JUTC top job filled

The interim head of Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Paul Abrahams, has been confirmed in the position, formally assuming the post of managing director with effect from November 2.

Abrahams, 54, has been running the state-owned bus company since last December.

Describing the new managing director as "career auto industry entrepreneur", JUTC said experience garnered in the Canadian and United States markets has been "parlayed ... into a series of successful businesses in the areas of gasolene retail, automobile maintenance, servicing and fleet management."

Abrahams is a director of the private United Petroleum Jamaica Limited (UNIPET), and has previously served as a director of the Trade Board and the National Insurance Fund, the bus company said.

Barnes to take on Silvera's portfolio for now

Alan Barnes

Alan Barnes, managing director of Red Stripe, will assume responsibility for the company's export markets when its former international marketing director, Grace Silvera takes up her posting with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC).

"We don't have an immediate replacement. In the interim, Alan Barnes will oversee exports markets," said Marguerite Cremin, newly appointed head of corporate relations for Diageo's northern region, encompassing Latin America and the Caribbean.

But, the company also said Barnes would only cover the portfolio until a different replacement is identified, with Cremin suggesting a target was in sight.

"It isn't signed off as yet," she said.

Silvera's move to JCDC is said to be a one-year secondment, starting January 1.

Restructuring team in place

The new Public Sector Transfor-mation Unit (PSTU), given the job to evaluate and facilitate the restructuring of the public sector, has its own team in place.

The unit is headed by Chief Executive Officer Patricia Sinclair McCalla, the former permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Working alongside her is Industrial Relations Consultant Ward Mills; Business Process Re-engineering Consultant Victor Brown; Project Management Specialist Charmaine Nelson; Central Informa-tion Technology Office Systems Analyst Marie Wint-McKenzie, and Communication Consultant Ian Boyne.

Job cut advisory panel appointed

Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Tuesday named Banker Peter Moses as chair of the consultative and monitoring group that will work with the newly created Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU) responsible for whittling down the size of government.

Moses, the country manager for Citigroup's Jamaican operation, leads a panel that includes cabinet Secretary Ambassador Douglas Saunders, Financial Secretary Dr Wesley Hughes, Prof Alvin Wint of the University of the West Indies; Wayne Jones, as representative of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, and Communication Spe-cialist Jean Lowrie-Chin.

Jamaica House also said a representative from the opposition is to be named to the consultative group once nominated.

Moses' committee will guide the job cut unit, which itself became operational November 16, and is expected to interface with the PTSU monthly and report on a quarterly basis to a sub-committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Golding.

business@gleanerjm.com