Karen Malcolm (born 1963) is a politician in the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...

. From 2016 to 2021, she was a member of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

and the islands' minister of education, youth, culture, social, and library services.

Biography

Malcolm was born in 1963 in Back Salina,

Grand Turk Island Grand Turk Island is an island in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is the largest island in the Turks Islands (the smaller of the two archipelagos that make up the island territory) with . Grand Turk contains the territory's capital, Cockburn T ...

. She was raised there and then in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

, where she was sent to live after her mother died when she was eight years old. She became the first employee from Turks and Caicos of the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

Bahamas, where she worked first in the Bahamas and then back in Turks and Caicos beginning in 1982. In addition to her work as a banker, Malcolm has been involved in several NGOs, including

Soroptimist International Soroptimist International (SI) is a global volunteer service organization for women with nearly 72,000 members in 121 countries worldwide. According to Soroptimist.org, their mission statement says that, "Soroptimist is a global volunteer organiza ...

. Malcolm ran as a member of the

People's Democratic Movement The People's Democratic Movement is a political party in Papua New Guinea. It was founded by Paias Wingti in 1985, after his faction left the Pangu Party. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later rep ...

in the December 2016 election, winning an at-large seat in the House of Assembly. She was elected deputy speaker of the House of Assembly shortly thereafter. In June 2017, she was appointed minister of education, youth, culture, social, and library services, replacing

Josephine Connolly Josephine Olivia Connolly MHA is a businesswoman and an elected member of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly. In February 2021 she won her all island seat for the third time and was appointed as a Minister in the new PNP Government. ...

, after Connolly was fired from the cabinet over "claims of insolence and falsehood." Malcolm also continued in her role as deputy speaker. As part of her role as education minister, she oversaw the response of the country's education system to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In the 2021 Turks and Caicos Islands general election, Malcolm lost her at-large seat in the House of Assembly as the rival Progressive National Party swept into power.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Karen 1963 births Turks and Caicos Islands women in politics Members of the Turks and Caicos Islands House of Assembly People's Democratic Movement (Turks and Caicos Islands) politicians Women government ministers of the Turks and Caicos Islands Living people