PROMINENT Jamaican businesswoman Audrey Hinchcliffe has been invited by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to sit on the US Department of State’s new International Council on Women’s Business Leadership (ICWBL) for a two-year term.

Clinton, who wrote to Hinchcliffe in August extending the invitation, said the main objective of the ICWBL will be to “advise the US Department of State in the formulation of US policy, positions, proposals, and strategies for multilateral and bilateral negotiations, business outreach, and commercial diplomacy, particularly pertaining to the economic empowerment of women for global economic prosperity”.

Clinton also explained that the council will “provide advice on major issues and challenges in international business and economic policy, including effective integration of business interests and economic empowerment into overall foreign policy; appraisal of the role and limits of international economic institutions from a gender-specific perspective; and provide information and advice on the Department of State’s role in advancing and promoting the role of women in a competitive lobal economy”.

The ICWBL, which will be chaired by Clinton, comprises a number of world leaders drawn from the USA, foreign, public and private sector organisations and institutions with an interest in increasing the leadership role of women in international business and economic policy.

Vice chairs are Cherie Blair, founder of Matrix Chambers and the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women; and Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo.

In accepting the invitation, Hinchcliffe said she welcomed the opportunity to serve on the council. “I see it not only as a chance to contribute to the development process, but also as a vote of confidence for Jamaican women. I trust that this team will break new ground, and, hopefully, make meaningful change in advancing the cause of women as well as seek solutions to some of the global challenges faced by women.”

Hinchcliffe, the principal of Caribbean Health Management Consultants Limited and chief executive officer of Manpower and Maintenance Services Limited, was twice nominated for the prestigious Observer Business Leader award for the years 2001 and 2007.

Hinchcliffe is the founder of Manpower and Maintenance, one of the Caribbean’s leading facilities maintenance operations. She has had an outstanding career in the local and regional health sector, has also held related positions in the USA and the Caribbean, and has served several international organisations.

She was the first female president of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation and is currently a director of the board of GraceKennedy.

She is the recipient of several awards for exceptional managerial, leadership and business skills, including the Ernst & Young Award for Entrepreneurship, and enjoys the distinction of being among the Daily Gleaner Top 10 Phenomenal Women (2006), the Jamaica Observer’s 50 Most Influential Women (2007), and Jamaica Business Magazine’s 10 Most Influential Business Women (2007). She is also a recipient of the Order of Distinction, Commander Class.

“I am confident that my experience and years of service in Jamaica, the USA, the Caribbean and internationally, will contribute to the deliberations of the ICWBL,” she said. “Most of all, I look forward to working with the council members to meet the organisation’s game-changing goals and objectives.”

The council’s inaugural meeting is scheduled for November.