Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer 
David Davies - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
"I AM AN independent person," states David Davies, the man who refused all offers of help when starting out in his career of finance and carved for himself a niche which, he today boasts, was created by his own hands.
In a recent interview with Outlook, Davies said that he also resisted the invitations of his family to join them in the United Kingston where all have returned to the home town of their English father.
Instead, he chose Jamaica and its sometimes stormy business environment. Even the death of his son at age 22, from cancer, did not shake him in his belief in God's writing on the wall, where his life was concerned.
BAREFACED BELIEF
Davies, chief financial officer (CFO) of Sandals and Beaches Resorts for the past six years, is known for his hard work and his barefaced belief in the Divine. The last is not something he wishes to hide.
His daily prayer, he says, is, "Lord, if you see something coming, tell me about it."
It's a short prayer and all the preparation he needs. The financial whiz is a go-getter, an attitude which has served him well in life.
MEDICAL DOCTOR
Born in Jamaica to Frederick Charles Davies, a sergeant in the British Army and Thelma Davies nee Campbell on December 12, 1949, David Davies at first wanted to be a medical doctor. He soon realised, however, that this was not for him.
He turned his attention instead to examining the men who were really making a mark on the business landscape and "realised that the chief financial officer was the quiet adviser who wielded a lot of power."
A quiet man by nature, David was able to direct his energies towards planning a career in business that would lead him to a position of significant influence and yet one which was without the pressures of the public limelight.
He enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree programme at the University of the West Indies, earning enough while working in the patio furniture factory owned by his parents, to pay his way through university.
"I used to work for £2 a week. I gave £1 to my mother, bought a bottle of rum for my dad and saved the balance which paid my way through university," he recalls with justifiable pride. He graduated from university with honours.
David first offered his services in accounting to the Insurance Company of Jamaica followed by a five-year tenure at Desnoes and Geddes. But, in the turbulent '70s he took his young family to Canada.
NO JOB PROSPECTS
In the colder country, there were no job prospects for a non-Canadian in 1975 and David recalls that he felt what it was like to be a minority. "Unless you were blond and blue eyed, you were not considered Canadian."
But, he did not yield to the temptation to "talk Canadian" a technique which some of his Jamaican country men used, to escape prejudice. With his wife of four years, Cecile, and two young children to support, he hit the sidewalks, knocking on several doors in search of a job.
After countless unfulfilled promises of "we'll get back to you," Davies finally landed an interview with Proctor and Gamble, at the end of which he heard what sounded like the kiss of death: "We'll get back to you."
Davies responded, "Sir with due respect. I want to work here, and if you want my services, please let me know now."
He got the job and for seven years he worked with the company, proving repeatedly that the recruiter would have been a fool to let him escape.
Outperforming his contemporaries, David also qualified as a Chartered Accountant and was promoted to the position of financial controller the first ever-Caribbean national to hold the position.
Davies was also only 25 when he bought his own home. He persuaded the contractor to give him a builder's two-year mortgage.
Every day of his life, David has lived by his father's advice: "Whatever you really want to do, you can do. Don't moan and groan, just apply yourself and do it."
REWARDED
He worked hard in Canada and was rewarded for it, but he made the firm decision to return home when he decided that his children were forgetting their roots.
"They were becoming so immersed in the Canadian culture they were losing their Jamaican-ness."
In 1985, he landed a job as an audit manager with Coopers & Lybrand in Jamaica. But, after three years, missing the front-line dynamism of finance, he moved to American Life as the caribbean regional financial officer with direct oversight for offices in Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda and Guyana.
Within five years, he was offered the South American Region, but took the decision to remain in Jamaica and to test his capabilities in property management.
He moved to Life of Jamaica as general manager for LoJ Property Management Ltd., where he got involved in maintenance, engineering and major refurbishing programmes. After four years, he was moved to the position of chief financial officer for the then Citizens Bank which he held for close to four years.
It was during this time that David experienced what he describes as two epochal moments in his life the banking sector in Jamaica was going through a major collapse and he lost his son, Jason to cancer. At 22-years-old, Jason was a vegetarian, a body builder, a sport fanatic and was doing very well academically. His diagnosis and death in six months were a shock.
Davies recalls, "It was the last thing we thought would have happened. It was incomprehen-sible. Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a parent. It can make or break you."
Jason's passing was a powerful and spiritual experience for the entire Davies family who all gave their lives to the Lord.
Jason's death also coincided with the upheaval in the Jamaican banking sector of the 1990s a situation of major concern to Davies. Deciding that he needed a change of scenery, he approached the chairman of the ICWI Group and discussed with him his concerns.
He was asked to stay on just to assist in the sale of Citizens Bank, which was later purchased by RBTT.
Davies was only diverted from a decision to return to Canada by the offer that the then chairman of Air Jamaica, Butch Stewart, made for the position of chief financial officer at Air Jamaica.
EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE
"Air Jamaica was an excellent experience," he recalls.
"I was instrumental in preparing the way forward which was spearheaded by Chris Zacca. We grew the airline and reduced expenses as much as we could. Air Jamaica eventually broke even in August 2001 and then 9/11 came along."
In August 2000, he was promoted once again
to Group Financial Officer responsible for the Sandals and Beaches Resorts and
the ATL industrial group.
According to Davies, this is the best job he has ever held.
"I am without a doubt at the pinnacle of my career and enjoying every moment
of it. It is a very healthy working environment, a term I do not use lightly."
Davies is unfased by the billion-dollar empire over which he
has financial oversight. He manages the financial operations of 18 hotels and
close to 260 team members.
DETAILED MONITORING
The job, he says is highly systematic and diagnostic, involving
detailed monitoring of daily transactions at each resort dealing with any exceptions
that might arise and from these daily checks. Full revenue and cost variance
analyses are done which enable implementation of policies and procedures to
assist in growing the business.
David Davies has been instrumental in identifying the need for
the resorts' gift shops, spas and photo shops to be viewed as independent business
centres, separate from the all-inclusive revenues. This administrative change
has resulted in improved 'on property' revenues.
Undoubtedly, one of the right hand men of travel industry mogul
Butch Stewart who he greatly admires, the financial controller has achieved
his life's ambition.
In the same way in which Sandals has achieved inter-national
records for service, the CFO feels that Jamaica has the potential to be the
best in the world.
APPOINTMENT
Davies notes that Portia Simpson Miller's appointment is a good
thing. He is happy that she has not hidden her belief in God. He expresses his
hope that much will be done about developing social infrastructure.
"The ghettos are appalling. If you raise people in an environment where there
are no sanitary facilities, education is not readily accessible and people are
going hungry all the time, you create a sense of desperation a perfect
haven for crime and violence," he explains.
An avid lover of music in all its genres, gardening and the visual
arts, David Davies is enamoured of local cultural expressions and hopes that
Jamaica will remain the country in which he and his family can live.
