 Karen
Ford-Warner has recently assumed the post of Head of the School
of Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of
Technology, Jamaica. Prior to this, she was Deputy Secretary
General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, a position
she took up from January 01, 1999. In that capacity she had
primary responsibility for the portfolios of Communications
and Sustainable Tourism Development, as well as several aspects
of Membership Development and Personnel Management within
the Organization. She also acted in the position of Secretary
General.
A Jamaican national, she served, prior to this posting, as
the chief advisor to Jamaica’ s Minister of Tourism.
As Director General in the Tourism Division in the Office
of the Prime Minister (now Ministry of Industry and Tourism)
she was responsible for coordinating the development and implementation
of the appropriate policies and strategies that would facilitate
and encourage growth in Jamaica’s tourism sector. Under
her portfolio fell the Jamaica Tourist Board, the Tourism
Product Development Company, Jamaica Vacation Limited and
Jamaica Reservation Services Limited.
In carrying out this mandate she initiated the process which
has produced the first Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism
Development in Jamaica. She was also instrumental in the establishment
of a Planning Unit in the Tourism Division and for the rationalization
and reorganization of the Division and its agencies, creating
a more dynamic and responsive public sector presence in Jamaica’s
tourist industry.
Mrs. Ford-Warner has also served as Chief Legal Counsel and
Company Secretary for the Jamaica Commodity Trading Company,
the government owned trading corporation that was charged
with managing imports and sustaining an uninterrupted supply
of basic foods, pharmaceuticals and fertilizers at competitive
prices to the nation.
A holder of a law degree from the University of the West
Indies and a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School, Mrs.
Ford-Warner also graduated, cum laude, from Harvard University’s
Radcliffe College with a BA degree in sociology with special
emphasis on development. She holds a MA degree in international
educational development from Columbia University and a Masters
degree in public administration from Harvard’s John
F. Kennedy School of Government.
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