Unquestionably, HEART has been a driver for the development of Jamaica’s key economic sectors and is widely acknowledged for its significant impact on the Tourism sector. For the 2021/2022 operational period, 15,817 persons were enrolled in HEART hospitality training programmes, a sizeable 14% of the Agency’s total training enrolment. This outcome was well ahead of the planned target and demonstrates HEART/NSTA’s consistency in meeting the manpower needs of Jamaica’s number one industry. Where it all started The HEART Academy for Resort Skills, to be later named the Runaway Bay HEART Hotel and Training Institute, opened its doors in 1986 to 75 students. Janet Dyer, who would rise to become a Director/Principal of the HEART College of Hospitality Services and the Managing Director of HEART/NTA, was the Class Valedictorian among that first batch of Runaway graduates, who were offered jobs snapped up by industry. By 1988, trainee enrolment was doubled as demand grew for hospitality training, and so too did the competition among the hotel properties. It was a common occurrence for Executive Chefs and HR Managers to visit the Academy during training hours to spy out and earmark trainees for future employment. After a brief stint in the work-world, Janet Dyer returned to HEART Runaway Bay, where she has led a distinguished career as a gifted learning facilitator and a competent TVET leader. Dr Dyer’s passion for lifelong learning and her detail-oriented approach to preparing countless numbers of skilled, certified employees for the hospitality sector has won her the plaudits of employers and employees alike in the tourism industry, elevating her to iconic mentor status and ‘mother figure’ among many HEART graduates. Moving into Higher-level Training In 2003, HEART responded to the demand for higher-level training and certification by employers in the hospitality/tourism industry by rolling out the Commis Chef (junior chef) and Executive Chef programmes in collaboration with the New York-based Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and the American Culinary Federation (ACF). These programmes, which benefited fromthe inputsof local industryexperts, generated great excitement across the tourism belt, especially among kitchen staff in the hotel properties. It was a marquee moment in 2006 when the Programme graduated its first six Jamaican Executive Chefs, Lincoln Peterkin, Karl Thomas, Fay Dawkins, Shaun Bryan, Raymond Samuels, Kurt McCormack, who were duly immortalized by the industry as the Magnificent Six, proof positive that HEART had a winning strategy to create a critical mass of Jamaican Executive Chefs for Jamaica’s worldclass tourism product Since then, the HEART-CIA collaboration has grown into an intensive high-level programme to produce Certified Culinarians, Chefs de Cuisine, and Executive Chefs programmes with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). In the past 10 years, the Programme has produced 69 certified professionals, 18 of whom are Jamaican Executive Chefs, who are advancing Jamaican cuisine in their properties and on the international stage, while commanding salaries commensurate with their value, experience and qualifications. TRAINING LEADER FOR JAMAICA’S HOSPITALITY/TOURISM INDUSTRY CONTINUED ON PAGE 29
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