This article outlines the top 10 Most Influential People in Barbados in 2018.
Barbados is the wealthiest and most developed country in the Eastern Caribbean and enjoys one of the highest per capita incomes in the region. Historically, the Barbadian economy was dependent on sugarcane cultivation and related activities. However, in recent years the economy has diversified into light industry and tourism with about four-fifths of GDP and of exports being attributed to services.
INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE IN BARBADOS
10. Sir Elliott Fitzroy Belgrave
Sir Elliott Fitzroy Belgrave, GCMG, KA, CHB, QC (born 16 March 1931), is a Barbadian retired High Court Judge who served as Governor-General of Barbados from 1 June 2012 to 30 June 2017. He previously served as Acting Governor-General from 1 November 2011 to 1 June 2012 (following the retirement of Clifford Husbands).
On 22 May 2012, the Prime Minister of Barbados announced that Belgrave would be appointed as the 7th Barbadian Governor-General of Queen Elizabeth II. In preparation, Justice Sandra Mason was appointed as acting Governor-General on 30 May 2012 pending Belgrave’s preparation for his own oath-taking ceremony on 1 June.
He is married to Loretta Belgrave, and together they have a daughter named Susan Matheson.
He is a Freemason, and a Past District Grand Master of the District Grand Lodge of Barbados (Scottish Constitution).
9. Maxine McClean
Maxine McCleanis the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Barbados, in office since 2008.
McClean is a graduate of the University of the West Indies. While she was there she received second class honors in Public Administration. McClean was also a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies. In 1999, she established her own consulting firm.
A few years later, in January 2008, Maxine was invited to join the Barbados Cabinet as a minister in the Prime Minister’s office. Eleven months after this, she was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
8. Sandra Mason
Dame Sandra Mason, GCMG, DA, QC (born 17 January 1949) is the Governor-General of Barbados. She was a practising Attorney-at-Law who has served as a High Court judge in Saint Lucia and a Court of Appeal judge in Barbados. She was the first woman admitted to the Bar in Barbados.
She served as chair of the CARICOM commission to evaluate regional integration, was the first magistrate appointed as an Ambassador from Barbados, and was the first woman to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals. She was the first Bajan appointee to the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal and served briefly as the Governor General of Barbados.
She has been called one of the 10 most powerful women in Barbados. In 2017, she was appointed as the 8th Governor General of Barbados, with a term beginning on 8 January 2018. Simultaneously with her appointment, Mason was awarded the Dame Grand Cross in the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George. On assumption of the office of Governor-General, Dame Sandra Mason, under the Order of the Dame of Saint Andrew, became the Chancellor and Principal Dame of Saint Andrew.