... Rowe has an extraordinarily brilliant mind

DEVON ROWE, one of the two recipients of the Management Institute for National Development (MIND) Public Life Award for Leadership Excellence, is described as having an extraordinarily brilliant mind and is a distinguished public-service professional, authentic leader and a tough negotiator.

A career public servant, he was appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development in 2005, where he played a lead role in local government reform. Rowe was later assigned as Director General in the Office of the Prime Minister.

In 2010, he assumed the post of Director General in the Ministry of Finance and Planning with the main responsibility to centralise treasury management operations.

He also served as Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service between 2012 and 2016, and under his leadership, the Government improved public financial management and met all conditionalities under the Extended Fund Facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Rowe retired from the ministry in July 2016 and is presently the executive director of the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD).

CARICAD is a regional intergovernmental organisation specialising in transforming and modernising the public sector of Caribbean States.