By Hayden McKenna

Leadership sometimes involves pathfinding and trailblazing. It sometimes requires invasion,
trespassing and occupation in unfamiliar, lonely, sometimes forbidden, sometimes faraway,
sometimes neighbouring territory cordoned by a proverbial “glass ceiling”. For the Star Trek
afficionados among us, leadership sometimes cajoles the courageous “to boldly go where no man
(or woman) has gone before!”

The leadership story of Dr. Ella Louise Smith-Simmons, the first ever female General Vice
President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists lives up to this billing. If we are
candid with the facts of the history of leadership at the highest level of the organized global
Seventh-day Adventist Church, we would have to concede that it disproportionately privileges
the experienced, ordained, Caucasian male pastor, who was educated exclusively or mostly in
Adventist schools, who possesses a thoroughbred Adventist ancestral pedigree that stretches
back at least two generations and who is happily married to a wife who among her own
accomplishments is probably is a pretty decent pianist or singer. These descriptors approximate
closely to the standard leadership profile.

Dr. Ella Simmons a conscious African American woman checks none of these boxes. She joined the Adventist church as a teenager, never formally studied Theology or has never been ordained as a pastor. With the exception of earning a Master’s degree from Andrews University, she was educated mostly in secular schools. She was therefore a most unlikely candidate for the job. Yet for seventeen years from 2005 to 2022,

Dr. Ella Louise Simmons served the world church with distinction, ever-conscious but never
distracted by the fact that God called her above the multiple jeopardies of gender, race and
deeply-rooted conservative traditions to higher service. Her seventeen-year tenure, spanned the
presidencies of Elder Jan Paulsen and incumbent Elder Ted Wilson. While several persons of
colour held the esteemed position of General Vice President of the General Conference before
Dr. Simmons – including the late Elders George Ralph Thompson and Harold Wilson Baptiste,
both alumni of our beloved USC – they were all men. In this respect Dr. Simmons’ entry into the
office, broke a real but invisible barrier and has opened the door to other women like Audrey
Andersson.

Being the first woman in this role came with its challenges. There was the internalized pressure
of being careful not to be seen a hinderance to the election of other female vice presidents in the
future. There was the potential to yield to the unhelpful pathologies of the “imposter syndrome”
– is there really a legitimate place to be found for an un-ordained African-American woman
among all these mostly white men of God? Could she be true to her convictions as an educated
African American woman with a passion for justice and truth? Could she be seen as an occupant
of a token sinecure – the pointed-out exception whenever the norm becomes an inconvenient
truth? The pressure of being first is seldom easy.

Dr. Simmons is convinced that even before she knew it, God was preparing her from very early
in her life to be unfazed by leadership in a context when hers was the lonely female voice in the
room. Long before having a door at 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland, even
before having her name on the membership roll of a local Adventist congregation, Ella Louise
was the firstborn of seven Smith siblings. She shares with the levity of hindsight that:
I can laugh now as my parents would bring a new baby home, another boy, another boy. I
want a sister. No, another boy. Why are all these boys coming, I would say. Now I say,
thank you Father. Thank God, because I learned to be the only girl, the only female
among males. And it became a natural way of being, a natural part of my personal life
perspective. And so, when I was called to serve as the only female vice president of the
General Conference, I felt right at home with all the men because it has been my life from
the very beginning… I even told the vice presidents who were in office at the time back
in 2005 when I came in, I said, you guys cannot do anything to intimidate me.

My brothers have already done it all, so don’t even try. We all had a good laugh together.
Dr. Simmons’ education and career journey also contributed to her preparation to serve the world
church. Here too as indicated before, it did not take the well beaten path. Early in her life she had
a great affection for science and remembers the childhood delight at receiving a chemistry set in
a little metal box for Christmas. She cherished ambitions of becoming a research scientist, even
at a time when such aspirations were generally out of the reach of little black girls from places
like Louisville, Kentucky.

Her second great love was education. This was more availing and she pursued it with passion. In
1978 she earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Indiana University
Southeast and became a K-12 academy teacher. She loved teaching and really enjoyed the
classroom. There would, however, be the unsought calls to administrative and leadership roles.
At first, she was resistant to these calls, but her faith in God’s leading and her devotion to duty
would prevail. She would reluctantly accept the call of leadership, rising to the position of
principal. In 1981, she earned a Master of Arts in Curriculum, Instruction and Supervision from
Andrews University and in 1987 a Doctor of Education from the University of Louisville,
focusing on Foundations [sociology and politics] of Education, Supervision, Curriculum and
Administration.

Concomitant with the progress of her education were calls to service at various levels in the field
of education, educational leadership and academia. Dr Simmons worked in various locations
across the continental United States, at both Adventist and secular schools and institutions of
higher learning in substantive, elected, ex-officio and voluntary roles that not only compile an
impressive vita but prepared her with the experiences, skill-set and influence to excel in
successive rungs of her obedience to God’s call on her life. Dr. Simmons served in various
academic and leadership roles a Kentucky State University, the University of Louisville,
Oakwood College, now Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama and La Sierra University in
Riversdale, California. At Oakwood University and La Sierra University – both Seventh-day
Adventist owned and operated institutions of higher learning – Dr. Simmons held very senior
administrative roles. At the former she served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Professor of Education, from 1997 to 2000. At the latter, she was Provost and Vice President for
Academic Administration, from 2000 to 2004.

In 2004, Dr. Simmons took the decision to offer her resignation to La Sierra University, leaving
behind the prestigious Provost and VP position – the second ranked executive officer at the
university. She tendered her letter of resignation with no serious career prospects immediately in
sight. The decision attracted well-meaning dissenting voices among her colleagues and friends
who made the most persuasive appeals for her to stay on. She recalls being worn down by their
good arguments and agreed to recant her notice at least for a while but:
I came home that evening, and it was as though the weight of the world came crashing
down on me. And I knew God wanted us to leave, still not understanding why. She went
back the next day and said, no, I cannot stay, I have to go. And of course, well, where are
you going, what are you going to do, were the questions. My responses were, I don’t
know, God hasn’t told me yet… It was like free falling in Jesus, just knowing He’s going
to catch me, but not knowing when or where.

She and her very supportive retired spouse Nord Simmons, had decided that they would follow
God’s leading and they returned to Louisville Kentucky. After settling in and relaxing for about a
year, Dr. Simmons took up a position at a small local university. Of that she says:
I went into that position at the request of friends to help create and direct a doctoral
programme and within months, I was called to the General Conference to serve as Vice
President. And so, reflecting back I could see how God led in that. But as we were
stepping one step in front of the other, we had no idea what God’s plan was.
Dr. Simmons’ journey to and in leadership has provided her with an affluent trove of lessons
learnt and wisdom. She is very candid about her God-centered approach to leadership. For her,
the best leaders are the best followers, the best followers of God… I know that for many
years, the research was telling us that this style or that style was the best for leading. I've
never been able to quite get my hands on that, to wrap my brain around that because God
is so much greater than any one theoretical frame or construct that we can come up with.
Disavowing obsequious devotion to the superiority of one man-made style of leadership over
others and reinforcing her commitment to a God-reliant approach, Dr Simmons is persuaded that
good leadership emerges out of intentionally leveraging “a combination of life experiences and
lessons from God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit… Each model has valuable elements,
there’s no one expert model.”

Trust for Dr. Simmons, is an important hygienic prerequisite to healthy leadership.

I think that leadership is based in trust, that it emanates from trust, that it is carried
forward between individuals and in organizations based on trust.” Good leadership is
“service based… good leadership always is projected from, continues from development
of self and development of others. And it is what is inside the person, not just what we
see… leadership is that which is inside that being that God has created for this specific
purpose.

Dr. Simmons’ list of traits or be-attitudes that good leaders must sleeplessly manifest, begins
with a formidable list of “c-words”. For Dr. Simmons the best leaders must possess good
character. They must be caring, sharply competent, consistent, credible, committed and
confidential. They must have the ability to communicate with clarity. The best leaders set good
boundaries and are respectful and protective of the boundaries of others. They are reliable, loyal,
honest, accountable, authentic, transparent, humble, teachable, empathetic, inclusive, non-
judgmental and logical. For Dr. Simmons “logic is Godly wisdom.” The good leader knows how
to be demanding without ever losing compassion. “Coercion and leadership are different.
Driving and leading are different.” These are nuances that are sadly lost on many who are called
to lead. Self-preservation is not the basic instinct of the progressive leader. The welfare of others
and the health of the organization are given genuine priority over self-interests. The progressive
leader is a champion for the undervalued and invisible.

The global Seventh-day Adventist Church, far from being a monolith, is extremely diverse in
terms of cultures, geographical spread, generations and ideological perspectives. The church is
diverse – to the discomfort of some – in almost every way that we can think about it. Moreover,
the far majority of the human resources of the church is found in its membership who are
volunteers, not employees. Leadership in this complex global context cannot be easy. How can a
diverse church preserve its identity and stay true to its mission while embracing differences?
How can it be outward looking in its mission but introspective about correcting its own
prejudices, and honestly confronting the ways in which the power of privilege is distributed
across the church?

How are the Jenga-blocks of inequity, unhelpful inflexibility and resistance to
change to be delicately and nimbly removed without causing a crash of the timber-tower? Dr.
Simmons believes that her own lived experiences helped to prepare her to meaningfully
contribute to the needs of such a complex leadership context. She says that:
As a Black African-American female, born and raised in the United States of America, I
had some preparation. I know what it is to be devalued, to be looked down upon because
of your appearance. I know what it is to be an outsider… I know what it is to be buffeted
and to stand your ground… I knew what it was like to be loyal to an organization or an
entity and be in vehement disagreement with some of its practices. So, I came to the
position with that kind of preparation… I had learned not to take myself too seriously and
yet, at the same time, to always be willing to fight for others.

Balance, sequencing, knowing when and how to fight and how to be the example of a
peacemaker are important leadership abilities. The Christian leader is not called to a disposition
of pacificism and cowardice, especially in the face of injustice. The half-truth is sometimes
expressed that Christian piety requires only prayer and patience and in time God would solve it
all. Dr. Simmons argues that “God put us in places to make a difference, to do something and to
do it now. Not in heaven, but here on this earth right now as we walk this journey together.”
Drawing on the teachings of the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament, she further
argues that their messages spoke indubitably about the eradication of oppression and injustice
within the church and society. “Over and over again, it says God’s people cannot be blessed,
God’s people are cursed, God turns His back on His people when they do not treat each other
right, when they oppress each other.” Dr. Simmons goes further by asserting that “justice and
righteousness are one and the same.” She rejects out-of-hand the view that sees the pursuit of
justice as disruptive “political shenanigans” and righteousness as pious conformity to the safety
of the status quo. Alluding to Matthew 25:31- 46, Dr. Simmons contends that feeding the hungry,
offering drink to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless, clothing to the naked and ministry to the
sick and imprisoned are as much justice issues as they are descriptors of righteousness.
Discussions about leadership typically centre individuals and their behaviours, aptitudes and
influence. For Dr. Simmons when it comes to the church, there is a salient collective dimension
that cannot be ignored or understated. God calls the church as a collective to leadership! The
church is called to be a norm-entrepreneur, a leader in the intentional pursuit of a more just
society. The church must model God’s kingdom to the world. The church must never be timid
about giving purposive leadership to righteous causes. There is a call to collective leadership that
is embedded in the great gospel commission.

On the matter of the full appreciation and recognition of the contribution women make to
ministry and leadership in the church, Dr. Simmons resorts to a rather thought-provoking
Socratic-type rhetoric:
For me it all boils down to this. Does God call women to the gospel ministry, to pastor
churches? If He does, then the church should recognize that and ordain and support women
as they do men. Does God call women to leadership in the church at all levels? If so, then the
church should recognize this and support women in the same way they support men. Now on
the other hand, if God does not call women to pastoral leadership, ministry and to leadership
in the church, I feel then that we need to step back and that the church should stop using
women’s gifts and talents while denigrating their presence in the position.

On the matter of the challenges the church is having in some parts with conserving the loyalty of
its youth membership, Dr. Simmons concedes that many 21st Century young people – particularly
in the US and the western world – have developed a skepticism about organized religion. They
are, however, enamored by spirituality and connect to God through a kind of spiritual
consciousness. This – abetted by the identity politics of our age – is manifesting itself among
other ways in a turn to ancestral spiritualities or sometimes undefined beliefs in the sovereignty
of the universe. Many of them are reaching beyond what they have been taught in their search for
faith. In many ways, organized Christian religion, including the Seventh-day Adventist Church,
serves-up a value proposition that sometimes seems out of step with contemporary needs. The
examples that the church has set have not always been good ones. Many of our young people,
especially those whose parents, relatives or close friends have worked for the church, have seen
some of their loved ones become victims of harm perpetrated by the church. They are jaded by
that witness and can sometime see the church as undeserving of their loyalty. Dr. Simmons
counsels that we have to equip our young people to see God’s kingdom beyond the foibles of the
church. There is still value to Christianity. There are still good Christians within the church.
There are also real challenges with how some interpret our traditions. Our 19th Century largely
New England, largely Caucasian, largely patriarchal cultural provenance prevents many from
fully accepting – even in the face of a global inter-generational church – that there are several
valid ways to be Seventh-day Adventist Christians. The attitude that our church belongs only or
more so to those who have their own cultural heritage hitched to the where, how and who of the
Adventist origin story and that the gentiles (others) are more subjects than they are citizens must
be confronted. The arrogance that says that these outsiders must not be permitted to take over our
church does not help to create the conducive space for our church to grow in its relevance to our
times and appeal to youth and even broader niches of human identities with the unblemished
truth of the gospel. Dr. Simmons’s observations here remind me so much about the lyric of a
song composed by Flynn Johnson and David Johnson and recorded in 1992 by the gospel group
Urban Hope (Integrity Music 1992). Part of that lyric goes: “Every generation (needs) a
demonstration of the Church of Jesus Christ relevant to its time. We are determined to be part of
that expression in our time…” (https://youtu.be/LsUXMiR1esI?si=WwnaOnuAR6JJExSJ)
In our fundamental beliefs, we find beautiful statements about unity, equity and “one humanity”
– if only we could live out these ideals to the fullest, live out the love of God, what a positive
difference that would make.

To aspiring leaders, Dr. Simmons counsels first that you must know that God has called you to
leadership. Leaders need to be self-aware. Leaders should possess not solely the intellectual
quotient but also emotional, social and spiritual intelligence.
Leaders must possess big-picture vision. Leaders must know how to let some battles go while
keeping their eyes on war. They must learn how to not be distracted by the skirmishes.
Trust is foundational to leadership. “If people lose trust in you, you’ve lost your leadership. You
may be able to force people to do some things, but you’ll never be able to lead them as you are
called to do.” Leaders must be known for the integrity of their characters.
Leaders must have the ability to champion other people’s causes.

Leadership is tough. It is not for the fainthearted. Leaders are called to be fair in an unfair world.

If God calls you to be a leader, embrace the journey with courage. “Always keep before the
people and keep before yourself that it’s all about God and God’s will for you, for others, for His
church, His organizations, His world.”

By Hayden McKenna

There is a disarming aura of selfless confidence that he radiates when you meet him. There is this inviting availability and a very-felt sense of fellowship that warns you that this experienced leader does not require the safety of aloofness, power distance and a closed door to persuade anyone that he is at work and in charge. He is Mr. Dexter Riley, Chief Executive Officer of United Independent Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (Unipet). Mr. Riley graciously self-identifies as an alumnus of the University of the Southern Caribbean. He was a member of one of the several cohorts of professionals who read for the Andrews University Master of Business Administration degree taught and proctored on the campus of Caribbean Union College, now the University of the Southern Caribbean. He recalls the experience of studying on the USC Main Campus as very significant in preparing him for his leadership praxis. His parents, particularly his mother – to whom he refers as his “north star” – raised him with good values and laid a solid moral foundation for him. He credits his experience studying for an MBA on a Christian campus as building upon that foundation. He points out that a most valuable feature of the MBA programme was what he describes as the “sewing and integration of ethics into business”. It’s a perspective that he says he has been able to “cling to in difficult times enabling him to choose right even when tempted to do wrong”.

Mr. Riley has an unusual and quite interesting perspective on what constitutes good leadership. He is persuaded that leadership is a timeless virtuous force that exists separate, above and independent of mortal individuals:

We will always have leadership. Leadership is an entity that transcends time and space. As individuals, we all at some point in our lives, in different capacities… get called to leadership. We occupy that space for a time and we have the responsibility to facilitate our replacement in leadership… There has always been leadership from the beginning of time.

In Mr. Riley’s reckoning, the debate over the question of whether leaders are born or made, seems far less useful than preparing oneself and others to be able to respond with readiness to the transcendent call to and duty of leadership. Leadership never becomes the chattel of the current leader and should never be regarded as such.

For Mr. Riley, leadership is about “satisfying a purpose and a cause”. The nature and focus of the leadership that we are called to practice is shaped by the purpose and the cause to be satisfied whether it is in business, religion, government, the public sector, civil society, the community, or the family and domestic sphere. Whatever sphere of leadership one is called to and the nuanced nature of the leadership needed there, the outcome of all good leadership according to Mr Riley is “improving the lives of others”.

Leaders are not called to be all-wise know-it-alls. As important as captains are in team sports, they seldom play all the positions on the pitch, court or field and even if they can, they can never do so at the same time. Captains inspire, enable and empower. For Mr. Riley, “a good leader does not need to have all of the technical skills… leadership is about enabling talent to create value and deliver a quality experience to stakeholders”.

Serving people is central to Mr. Riley’s leadership approach. While there are some leaders who put policies and procedures before people, Mr. Riley, without negating the value of good policies and procedures, argues that authentic leadership provides structures to enable people. With a quip of rhetorical levity, he says “I have never seen anybody lead a policy. I have never seen anybody lead a procedure.”  Authentic leadership is focussed on “improving the lives of people. It is not about improving the lives of equipment or money. Those are tools, those are resources that serve a certain purpose – improving the lives of people”.

Mr. Riley, in describing his own preparation for the call of leadership, credits the invaluable active mentorship and examples of stellar leadership he received from persons such as Mr. Ernest Williams, Mr. Edmund Arneaud, Mr. Ian Thomas and Mr. John Gransaull. They were leaders who saw his potential, embraced him, and provided him with guidance. He also holds in very high esteem the continuing examples of outstanding commitment to ethical leadership modelled by persons like Mr. Winston Romany, Dr. Afraz Ali, Mr. Hayden Toney and the members of the Board of Directors of Unipet. He also credits what can perhaps be aptly described as the ‘passive mentorship’ he received or extracted from observing good leaders at work and emulating their strengths. Reading and studying about the triumphs and failures of other leaders near and far abetted this well. For him, leaders must study other leaders. Being overly absorbed with navel-gazing can be a debilitating obstacle to growth.

Mr. Riley also highly values the example of moral living instilled by his parents and his formal educational journey as important sources of his preparation for leadership. As a youngster, Mr. Riley migrated to the United States along with his parents and siblings. It was there he began his formal education and went through the stages of kindergarten and elementary school, at a time when it was not always a bed of roses for immigrant families – especially those of colour. With the untimely death of his father, his mother took the decision to bring the family back home to Trinidad and Tobago. Here Mr. Riley completed his secondary education with an emphasis in the sciences and went on to university to pursue an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at the UWI.  

Mr. Riley’s preparation for leadership was also facilitated by the impressive career he has had. As a young graduate, he began his career at Trinidad and Tobago National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (NP) as a Junior Engineer. At NP, he rose through various positions to become the Head of NP’s Tobago operations. His pursuit of continuing education in Computer Systems Design, an MBA with an emphasis in Finance and International Marketing and an Advanced Diploma in HSE among other things, improved the value he brought to the workplace.

Desiring a different experience, he then moved on to Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL Group of Companies). The story is that he applied for the position as Business Analyst, but was hired as General Manager of a start-up, TCL Trading. This job required him to re-locate to Anguilla where he spent the next six years. This job among other things, carried with it the responsibility for the TCL Group’s penetration into the CARICOM export market. It impressed upon his career a regional focus. He travelled throughout the CARICOM territories, networking and building relationships with business leaders and developing an understanding of the region’s cultural diversity.

Mr. Riley later joined the ASCO Group of Companies (a global oil and gas logistics company) as Director of Operations. He would later be promoted to the position of General Manager of ASCO Trinidad and Tobago. Working in leadership positions in the ASCO group also brought opportunities for Mr. Riley to work overseas in different cultural contexts. He did stints in Scotland in the United Kingdom and in Tanzania, East Africa. The latter assignment involved working in a multi-user facility comprising of a number of multi-national companies engaged in offshore drilling for oil in Africa. The complexity and dynamism this leadership situation involved is difficult to overstate – a foreign environment, ASCO’s interests, the corporate cultures of other multinational partners, best practice for safe work and environmental security, the interests of the host government, and a miscellany of other stakeholder interests are considerations that help to frame the big-ticket concerns that leadership in this context required. Mr. Riley modestly refers to this assignment as a “very soul-shaping experience”. A product of the Afro-Caribbean Diaspora leading mostly European expatriate managers in an extractive business enterprise on the continental homeland of his ancestors had to be at its very minimum “very soul-shaping”!

Being married and being a father and having a deep loyalty to family, imposed boundaries on Mr. Riley’s endurance for this highly rewarding leadership assignment in Tanzania. “At that point in time I was married and I had some kids and I didn’t really want to be an absentee father… I took the decision that I would return home.”

After returning home Mr. Riley established his own business, IOGL and entered the field of consultancy. During this period, his paths crossed with a head-hunter working for Unipet that was looking for someone to fill the position of CEO. “The conversation happened…and I decided I would give it a shot.”

It is evident that Mr. Riley’s life and career journeys have provided him with rich opportunities to absorb, distil and share from an acquired treasure trove of leadership wisdom. Here is a miscellany of byte-sized (deliberate spelling) leadership insight he shared with me:

“The most important aspect of leadership preparation is about falling and getting back up… being in a place where there is no way and finding a way.” It is at those difficult times that humility, innovation and determination can thrive, some of the best relationships can be formed and the honesty of your values can be rigorously tested and clarified. “It is in the trenches when there can be despair but instead you find peace and joy and come to understand that difficulty comes before resurgence, that leadership character is truly developed. In leadership you need the experience of failure.”

“If you want to have good ethical leadership, you must have memory, living memory of doing right and being kind even when it is not easy to do so.” Mr. Riley is persuaded that leaders must practice righteousness, kindness and fairness even in seemingly small matters so that they are always ready and well-rehearsed to lead with integrity.

“An authentic leader prepares others to replace him or her.” The progressive leader uses projects and work as opportunities to develop people. “You get people involved and provide them with the opportunity to contribute to shaping decisions.”  You plan and organize work in ways that create opportunities for your people to shine.

Future-conscious leaders “love the generation to come”. They do what they can to make that generation better than they are. “They put things in place – the savings the sacrifices so that that new generation could be better and go further.” The future-conscious leader intentionally passes on the strategic relationships he or she has developed over the years to the future leaders under his or her charge:

Young potential leaders must build relationships. They need to be given the opportunity to take over the relationships of the current leader, so when they come into full leadership, they have the support of those relationships.  A leader is not a superhero who just somehow wherever he or she goes, he or she gets things done and without him or her everybody is in trouble – that is for the movies. Leadership is really about how we can harness resources respectfully.

The good leader is adept at mobilizing the support of others. It is obvious that there is no leader without the support of the led. Mr. Riley lists “having the support of others” as one of his greatest accomplishments. He is however extraordinarily elastic in his definition of support. Stretching way beyond the obvious edges of friendliness, co-operation and even non-adversarial co-existence, Mr. Riley sees wrong-doers and challengers as supporters too. Because of them:

you get to know what wrong looks like…  they are some of your greatest supporters, except that they may not be aware of it, or it might not be intentional. I do not know which life was lived without challenge – even Jesus’. There is something about us challenging each other – sometimes in ways that could be painful – it is part of a bigger plan, otherwise it would not persist through time and space…

He argues that without challenge we cannot grow, flourish and innovate. If we do not experience the wrong-doer, how can we know how others feel when we do wrong?

The good leader is a nurturer and exemplar of sound corporate culture. “When you are in the limelight of any situation people take their cue from what you do and what you say.” Does the leader care? Does the leader display empathy? Does the leader exemplify excellence? Does the leader model corporate values and hold others accountable to do the same? Mr Riley shares that at Unipet whenever they convene a management team meeting, they pray for the organization and discuss their values in action: “How did we see our values being upheld or not upheld today or yesterday or around some project?” is among the questions posed for intentional introspection. Of the growth of AI Mr. Riley said that the only time you need to be afraid of any innovation – fire or a knife is when it is used without ethics. “When we use fire ethically, we cook food, the greatest meals, we bring joy, we have weddings. When we use a knife unethically, we end people’s lives or we change them for the worse. Artificial Intelligence gives us the capacity to create more value faster. It has the potential to level the playing field in some areas. It can bring resources and services to those who in many instances could not afford it before. Would AI be used unethically? Of course it would! But its value far outweighs its mischief.   

On the challenge of 21^st century patterns of work and the apparent waning capability of firms to lock-in talent for the long-term, Mr. Riley argues that “when people leave your organization, it does not mean that they are disloyal. When people leave the organization, they and their new organization can sometimes become new customers. They can become someone who can share ideas on how you can do things differently because they are in a different space with a different perspective. They may even introduce you to new customers and new markets… It is evolution. It is not necessarily a bad thing. To sum this up, he paraphrases from the wisdom of American contemporary philosopher and thought-leader the late Wayne Walter Dyer: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

To future and aspirant leaders Mr. Riley counsels that studying good leaders who have walked exemplary paths and learning from their triumphs, failures and their commitment to improve the circumstances of the people they serve, is a worthy endeavour. “You want to achieve something? Look to the person who has walked the road before in the way that you want to walk it.” Mr. Riley concluded with these sober words:

Leadership is an entity of its own that calls us to serve. But it selects those who are willing to be humble to learn to be selfless. Without humility and selflessness, you will not have authentic leaders. You will only have people grabbing at power for themselves and at the end of their journey, regretting it because they would have acquired a set of things that they have no use for and a lot of hurt as their legacy.

By Hayden McKenna

Accidents of birth, the fact or fiction of kismet, fate versus agency, the unforgiving, unrelenting metronome of life’s clock, good luck, tough luck, and the untamed caprice – sometimes tyranny – of serendipity and opportunism are existential mysteries that without faith, the meaning to living would remain an estranged fugitive-at-large. Let us not over-think this though. The intention here is far more light-hearted. All of this metaphysical waxing is simply to say that it is extremely doubtful that any of the almost 750 freshers among us this year, intentionally purposed to graduate in the Class of 2027 – the class of our university’s centennial! Yes in 2027 our beloved USC celebrates 100 years of existence. Follow the simple math; the freshers of 2023 possess – by dint of accident of birth or matriculation – the unique and significant claim to being members of the presumptive centennial class.

In human reckoning – across time, geographies and cultures, 100 of almost anything is significant – not 94, at least 100!  Generally though, there is almost unanimous consensus that 100 metres in track and field, 100 runs in cricket, 100 reps at the gym, 100 miles of cycling, even £/€/$100 (depending on the currency) is significant or valued. When it comes to years, our relatively short lifespans rarefy the triumph of surviving for 100 years. A 100^th anniversary or birthday truly matters. At the University of the Southern Caribbean, we can expect that everything will be bigger brighter and better in 2027.

When the topic of our quickly arriving centennial and the beginning of the incubation of the Class of 2027, was recently broached with University President, Dr. Colwick Wilson, he re-joined with his trademark enthusiasm:

 I wish I were graduating during the year when the institution celebrates 100 years… It would be a graduation experience like none other…It seems as if that embedded in the psyche of the populations of the world is this notion of what happens within a century…There is something distinctive about getting to 100. It is a marker of significance in all of our memory and all of our lives.  There is that social-psychological reality that allows people to pause and say wow, thank God for 100 years.

Dr. Wilson went on to point out that in USC’s lived history, there have been classes that have been special because of the institutional milestones attached to them. There was the very first class that entered East Caribbean Training School. The first class to graduate from Caribbean Training College, the first class to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, the first class to begin a bachelor’s degree at CUC and complete it, the first cohort of students to graduate with a USC conferred master’s degree, the first batch of nurses to graduate. Institutional milestones embellish some classes with special memorability – perhaps none more so than the Class of 2027.

When asked about some of the unique things the Class of 2027 can look forward to during their four-year tenure at the university, Dr. Wilson projected an exciting 48 months ahead.  On November 18^th and 19^th of this year, we can expect to see the soft launch of the university’s centennial celebrations, with its supporting capital campaign and the Get on the Bus (GOTB) 2023 initiative.

Sub-committees drawn from a broad cross-section of the university community, including administrators, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends of USC, have been formed and are being formed to plan-out a slew of activities for 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027. In the 2026 – 2027 academic year, in every month there will be a major activity leading up to graduation weekend and the Founders’ Day climax.

In this academic year, there will be a major international research conference on the campus to mark Charter Week in the month of March 2024. At that conference, the David Williams Centre for the Study of Religion Spirituality and Health and Well-being will be launched. The conference will also feature national, regional and international scholars and presenters. It is the intention for this international conference to become an annual fixture of the university’s calendar.

In the lead-up to the centennial, students can look forward also, to more opportunities to engage in research. Dr. Wilson said that “research will be integrated into the curriculum. Students will be trained at a higher level to get involved in research through the curriculum and also outside of the curriculum, in areas that they are interested in”.

The improvement of the aesthetic, functionality, efficiency and quality of campus infrastructure will also be pursued through a programme of campus beautification, renewal and development. On the main campus, the Campus Beautification Sub-committee for instance, has already begun working on proposals for the remodelling of the main entrance to the campus.

A top priority of campus renewal for our president is creation and/or enhancement of student spaces on the campus. Dr. Wilson mentioned plans to develop places where students and others could take good photographs, have social gatherings and events, “spaces where students can document memories of their time here at USC… green spaces on campus where students can sit and fall in love…”

A major recipient of the funding to be raised by the capital campaign mentioned earlier, would be a state-of-the-art health and wellness centre to be built where the de-commissioned Linda Austin Hall now stands. Amenities would include a modern gym, a swimming pool, a basketball court, lawn tennis and volleyball courts. Speaking of this facility, Dr. Wilson said “that is where our number one centennial building is expected to be.” Speaking also of plans to have the playfield resurfaced and lit, he said “we have to have a place on the campus where -individuals – young people and older people are able to recreate.”

Dr. Wilson spoke also of plans for the improvement of other aspects of campus infrastructure. There are about 19 buildings earmarked for renovations and upgrades. There is the need to complete the unfinished Dean’s quarters, and the annex to the ladies’ residence hall, up on cardiac hill.  The music building will also get some attention and alas, the weather-worn foundation to the northwest of the secondary school would be given newness of life. The electrical power on the campus will also be upgraded to meet present and future needs. All of this will be pursued within a framework that is committed to a greener more energy-efficient campus.

Campus development will not be confined solely to the main campus. The needs of the extension campuses and satellite sites are well known and understood by the university’s administration. There are ongoing negotiations with government bodies at the various locations to improve the endowments of land for expansion and development of our remote campuses.

The Caring University Church building project, which is the shared responsibility of the university, other denominational stakeholders and the congregation itself, is another aspect of campus development that can be expected to be completed before the university’s centennial year. Dr. Wilson expressed a commitment to support this project through fundraising and personal efforts.

The development of the university’s human capital is also a priority of the centennial vision. There will be a special emphasis on leadership development.  Dr. Wilson in commenting on this aspect of the centennial trajectory said:

I think there are a number of individuals on this campus, if given the right exposure and experiences… would be excellent candidates for the job of leading this university into the next fifteen to twenty years. I think we have to invest in them. We are going to start a leadership academy with a sub-theme of transition.

Members of faculty and staff can look forward to opportunities for specialized training, upskilling, meaningful mentorships and exposure to leadership building experiences. The first instalments of the training the academy will offer, comes as soon as this November 3^rd and 16^th.

The university structure has also been modified in order to improve its prospects for delivering a superior USC as it enters its second century. A new administrative division dedicated to advancement and planning has been created. This division, headed by the very experienced Dr. Barbara Reynolds, will ensure that the university becomes adept at multi-tasking the urgency of its present operational functions with its intentional pursuit of planned progress.

Deeper, more constructive community involvement is also on the institutional agenda. Dr. Wilson spoke with passion about finding novel ways for the university to become more meaningfully involved in its immediate community and further afield, in the nation and the region. The TCH-USC Urgent Care Clinic, recently opened in the heart of the Maracas Valley is one example of a greater commitment to community engagement. At the ceremonial opening of the clinic Dr. Wilson spoke about USC’s almost 100-year relationship with the Maracas Valley community. He promised that “USC, is here to stay and will grow bigger, stronger and more involved in the community… We will invest in getting deeper into the community to provide the resources the community needs across multiple dimensions…” he said. Many of the other capital project mentioned previously, will also be designed, built and deployed with the benefit of the wider community also in focus.

The centennial vision, even in the face of scarce resources, is ambitious, bold and affluent in faith. Persuaded by God’s awesome faithfulness over the past 96 years, there is a composed confidence that God is not finished yet with miracle valley.

The Class of 2027, enters USC at a time of unparalleled excitement and opportunity. If you are a fresher this year, you belong to a special class that is destined to be remembered. Spare no opportunity to do remarkable things during your time here. Embrace this journey for all that its worth and do not disembark before you have travelled beyond excellence.

By Hayden McKenna

On Sunday 17^th September 2023, The Community Hospital of Seventh-day Adventist (TCH), in partnership with The University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), formally opened the TCH-USC Urgent Care Clinic, located opposite Gate 2 of the USC Main Campus on Maracas Royal Road, St. Joseph Trinidad. The opening was a significant community event for the people of Maracas Valley and environs and further afield.  It involved an open-house type health fair where community and other attendees received the benefits of free vision and health screenings, consultations and nutrition and health and wellness counselling.

On the surface of it, this is a simple, seemingly non-newsworthy matter of a local private hospital becoming the operator of the university’s primary health care service. It is that, but in this case, it is so much more. What this joint-venture represents, is the first public showing of an emerging strategic, functional and sociable partnership between two aged and very experienced, community oriented, Seventh-day Adventist institutions in Trinidad and Tobago and by extension, the Caribbean Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

The University of the Southern Caribbean, through its various names and stages, has been in existence since August 27^th 1927. The Community Hospital – though officially opened on December 02, 1962, first admitted patients a few months before on September 17^th 1962, seventeen days after Trinidad and Tobago became an independent nation. TCH is therefore the oldest existing private hospital in Trinidad and Tobago and September 17^th, the date chosen for the opening of this clinic, is an important date in TCH’s history. USC and TCH when combined, can boast of a service legacy of more than 150 years in Trinidad and Tobago. The value of aggregating 150 years of multi-sector service experience in a society as diverse as Trinidad and Tobago is hard to overstate. This is what this emerging partnership brings to the market.

USC and TCH also have a shared philosophy, value-system and worldview. They are both Seventh-day Adventist institutions. Adventism at its core, teaches that education is inextricably connected to human redemption and restoration. It also teaches and health and wellness are the “right hand of the gospel” – no offense intended to the south-pawed. Education and health and wellness are inseparable parts to the human-redemption and restoration project in the Adventist worldview. This fundamental combination is a tried and tested formula. In the very Adventist-influenced Loma Linda University community in San Bernardino, California for instance, research shows that where these factors are strongly combined, residents on average, live for up to ten years longer than the national average. Loma Linda for this reason, is the sole blue zone community in the USA. Can the USC-TCH partnership in Maracas Valley be nascent brush-strokes-of-blue-zoning in miracle valley? Maybe.

The presence of a well-staffed first-class medical clinic, backed by the resources of TCH, offers to USC students, faculty and staff and the communities of the Maracas Valley and its environs, the security of a readily accessible urgent and preventative healthcare facility. According to TCH’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Stephen Carryl, the location and context of this Maracas Valley clinic, have already attracted meaningful discussions with the Ministry of Health about the provision of services to special niches of the wider population of the country.

Apart from the clinic, the USC-TCH partnership will also result in the strengthening of the practical elements of USC’s existing and emerging curricula in the areas of Nurse Education, Allied Health, Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Business Management and even Computer Science, through the offer of internships to USC students and other forms of mutually beneficial engagements. This has already begun and will be deepened in the medium and the long terms. Referencing TCH’s present efforts to digitize all of their medical records for instance, Dr. Carryl pointed out that a project such as this, would be a fertile place for students of Computer Science and IT to see such a process play-out and to participate in the same.   Dr. Carryl envisions TCH and USC having a strategic relationship where “USC students would have a home at TCH where they could come here and rotate”. TCH can emerge as a teaching hospital for USC students.

The USC-TCH partnership will also create a robust research ecosystem on matters of interest to both institutions, the nation and the region. Building capacity in this area, is critically important to a post-colonial region of the world, whose populations continue to present live artefacts of a difficult past, manifested in epidemics of obesity, chronic non-communicable diseases, high rates of alcohol consumption and endangered mental wellbeing.

Backstory: God’s Will and a Cedar Hall ‘Bromance’

With all of these compelling reasons for co-operation, the question of why this is happening now and not before, is difficult to dodge.  The default answer for people of our faith tradition, is that nothing good happens outside of God’s willing and out of sequence with the fullness of time.

In July of 2021 and June of 2022 respectively, while the world, our region and nation were still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, both USC and TCH experienced transitions in top leadership. Dr. Colwick Wilson was appointed President of USC and Dr. Stephen Carryl was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of TCH. These two visionary leaders have a long ‘bromantic’ history with each other.

The back-story is that they have maintained a close mutually supportive friendship for more than forty years. They both entered Caribbean Union College (now the University of the Southern Caribbean) in 1979 as Theology Majors and lodged together, at the famous Cedar Hall.  As “Noble Spartans’ of that famous residence hall, their early friendship would most probably have been negotiated over shared meals and sack-lunches, worship services, chapels and weeks of prayer, and a miscellany of other joys and irritants of dorm life. Indeed, it was at a Graduation Ceremony they witnessed together that Colwick intimated to Stephen his special attraction to the President’s regalia, especially the gown with its unique four-stripped festooning on its sleeve. Hmmm.

Though these classmates were separated when Dr. Carryl switched his focus to Biology and departed for Oakwood College (now Oakwood University) in 1981, they both sustained their mutual friendship and never lost touch, despite their divergent career paths. Dr. Wilson graduated from CUC with his Theology degree in 1983, pastored briefly in Guyana and in 1986 migrated to the United States to further his education in the Social Sciences. This he did to the level of a terminal PhD degree, which he received from the University of Michigan. Dr. Wilson has enjoyed a fruitful academic and leadership career at prestigious institutions in the US, including the University of Michigan, Loma Linda University, The Kettering Health Network and most recently, he held the Provostship at Oakwood University. 

Dr Carryl, after completing his baccalaureate degree at Oakwood, went on to Loma Linda University School of Medicine, where he earned an MD. His education and career journey also includes a Master of Health Administration (MHA) from the University of Southern California, Surgical Internship and Residency at the Brookdale University Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dr Carryl is a board-certified surgeon with expertise in Laparoscopic Surgery, Bariatric Surgery and Robotic Surgery. He rose to the position of Chairman of Surgery, Chief of Perioperative Services and Director of Bariatric Surgery at Harlem Hospital Center, before taking on the less lucrative job as CEO of TCH.

When directly asked about what prompted the partnership between USC and TCH at this moment, Dr Carryl characterised it as “divinely inspired”. Referring to his enduring friendship of over forty years with Dr. Wilson and the coincidence of both of them being back in Trinidad and Tobago at the same time to lead two significant Adventist institutions, Dr. Carryl conceded that “we know we weren’t smart enough to orchestrate something like this”.  

Dr. Wilson in responding separately to the same question, said that “it was Spirit-led. I really think God’s Spirit was speaking to him as He was speaking to me at the same time”. Dr. Wilson shared that when Dr. Carryl came to Trinidad to take up duty at TCH, they were house-mates at the President’s Residence on the campus of USC. They would almost nightly have dinner together – Dr. Wilson doing most of the cooking – and they would talk about the challenges and opportunities facing their organizations. This led to a clarity that co-operation could create a whole that was greater than the sum of the parts. They began with the easier things. TCH was engaged to run USC’s health care service. This partnership would later become more organized and focused. There was the selection of a joint leadership team and a thoughtful expansion of the menu of services to be offered. Informal conversations at a cricket tournament organized by USC for the Maracas Valley community and the expression by villagers of the need for an accessible clinic in the area, added refinement to and popular confirmation of the rectitude of a plan already in train. The TCH-USC Urgent Care Clinic is the maturation of that process that most probably began with a conversation between two friends over a meal that Dr. Wilson claims to have cooked.

TCH’s Present Trajectory

Dr. Carryl speaks with a persuasive passion of the intention to aggressively pursue initiatives to re-establish TCH as “a premier provider of quality healthcare in Trinidad”. According to Dr. Carryl, there are three deliverables that form the basis of TCH’s present focus They are: Quality healthcare, good patient experience and affordability.

TCH medical staff boasts of highly qualified surgeons, specialists and physicians. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Damaris Baptiste-Sylvester for instance is a Consultant Obstetrician-Gynaecologist and Gynaecologist-Oncologist trained in the Caribbean, North America, and the UK. For good measure, she is also a USC alumna.

TCH is one of only a few hospitals in the Caribbean that now operates an in-patient rehabilitation clinic, particularly directed at victims of stroke. This service is led by US-trained and certified Trinidadian Dr. Gerard Antoine. With several decades of experience with the US military, Dr. Antoine is the only rehabilitation physician in Trinidad.

There is also a drive to ensure that TCH is on the cutting edge of modern diagnostic and medical technology. Dr. Carryl said that if there are 100 things you should expect from a modern hospital, TCH must be able to do no less than 90 of those things. Significant capital investments are being made to upgrade the hospital’s capacity in this area.

Under Dr. Carryl’s leadership, TCH developed and implemented a programme that is unique among private hospitals in the country and perhaps the anglophone Caribbean. Through a Behavioural and Mental Health Department, every patient that visits TCH gets a psycho-social assessment to ascertain what else is happening in their lives that needs to be addressed apart from their medical condition. This programme is led by Dr. Joanne Williams-Carryl a Social Worker and Therapist and the spouse of Dr. Stephen Carryl. This special department and unique programme have created valuable opportunities for internships for USC’s Social Work Majors. This approach will also be brought to the TCH-USC Urgent Care Clinic.

Dr. Carryl describes the healthcare sector in Trinidad and Tobago as a “productive place” for private operators. He pointed out that the costing of services at TCH is consistently below prevailing market rates. This allows for TCH to price its services in a way to achieve profitability and growth without taking away affordability from customers. “We are not mercenaries. We are not in the business of losing money but we do not have to make the most money” he said. This approach has attracted insurance companies that are excited to work with TCH and bench mark some of their products based on TCH’s pricing structures. TCH is also unashamed of its Adventist ethos and sees it as a differential advantage that sets it apart from its competitors.

Commenting specifically on the TCH-USC Urgent Care Clinic and what it means, Dr. Carryl said he sees the clinic as an extension of the main hospital into the valley. It is consistent with TCH’s strategy to expand its footprint in Trinidad and Tobago. He described the clinic as “the down-payment on an investment in this community”. 

As USC moves towards marking the first 100 years of its existence in 2027, it is delighted that at this critical time of its own transformation, it has found in TCH, an equally progressive, values-compatible, well-led partner. The TCH-USC Urgent Care Clinic is a signal manifestation of great things to come for both institutions and the publics they serve.