The University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) yesterday said it was struggling to come to terms with the sad and sudden passing on Saturday of Dr Rickert Allen.

Allen, chairman of the UCC board and senior general manager in charge of the group human resources and facilities division at National Commercial Bank (NCB), passed away at his home in Mandeville.

“We cannot believe that he is really gone, and wish to tender our deepest condolences to his family,” the university said in a statement to the press.

“Dr Allen was deeply committed to his University of the Commonwealth Caribbean role – first as a board member, from late 2017 to May 2019, then as board chairman – in helping the university to move forward, always seeking to bring his best competences to bear on the applied meaning of the term ‘effective governance’ in this context,” UCC said.

It continued: “He was wont to comment, now and then, that, ‘We are living in volatile, uncertain, confusing and ambiguous times,’ and that it was essential for an organisation seeking to position itself for success to be very agile and take a long, strategic view of the business environment, rising above the pressures and clamor of the moment”.

Dr Allen joined NCB in January 2002 as assistant general manager, HR and was promoted to general manager before being promoted to the senior post. He holds a DBA from the University of the West Indies (UWI).

He was a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, he served on the board of HEART Institute of the Caribbean, and was a member of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s education committee, the Society for Human Resource Management, the Human Capital Institute and the UWI Mentorship Programme.