ACTING chief executive officer of the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) Michelle McIntosh Harvey has already hit the ground running and hopes to “bring the CPFSA to its full potential, ensuring that all God’s children are well served”.

“They must leave better from their encounter with the agency. It also means assisting the staff to reach their full potential. By thy works you will be known. This means that our stakeholders, our public, will see our work and be proud to have such an entity protecting and serving our children.

“We are but stewards and we will have to give account here in this life and when we transition,” McIntosh Harvey said.

McIntosh Harvey is often described as a woman with a heart of gold.

The youngest of three children to Beryl and Martin, McIntosh was born and raised in Kingston where she attended St Andrew High School for Girls before moving on to do her BSc in Management at The University of the West Indies and then the Emile Wolfe Accountancy College, where she was successful in her ACCA exams and became a chartered accountant.

Her career in accounting saw her doing stints at the Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC) as an audit manager, Gane Jackson Scott (London), and the Jamaica Football Federation as its director of finance.

In 2004 she joined the Child Development Agency, now CPFSA, as its director of financial management and accounting services, but though a numbers girl by heart, one thing remained constant for McIntosh Harvey — her love for children.

This was demonstrated through the care and interest shown toward children in her neighbourhood, her own nieces and nephews, and children in State care.

While not a biological mother, unless you knew that, you would never guess, as McIntosh Harvey’s home was always filled with children, especially during the holiday periods when she would carry home those in State care so they could experience what a true Jamaican Christmas with family was like.

Eventually this selfless service, like kismet, caused McIntosh Harvey to fall in love with one of the children, now a teenager, whom she eventually adopted.

Her acts of service also extend beyond her care for children as McIntosh Harvey is a former two-time president of the Lions Club of Kingston, and today serves the club as its service chair. She also served as a zone chairman in charge of eight Lions Clubs and seven Leo Clubs in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. For her service she was awarded the highest honour in Lionism, the Melvin Jones Fellowship.

This involvement has seen her being a former board member of the Heart Foundation of Jamaica, which provides medical services, relief and care to Jamaicans in need.

She is also serving in the capacity of a justice of the peace since 2016.

McIntosh Harvey has also been serving her church as assistant treasurer and treasurer for many years and is currently a part of the finance committee.

In addition, she serves as chairman for the events planning committee of the CPFSA, guiding the planning of major conferences, both local and international, the 10th anniversary suite of activities in 2014, and other smaller local events such as the CSEC annual awards ceremony for wards of the State.

“As a child of God my purpose is service. Service to my fellow man and to my country through God’s grace and mercy,” she said.

Outside of work, church and Lions Club, McIntosh Harvey enjoys dancing, event planning, designing and sewing wedding dresses and other formal attire as well as baking what she describes as a mean bread pudding and Christmas cake.

Above all, she holds true to her philosophy in life: “Whatever you do, do so as unto God. It will always be well done.”