Top biz execs ‘to look at UWI Cave Hill financial woes’

A high-powered team of regional business executives is to form a “Corporate Investment Committee” to help the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill with risk management through its financial struggles, UWI Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has announced.

Representatives are to meet with the Mia Mottley administration next week to help put together a “high-level team” to examine the financially struggling institution’s balance sheet, said Sir Hilary on Friday during the Council Meeting of the Cave Hill Campus.

He said: “We have brought on board some of the finest financial corporate leaders in the region, and we have brought them hitherto, to constitute themselves into a committee which we have called the Corporate Investment Committee.

“All of these very brilliant financial leaders in the private sector who now represent a group within the UWI system will help the university in the areas of risk management, capital allocation, all of these corporate functions that are necessary as UWI now goes to the global and regional market.”

That committee is to be led by the Chief Executive Officer of Jamaica National Group, Earl Jarrett; President and Chief Executive Officer of Sagicor Financial Corporation, Dodridge Miller; and Gerry Brooks, a former senior executive of the Ansa McAL conglomerate.

Sir Hilary explained that there were also concerns over the impact of arrears on the university’s balance sheet, the impairment of those arrears and pension liability which needed to be addressed.

“These three forces, from time to time they collide and create a negative circumstance in what would otherwise be a positive circumstance,” said Sir Hilary.

He explained that “these forces” that were affecting the university’s finances were outside the control of the institution’s management and it was critical that they find a way to address it.

“We have invited Prime Minister Mia Mottley to put together a high-level team to examine these forces that do adversely impact the balances sheet from time to time,” the vice-chancellor said, adding that the team would “examine the circumstance to see how they can be handled and how hopefully, we can have them in a circumstance where they do not appear to be driving a deficit on the balance sheet because ideally speaking we would like to carve them out and put them aside so they do not contaminate our balance sheet”.

“So we are looking forward to the first meeting next week where Prime Minister Mottley will meet her team to see how best to strategise to handle these matters so that the university’s financials, from time to time, are not adversely affected by forces beyond the control of management,” he said.

Sir Hilary did not say whether the two teams would be volunteering their services or if they would be compensated, but pointed out that with these and other initiatives the future of the UWI “looks very bright”. (MM)