Maxine Antoinette Henry-Wilson, CD (born February 1, 1952) is a Jamaican educator and politician, representing the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

(PNP). She served as minister of education from 2002 to 2007.

Early life and education

Henry-Wilson was born on February 1, 1952, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. She attended the

St Andrew High School for Girls St Andrew High School (also known as St Andrew High School for Girls) is an all-girls high school in Saint Andrew, Jamaica. The school was founded on September 21, 1925. History 1925–1929 St Andrew High School was founded on September 21, 19 ...

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Education career

Henry-Wilson holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the

and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from

. She has served as lecturer in public policy and public sector management at

Mico University College The Mico University College (The Mico) is an institution of higher education in Kingston, Jamaica. History The Mico was founded in 1835 through the Lady Mico Charity, one of four teacher training institutions established during this period i ...

, Church Teachers' College and the

. From 2012 to 2018, Henry-Wilson served as Chief executive officer and commissioner of the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission.

Political career

Henry-Wilson was first appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1992 from the PNP by then Prime Minister

P.J. Patterson Percival Noel James Patterson, popularly known as P.J. Patterson (born 10 April 1935), is a Jamaican former politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1992 to 2006. He served in office for 14 years, making him the longe ...

. She served as Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister in 1992, and then as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in 1993. From 1994 to 2003, Henry-Wilson served as general secretary of the PNP, succeeding

Peter Phillips Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is a British businessman and the son of Anne, Princess Royal, and Captain Mark Phillips. He is the eldest nephew of King Charles III, and 17th in the line of succession to the British throne. ...

. She was simultaneously appointed

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

in the Office of the Prime Minister. Between 1994 and 2002, she was Leader of Government Business in the Senate, and was appointed Minister of Information in the Office of the Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001. She was first elected to the House of Representatives from the Saint Andrew South Eastern constituency in the 2002 general election, polling 4,959 votes to 4,100 for Philip Henriques of the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in seve ...

(JLP), and 127 for Peter Townsend of the National Democratic Movement (NDM). Henry-Wilson was subsequently appointed Minister of Education in the cabinet of

, serving until 2007 in the administration of

Portia Simpson-Miller Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller (born 12 December 1945) is a Jamaican politician. She served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2006 to September 2007 and again from 5 January 2012 to 3 March 2016. She was the leader of the People's Nationa ...

, after the latter became prime minister in 2006. She held the constituency in the 2007 general election, receiving 5,187 votes to

Joan Gordon-Webley Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multiple ...

of the JLP (4,618). Henry-Wilson retired from representational politics in 2011.

Honours and awards

* Henry-Wilson was awarded the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...

, Commander Class in 2018.

Personal life

Henry-Wilson is married to

attorney-at-law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the United ...

Gladstone Wilson. She has one daughter, Seya.

References