Erica Virtue Senior Gleaner Writer PAMELAMONROE-ELLIS could not have imagined that her carefree days in St Mary sailing down the hill from her house on coconut boughs – the only girl among several cousins and brothers – was preparation for the job she now holds as Auditor General of Jamaica. How? Well, not only does that activity have pitfalls, it is not lost on her that her current post could be the same, except, not on her watch. Not with the team she leads. Not with the rigour, integrity and authority of reports produced.And when a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) years ago tested her authority, it publicly demonstrated the substance fromwhich the Government’s chief auditor is made. Early in her tenure, a former finance minister attempted to introduce a letter into a PACmeeting explaining expenditure in the matter being discussed. It was a letter that should have been sent to her office that may, or may not, have impacted the deliberations. Immediately she objected to its introduction. The former finance minister pushed hard. She insisted. He pushed back. She pushed back. He backed off. PETITE POWERHOUSE The unfolding of events was not lost on two reporters in the press box from different media houses who stared at each other asking what just happened. What happened was that a fresh-faced, petite powerhouse put her foot down with impossible calm and dignity, and said no. Pamela Monroe-Ellis had just delivered a massive body blow to a parliamentary committee, the public and naysayers who had earlier questioned her capacity, suitability and authority for the position of Auditor General of Jamaica. Standing her ground in her formative years among boys prepared her. Cr ed i t i ng he r father with playing an important role in her life, young Pamela’s first choice of profession was a hotel manager after family visits to the Turtle Towers Hotel. Her father prompted her to study accounts and the daddy’s girl acquiesced. “Compared to my children, I am thinking now that I was a very compliant child, as I followed the plan, for accountancy, not auditing, which I would later learn at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which was my first job,” she shared with The Sunday Gleaner, telling where it all started. It was there that she completed her ACCA examinations. Despite her father being the exclusive distributor and later owner of the Encyclopaedia Britannica business in Jamaica, Pamela was not a nerd. Free-spirited, lover of the outdoors, she is not always hunkered over books, either. She loves to try new things and loves working with her hands. She also loves interior decorating. Pamela left PWC and joined her father’s business, but after some time he told her to apply for jobs as he could not pay her the salary her training commanded. She would later apply to the Services Commission but was called by theAuditor General’s Department and believes she was led there. She began her job on April Fool’s Day (April 1) in 1997, and the rest is history. The would-be hotel manager became the first woman since John Wilson (1829-1850) to head the powerful Auditor General’s Department. She pays homage to the man she succeeded,Adrian Strachan, who was her boss for 29 years, before retiring in 2008. “I applied for a director position, but Mr Strachan called me and said ‘not only are you younger than I anticipated, but you look even much younger than I anticipated’. He said ‘it would not be fair to put you in that position, because people who are twice your age would be reporting to you. But I have a position for you. Senior auditor, two positions below director’. He said, ‘are you interested?’ “I said ‘what’s the scope for growth?’ He said ‘tremendous’. I said ‘OK’,” she recounted. “Within three months he promoted me to director,” she said, recalling THE SUNDAY GLEANER, MARCH 6, 2022 | NEWS A2 PLEASE SEE FEARLESS, A10 The fearless Pamela Monroe-Ellis Auditor General packs power in her petite frame Erica Virtue Senior Gleaner Writer AUDREY TUGWELL could have held down an evening or night job as a radio announcer among some of the finest female voices to have graced Jamaican radio in the early 1980s. The alluring voice was, still is, as captivating as it is convincing. Instead, the pretty teenager with the perfect dark skin tone and ready-made broad smile entered Church Teachers’ College (CTC) in September 1982 with the sole intention of becoming a teacher. She did just that, majoring in English (Language and Literature) and Physical Education. At CTC, she would become part of the college’s debating team, played netball (a sport she loves dearly) and volleyball. After graduation, her entry and stay in the profession would be brief, however, as she could not secure a permanent position. She worked for a teacher on leave for a year and when that ended, she was asked to work for a teacher on maternity leave for three months. But fate intervened. With the need for permanent employment, a friend told Tugwell that a bank in Montego Bay, St James, needed tellers.With no business subjects, experience or godfather in the industry, and on her way to the teaching job, she made a bold move. Tugwell stopped to make enquiries at the bank, which turned into an interview and job offer. She was now in a small dilemma, as she was committed to her teaching but with a permanent job now in hand, she made the only choice she could – take the banking job. Despite her love for teaching, from the moment she began working as a teller, she knew this was where she wanted to be. This would not be the only bold move she would make. “The whole energy, the professionalism, the whole deportment, the way they delivered the service, how they managed the business, the whole environment – I just absolutely fell in love with the job,” she told The Sunday Gleaner. That was 1987. Fast-forward nearly 35 years later in 2020 when international banking corporation Scotiabank announced the appointment ofAudrey Tugwell-Henry as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of its Jamaican group operations, effective January 1, 2021. Her responsibility in the North and Central regions also covers the islands of The Bahamas, Cayman and Turks and Caicos. This is how the Canadabased multinational banking and financial organisation described Tugwell-Henry when it announced her appointment: “A seasoned executive with over 30 years of financial services experience in Jamaica, Tugwell-Henry has been responsible for retail banking since 2017. Audrey is uniquely suited to lead Scotiabank Jamaica. She is a transformational leader who has consistently demonstrated that she is a catalyst for our performance culture and customer focus,” said Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Deschamps, group head of International Banking and Digital Transformation, Scotiabank. EARLY YEARS The road between 1987 and today was paved towards an upward trajectory for Tugwell-Henry, and she grabbed it with both hands. Hurricane Gilbert would intervene shortly after her tenure in banking and the decision to do further studies at The University of the West Indies (UWI). Her university acceptance necessitated a transfer to a Kingston branch of the then Mutual Security Bank. With plans in motion for the move, not even the devastation caused by the Category 5 hurricane stopped them. Armed with a suitcase, which included a kerosene lamp (Gilbert knocked out electricity for much of the island for an extended period), the determined young woman headed to Kingston. She began to read for a degree The formidable Audrey Tugwell-Henry Jamaica and the Caribbean’s top-notch banking boss FILE PHOTOS “I am mindful that I don’t send that report to Parliament thinking that I have friends. But I send the report being dispassionate, recognising my responsibility under the Constitution of Jamaica and also to the people of this department”: Pamela Monroe-Ellis, Auditor General of Jamaica. Pamela Monroe-Ellis, Auditor General of Jamaica. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS “This is a fabulous time and I very excited. I am also excited about what it holds for women, having watched the banking industry over three decades and seen that shift”: Audrey Tugwell Henry, president and chief executive officer of Scotiabank. Audrey Tugwell Henry, president and chief executive officer of Scotiabank PLEASE SEE BANKING, A10 5 3 13 13 22 4 6 7 12 20 4 5 6 9 14 11 13 15 17 21 22 18 14 7 1 7 1 3 20 Winners $1,000 ea. No Winner No Winner No Winner No Winner No Winner 16 Winners $1,053 ea. 289 Winners $200 ea. 252 Winners $222 ea. 44 Winners $1,000 ea. 465 Winners $200 ea. 26 Winners $1,239 ea. 499 Winners $206 ea. 65 Winners $1,126 ea. 1,138 Winners $205 ea. 24 13 33 2 4 25 29 18 18 6 9 9 1 4 7 6 3 4 3 3 9 3 1 7 7 1 7 11 14 $800,000 1 Winner $800,000 64 Winners $961 ea. 1,279 Winners $87 ea. 22 6 8 16 23 35 36 13 5 3 22 4 7 10 21 28 33 6 3 22 No Winner No Winner 10 Winners $8,471 ea. 24 Winners $451 ea. 364 Winners $217 ea. 4,885 Winners $100 ea. $35,000,000 0 6 3 6 4 7 3 7 4 8 4 4 9 8 6 0 1 7 3 3 $307,000,000 2, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 2122, 29, 30, 33 2, 8, 14, 15, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 31, 33, 34 1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 21, 24, 25, 26 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 20, 27, 31, 34 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 12, 17, 20, 21, 22, 35, 36 28 W 25 25 21 27 7 W M W M W 7 W 13 W 6 M 1 W 12 M W 1
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