A number of Jamaicans luminaries will be presented with special awards for outstanding accomplishments at this year’s Jamaica People’s Ball in New York in celebration of Jamaica’s 62nd anniversary of Independence.
Clive Blackwood, executive vice president and general auditor at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, is the keynote speaker for the black tie event that takes place on Saturday, August 10 at Terrace Park in Queens, New York at 7pm. It is being hosted by the Jamaica Independence Foundation, Inc, a New York-based charity organization.
The awardees include Olympian Veronica Campbell-Brown in the field of sports, Clive Blackwood in the field of banking. Others are saxophonist Dean Fraser in music, and assistant commissioner Lamona Worrell in community affairs in the New York City Mayor’s office.
Veronica Campbell Brown CD, OLY is a retired Jamaican track and field sprinter, who specialized in the 100 and 200 meters. An eight-time Olympic medalist, she is the second of three women in history to win two consecutive Olympic 200 m events, after Bärbel Wöckel of Germany at the 1976 and 1980 Olympics and fellow countrywoman Elaine Thompson-Herah at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. Campbell-Brown is one of only eleven athletes to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.
She holds personal bests of 10.76 seconds for the 100 m and 21.74 seconds for the 200 m. She was the 100 m gold medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and the 200 m gold medalist at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. She has also won seven silver medals and one bronze medal in her career at the World Championships in Athletics. Over 60 meters, she is a two-time champion at the IAAF World Indoor Championships.
“This year we are absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to welcome Clive Blackwood as our keynote speaker”, Lexy Brooks, executive producer of the event said “Blackwood is not only supremely accomplished but he is also a fountain of great motivation for our Caribbean American people”, she added.
Blackwood joined the Federal Reserve Bank in 2005 and has held a number of positions of increasing responsibility within the Internal Audit Group. In June 2015, he was named executive vice president of the largest federal bank in the country, becoming too the first black person in the position. Blackwood was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He grew up in the Waltham Park area and is a graduate of Chetolah Park Primary School, Ardenne High School and New York University. To enable the completion of his study goals in New York, Blackwood held down several jobs including as cooking at McDonald’s and working as a sales clerk at Macy’s Department Store.
Emcee for the evening of celebration is social media sensation Julie Mango and the theme of this year’s ball is “The Rise of the Black, Gold and Green”.
