UWI professor Lloyd Waller is new chairman of HEART/NSTA Trust
Published:Tuesday | July 22, 2025 | 7:55 PM
Professor Lloyd Waller, a scholar in digital transformation and governance, has been appointed the new chairman of the HEART/NSTA Trust, Jamaica's national skills training agency.
The appointment was approved by Cabinet on June 30.
It comes amid the Government’s renewed thrust to boost digital skills training, with an emphasis on modernising technical education to meet global labour market demands.
Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon confirmed the change, noting that Waller's extensive body of work and experience in digital transformation are key to HEART's focus.
"HEART must place greater focus on the incorporation of technology and preparing Jamaicans for the future of work. It is therefore critical that we have someone at the helm at the strategic level with an innate understanding of where the world is going," said Morris Dixon in a statement to The Gleaner on Tuesday.
She added that Waller is also "a strong advocate of innovation."
"To provide the skilled workforce needed to spur economic growth, especially in the age of AI, we will need to innovate in our approach. Prof Waller brings those skill sets and body of knowledge to the table at a critical time in the history of HEART."
Waller is the Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at The University of the West Indies, Mona, and Executive Director of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, which is based in Jamaica.
Waller replaced Professor Alvin Wint, whom Morris Dixon has thanked for his service.
"Under his (Wint) leadership, HEART started its pivot to incorporate technology and transform its operations," she said.
Wint took over as chairman in January 2022, replacing businessman Edward Gabbidon.
The HEART Trust/NTA (Human Employment and Resource Training/National Training Agency) was established in 1982 to create a skills-training and employment program for Jamaicans.
It became the HEART/NSTA Trust following a 2019 merger with the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning, the National Youth Service, and the Apprenticeship Board.
The Government said the merger was intended to refocus all its training resources into one central agency.
In 2022, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness told Parliament that the agency was in need of a refocus and would be subject to a comprehensive strategic review.
An Auditor General report in 2020 raised questions about the agency's certification rates despite spending millions of dollars on training.
In his budget speech in March this year, Holness pointed to progress, noting that, among other things, HEART was investing $400 million to establish state-of-the-art STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) labs in technical high schools across the island.
The facilities are to feature robotics kits, virtual welding simulators, drone technology, hydroponic stations, and 3D printers.
Holness also noted that since 2020, some 552,534 persons received skills training, and since the elimination of fees, over 150,000 persons signed up for the various programmes at HEART.
The HEART/NSTA Trust is primarily funded through a mandatory three per cent payroll contribution from employers, based on their total monthly emoluments.
Some $25.7 billion is projected in collections for the 2025-2026 financial year, according to budget documents approved in March.
Total expected income is $26.6 billion.
Total expenditure is projected at $26.3 billion.
- Jovan Johnson
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