Audrey Joy Grant (born 1951) is the current governor of the
Central Bank of Belize
The Central Bank of Belize is the central bank of Belize, established in 1982. In 2021 Gustavo Manuel Vasquez was chosen to serve as Governor, replacing A. Joy Grant, who had served in the role since 2016.Senator and the head of the Ministry of Energy, Science & Technology, and Public Utilities. After beginning her career in economic development projects, she became an environmental conservationist and developed numerous projects throughout the Caribbean region to protect forests and marine life.
Biography
Audrey Joy Grant was born on 5 February 1951 in
Belize City
Belize City is the largest city in Belize and was once the capital of the former British Honduras. According to the 2010 census, Belize City has a population of 57,169 people in 16,162 households. It is at the mouth of the Haulover Creek, w ...
,
British Honduras
British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,
. After attending high school in Belize City, she worked for a year at Barclay’s Bank and then moved to Canada for university studies. She earned an undergraduate degree in commerce and a Master of Business Administration in International Finance from the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...
, Canada. Grant moved to
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate) ...
, where she worked on economic development projects for thirteen countries from throughout the Caribbean at the
Caribbean Development Bank
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is a financial institution that helps Caribbean nations finance social and economic programs in its member countries. CDB was established by an Agreement signed on October 18, 1969, in Kingston, Jamaica, and ent ...
. After eight years, she relocated to
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
and began working at the Belize Embassy.
In 1989, Grant returned to Belize to spearhead a conservation project funded by the
Massachusetts Audubon Society
The Massachusetts Audubon Society, commonly known as Mass Audubon, founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "protecting the nature of Massachusett ...
with help from the
Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Nat ...
and US scientists. The project, Programme for Belize was a co-founded by Grant and she became its first executive director, acquiring over 300,000 acres (4% of Belize's land mass) of
tropical rain forest
Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equatori ...
as reserve for the project. At the time, conservation programs were in their infancy and she won two different sustainability certifications for her program of ecoforestry of Belizean mahogany. After over a decade with Programme for Belize,"Programme for Belize celebrates tenth anniversary , Channel5Belize.com" ''channel5belize.com''. in 2001, Grant became Vice President and Managing Director of the Atlantic Conservation Region of the Nature Conservancy. She oversaw conservation efforts in twenty of the eastern states of the US and 10 Central American and Caribbean countries, and in 2003 launched an effort to create a program which encompassed the Caribbean marine basin from Cuba to Venezuela. Leaving the Nature Conservancy in 2005, she began working as a senior director for the Natural Capital Project. In 2008, she was appointed as Ambassador Exemplary and Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of Belize,
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium; Ambassador Designate to the Kingdom of Spain and to the Netherlands, Germany, and France; and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the European Commission, which she continued until 2012. Grant was appointed to the committee to design the United Nation's Green Climate Fund in 2011.
In 2012, Grant was appointed as a Belizean Senator by Prime Minister
Dean Barrow
Dean Oliver Barrow, SC PC (born March 2, 1951) is a politician from Belize who served as prime minister of Belize from 2008 until 2020 and as leader of Belize's United Democratic Party.
An attorney by profession, Barrow served as Belize's ...
and appointed as the firstMinister of Energy, Science & Technology and Public Utilities. The new ministry's goals were to develop a sustainable development plan by integrating policy and regulatory laws on energy, science and technology into national decision making processes.
She has been the governor of
Central Bank of Belize
The Central Bank of Belize is the central bank of Belize, established in 1982. In 2021 Gustavo Manuel Vasquez was chosen to serve as Governor, replacing A. Joy Grant, who had served in the role since 2016.