A proud past student of North Street’s blue and white side, our guest is one whose tenacity has fuelled his many accomplishments including those achieved while serving in organisations such as the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Jamaica Observer.

He has courted failure but has never rested until life-long lessons are learnt— no wonder he defines success as being “meeting failure and not stopping”. He doesn’t even plan to retire, but instead hopes to use the time when he will no longer have to work, to spoil the many grandchildren he will get or to pursue his favourite pastime activity of fishing and hashing (hiking in the bush with friends and then having a beer or two). A man who has already travelled to all continents except Antarctica— his hopes for travel is simply destined for anywhere new.

Q10 this week turns the spotlight on the focused and determine Robin Andrew Levy, group chief executive officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League Limited (JCCUL).

Q10. How would you describe yourself?

LEVY: I think I’m a hard-working man on a mission, who also knows how to have fun.

Q10. What is your greatest strength?

LEVY: Focus and determination. When I’m focused on something, it has my full attention and when I think something is worth doing and is doable, I won’t stop until it’s done. When I’m listening to someone, I focus on really listening. I try not to start thinking about my response, until they’re finished and I think I understand where they’re coming from.

Q10. What were you like in high school?

LEVY: This may sound weird, but I’m not really sure what I was like at St George’s. I guess I was just trying to find out who I was. I was too skinny to be a jock but I played cricket for the school and tried just about every other sport there was too. I also played chess for the school and tried to make that look cool. When it came to schoolwork, I did well enough but never really started applying myself until The University of the West Indies, when there were girls to impress.

Q10. Knowing what you now know, what one piece of advice would you have given to your teenage self ?

LEVY: Not to be so hard on myself and others. I remember once being trusted to bowl the last over to win a cricket match and crying when my ball was knocked out of the park. If that were now, I’d just shrug and say, “It’s just a game.” (That experience made me work harder at my bowling though.)

Q10. What do you love about your job?

LEVY: I love the reason why my job exists, which is to help credit unions serve Jamaicans better, so that they, in turn, can achieve their life goals like to own their own business or buy a car or a house. Credit unions exist because someone has to look at people and not see a dollar sign or an account to be exploited. They exist because of the principles of co-operation for shared benefit and self-empowerment. And I get to be a part of that. What could be better?

Q10. What was one of your most defining moments in life?

LEVY: When my father died. He was a true gentleman, had a great dry sense of humour and was just great to be around, but I was busy building a career and never really saw him as often as I would have liked. It brought home to me how important it is to tell the ones we love that we cherish them. And how important it is to really enjoy life and waste less time on the things that won’t matter one year from now.

Q10. What’s your favourite meal?

LEVY: A mixed seafood platter of fish, shrimp, lobster with lots of vegetables. Thinking about it is making me hungry right now.

Q10. How do you unwind and relax after a long day?

LEVY: Post-COVID… its Netflix and Chill.

Q10. If you were a superhero, what powers would you want?

LEVY: Definitely mind-reading. It would save a lot of time trying to figure out peoples’ motivations.

Q10. If you had a chance for a “do-over” in life, what would you do differently?

LEVY: Not much. I’d have liked to learn to play a musical instrument and speak another language when I was younger because it’s so much harder now.

—Compliled by Kellaray Miles