Use the latest browser recommended by Microsoft
Get speed, security and privacy with Microsoft Edge
Good evening.
What a genuine pleasure it is to be here with all of you tonight doing the most important thing a leader can do: recognising the people who make this institution what it is.
Tonight, under our theme “Inspiring Excellence: Celebrating Our Stars,” we pause. We look at one another. And we say, without qualification: you matter, your work matters, and tonight is yours.
We are here to celebrate 59 members of our Bank family. Twenty-nine colleagues will receive Special Awards which honour exceptional performance, innovation, collaboration, and service that goes well beyond expectation. Thirty colleagues will receive Long-Service Awards, marking milestones from five to a remarkable 45 years. Those numbers are impressive and they represent commitment, continuity, and contribution. They are the story of people who chose, year after year, to give their very best to this institution and to the country we serve.
I first walked through the doors of this Bank in the summer of 1995, as an intern, and joined the staff as a research officer in January 1996. I went on to spend seventeen years here, rising to Director of Research and Economic Analysis, before my years at the IMF and in service to the Government. So when I returned as Governor in 2023, I arrived with many things: a set of priorities, a deep respect for this institution’s history, and a genuine excitement about what we could become. But above all else, I arrived with a conviction that has shaped every decision I have made since.
That conviction is captured in two words: internalising excellence.
I did not mean excellence as a slogan on a wall or a metric in a report. I meant excellence as a way of being; something that lives inside each of us, that governs how we approach our work when no one is watching, how we treat the colleague beside us, and how we serve the members of the public who trust us with something as vital as the stability of their country’s economy.
Excellence in fulfilling our most fundamental mandate: maintaining the fixed exchange rate peg and promoting financial stability. That peg is not a technicality. It is the foundation of economic confidence for every Barbadian household and business, and it is our responsibility to protect it with the highest standard of professional conduct every single day.
When I look around this room tonight, in the faces of the colleagues we honour, I see what internalising excellence looks like when it truly takes root.
Excellence does not always announce itself loudly. More often, it reveals itself through consistency, through people who prepare thoroughly, support their teams, and care deeply about the quality of their work.
To our Special Award recipients: we are recognising you because you have stood out in ways that uplift others. Whether for innovation, leadership, teamwork, service excellence, or going above and beyond, these honours reflect not just what you have done, but how you have done it. You remind every one of us in this room that excellence is intentional, sustained and beautifully contagious.
Excellence, however, is never achieved in isolation. It is built in teams, reinforced through trust, and sustained by shared purpose. Every role matters. Whether your contribution is highly visible or quietly dependable, each effort compounds to create the institutional excellence that underpins everything we do. In a central bank, where credibility, accuracy, and professionalism are non-negotiable, that collective standard is not a luxury, it is the very currency of our credibility.
To our long-service awardees, tonight is about far more than tenure.
Reaching five years at the Central Bank of Barbados is an achievement. Reaching 45 is a legacy. Between those milestones lie careers shaped by organisational change, economic cycles, technological transformation, and moments of national challenge. Yet through it all, you remained steady, adaptable, and committed to this institution’s core purpose.
You carry institutional memory that no system can store and no policy can replace. You have mentored colleagues who are now leaders. You have shaped our culture simply by the standard you set and the way you show up, every single day. You have been custodians of our values… integrity, diligence, and public trust… ensuring they were not diluted as we evolved through each new chapter of our journey. That continuity is invaluable, particularly as we navigate a complex and rapidly shifting global environment where experience and sound judgment remain irreplaceable.
Your service matters. Your loyalty matters. Your example matters. And tonight, we honour all three.
And to the retirees who join us this evening: the Bank we are proud of today rests in large part on the foundations you laid. We remain grateful for your service, and for the standard you set for those of us who followed.
It is especially fitting that we gather this evening at The Concorde Experience, a venue that embodies ambition, precision, innovation, and the relentless pursuit of excellence. Concorde was more than an aircraft. It was proof of what is possible when vision meets discipline, when a team refuses to accept anything less than the extraordinary.
In many ways, it mirrors the journey of this institution. We, too, are in the business of performing flawlessly, consistently, and with consequences that matter deeply to the lives of real people. The people we honour tonight through their dedication and their standards are our own version of that ambition made real.
As we celebrate excellence across the Bank, I want to take a moment to recognise the team driving one of our most significant strategic initiatives: BiMPay. Their work represents innovation in action, a clear example of how this institution is evolving in deliberate, impactful service of Barbados. And on Tuesday, I encourage all staff to join us in the Courtney Blackman Grande Salle for BiMPay Unlocked, an informative and fun session to help staff understand the ins and outs of our IPS before we go live early next month. See you there!
Though our June 12 go-live date is still ahead of us, excellence is not only what we celebrate at the finish line, it is what we sustain throughout the journey. The BiMPay team embodies that. Please join me in giving them a well-deserved round of applause. And later, we pay tribute to them in a special video.
As we look ahead, let us carry from tonight a renewed sense of purpose. The expectations placed on central banks are growing. And meeting those expectations will require the same commitment to professionalism and continuous improvement that our awardees exemplify.
When we inspire excellence in one another, when we model it, encourage it, and celebrate it, just as we are doing tonight, we ensure that the Central Bank of Barbados remains what it must always be: resilient, respected, and ready for whatever comes next.
To all our awardees: congratulations. You have earned this moment completely, and I thank you sincerely for what you bring to this institution and to this country.
To the organising committee, led by Shakera Williams, and to everyone who worked behind the scenes to bring this evening together, thank you. You have given your colleagues the celebration they richly deserve.
And to the entire staff of the Central Bank of Barbados: may tonight remind us all of who we are, what we stand for, and what we are capable of together.
Enjoy the evening. Celebrate one another. Excellence is not an event, a programme, or an award. It is a choice we make every day. So let us keep internalising it, inspiring it in one another, and together building a Central Bank that Barbados will always trust. And once again, congratulations to all our stars.
Thank you.