WASHINGTON DC – Jamaican-born senior specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Dr Winsome Leslie, is the recipient of the 2012 Antonio Ortiz Mena Award, presented by the bank annually.

Dr Leslie is one of only five IDB staff from the Caribbean to have received the award, which was introduced in 1989.  She is currently the Coordinator for the English-speaking Caribbean and Haiti in the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), which is a grant project.

IDB President, Luis Alberto Moreno, commended the Jamaican native for her outstanding project work, during a brief ceremony held at the Bank’s headquarters in Washington DC.,

The Antonio Ortiz Mena award was named for the second President of the Bank, who presided over the institution from 1971 to 1988. Ortiz Mena established the award to recognise staff members who have made outstanding contribution to the work of the institution.

“This award salutes and validates the efforts of not only myself, but my colleagues in the Caribbean, and our efforts to expand the Bank’s involvement in sustainable development in the region,” Dr Leslie said.

“I am pleased and honored to be acknowledged in this way, and this award encourages me to work even harder as an advocate for the Caribbean in the Bank,” she added.

Prior to her position at the IDB, Dr Leslie worked at the Embassy of Jamaica in Washington, DC as Economic Attaché. She also held teaching posts at The American University and Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Dr Leslie is a graduate of the St. Andrew High School and Barnard College, and Columbia University in New York.  

Her parents, Astley and Sybil Leslie, who now reside in Atlanta, Georgia, served respectively as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour, and Principal Lecturer at the Shortwood Teacher’s College.