribbean will coalesce around his candidacy.”

Dr Bourne is a Barbadian, and the other nominee, Winston Cox, is also from Barbados.

Dr Warren Smith persuaded the senior management of the Bank to place the CDB in the lead role of a multilateral development bank initiative (comprised of World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and CDB) to assist the Government of Jamaica in devising strategies to address its debt dynamics and to provide low-cost financing in support of far-reaching reforms. Dr Warren Smith led the first CDB mission to present the findings of the study carried out on Jamaica’s debt situation.