Maureen Denton is home for good
MAUREEN Denton speaks of the Jamaica of her childhood with a smile in her eyes. She has fond memories of early life with her parents, five sisters and one brother in Mavis Bank, St Andrew; Easington, St Thomas, and Goshen, St Elizabeth — wherever dad’s job as an agricultural extension officer dictated they reside.
She left Jamaica in 1969 for studies in the United States of America and did exceptionally well — a Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts in Spanish and French at Queens College, a Master’s in international relations at the Columbia University School of International Affairs; and a law degree from Columbia University Law School, New York.
Professionally, Denton has done it all. She has worked for major brands like AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Tyco Electronics and CISCO. She is a former vice-president and associate general counsel for the esteemed investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co, New York, where she structured and negotiated multimillion-dollar commercial, development and intellectual property agreements.
In a legal career spanning two decades, she provided consulting services to private companies and government entities in structuring and negotiating both domestic and international transactions.
She lectured in International politics and Caribbean and African American Literature at Hunter College of the City University of New York, and worked in Zimbabwe as a management consultant in agriculture and manufacturing.
Throughout her journey, Jamaica has always been uppermost in Denton’s mind. She stayed close to home (at least in her heart) as co-founder and head for over a decade of the Research Committee of Jamaica (New York), an organisation dedicated to providing information and hosting conferences and forums on topical issues related to the social, economic and political development of Jamaica and improving the education of young people in Jamaica.
This impressive resume, Denton says, has prepared her for the next phase of her career, this time based in her beloved Jamaica — at last.
Now she serves as executive director/head of secretariat of the Economic Growth Council (EGC), the organisation appointed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in 2016 to consult widely and advise Cabinet on a collection of broad platform policies and reforms that would facilitate economic growth. She says the mission of the EGC aligns perfectly with her passion for the country of her birth and her determination to help deliver both economic and social growth on the island.
From her vantage as head of secretariat, Denton is orchestrating the many collaborations between public and private sector agencies, professional groups and individuals with the council. Since September 26, 2016, the secretariat has scheduled over 118 of these. Under the chairmanship of Michael Lee-Chin, the council is working with its partners across the island to achieve the target that he set of five per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product in four years.
After long days of meetings and consultations, Denton’s satisfaction comes from seeing the various agencies following through with policies and activities that redound to the benefit of Jamaicans.
One example is the recent Bank of Jamaica reduction of capital requirements for loans to small and medium enterprises in Jamaica. The amendment allows for capital relief for the portion of an SME loan that has a Development Bank of Jamaica guarantee under the credit enhancement facility programme. Denton says this holds tremendous opportunity for SMEs in particular, as it should result in greater access to finance and the opportunity to strengthen and expand their businesses. It’s the sort of outcome she hopes for across the eight growth initiatives presented by the EGC to the Cabinet last September.
She feels that with all Jamaica working together, appreciable success can be achieved in all of these areas. It is imperative, she says, in restoring many of the simple pleasures she enjoyed as a girl and dreamed of experiencing again when she returned home.
