Former president of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Warren Smith, passed away yesterday.
A Jamaican, he is credited with transforming the CDB, putting in place structural improvements and aligning it more closely with the international multilateral agencies. He was president from 2011 to 2021 and retired on April 30, 2021, subsequently leaving Barbados to return to Jamaica.
Smith first joined CDB in 1985 and was elected as the fifth president of the regional finance institution based in Barbados, at a special meeting of the CDB Board of Governors held on October 29, 2010, succeeding Dr Compton Bourne, after acting in the capacity of vice-president (operations).
Current CDB president Daniel Best, in paying tribute, stated: “Dr Smith was a mentor and a guide to me at many critical junctures during my career. He devoted his life’s work to the proposition that Caribbean people deserve strong, modern institutions that are fully on their side.
“When he assumed office as president of CDB in 2011, he guided the institution through some of its most challenging moments with steadiness, resolve, and an unwavering belief in what the Bank could and should represent for the region. He demanded excellence from those around him because he believed deeply in our collective responsibility to serve the Caribbean with integrity, rigour and purpose. His legacy lives on in the institution he helped strengthen, the people he shaped, and the development path he helped chart for our region,” he added.
“The Caribbean has lost a giant of the development movement. However, the work he began is now ours to carry forward as we strengthen the institution he helped shape and advance the Caribbean future he believed in so deeply.”
Best said a condolence book will be available for signing at the bank’s Wildey, St Michael, headquarters from 10 a.m. on Monday. (GC)
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