4
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 7TH DECEMBER, 2014
IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL MANSOOR
Vice-Chancellor
of The University of the West
Indies, E. Nigel Harris expressed his sadness at the
passing of honorary graduate, former chairman of
The UWI St Augustine Campus Council, Executive
Chairman of CIBC FirstCaribbean International
Bank Ltd and ANSA McAL Executive, Michael
Mansoor. The distinguished banking executive
passed away on November 10, 2014.
Mansoor gave eleven years of steadfast support
and service to The UWI St. Augustine Campus in
particular, through the oversight and implementation
of a new system of governance; dissolution and
reconstruction of the Campus Councils; and two
strategic plans. It was during his chairmanship of
Campus Council quality circles in our educational
processes were introduced.
Michael Mansoor is
a man
whose native
i n t e l l i g e n c e h a s
been guided by two
exceptional women
and a few good men
in his inexorable path
to greatness. Born
in Barataria, not far
f rom s qua l or, he
was soon to emerge
as an intel lec tua l
heavyweight with a
keen eye for a good
investment.
Take for example, when confronted with a battalion of
the nation’s brightest boys at the then Mecca of secondary
education, St Mary’s College, he deliberately chose to avoid
the hothouse of the sciences to pursue the calmer but
arguably more distinguished terrain of the languages.
This choice avoided competitionwith the KeithAleongs
and other Einsteinian boys surrounding him and created
space for himself − a small acorn to grow into a mighty
oak. In so doing, he copped the much-coveted national
scholarship in languages having read French, Spanish, Latin
and Greek.
In another astute but apparent knight’s move, and after
all the hard work of learning four foreign languages, he
accepted a scholarship to pursue, of all things, accounting
and business under the auspices of the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of Ontario and the University of Western
Ontario.
Needless to say, the rest is history or more precisely,
economics.
Chancellor, Michael is a Titan in his field. He performed
the Herculean task of merging two competing financial
interests in the Caribbean: Canadian Imperial Bank of
Commerce and Barclays. Out of this magnificent fusion
arose the 3,500-person strong, CIBC First Caribbean
International Bank, now the region’s largest financial
services institution and one whose future he has forged with
his own deft hands.
The merger of two financial institutions across 15
countries in the Caribbean tested his aptitude for diplomacy
as much as his financial or organisational skills. As he
approached governments, labour unions and regulatory
bodies in the financial capitals of the region, he learnt first-
hand the limitations and boundaries of Caribbean unity and
CARICOM; when the narrow economic interest of one or
the other island state appeared to be threatened. In the end,
the merger survived and some of the lessons of this historic
Caribbean development are explored in a series of business
cases that are being studied both at UWI and elsewhere.
Michael Mansoor is immediate past chairman of the
Council of the St. Augustine Campus of The University of
the West Indies. It was during his chairmanship of Campus
Council that we saw the introduction of quality circles in
our educational processes. His insistence on quality was no
doubt a repayment on a loan of mentorship through the likes
of Fathers Pedro Valdez and Leonard Graff. He has repaid
that loan handsomely and with much interest and is now
himself a mentor to many.
He is a former partner at Ernst and Young, Trinidad
and Tobago, and was the President of the Institute of
Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago. In 1990
he joined the historically troubled McEnearney Alstons
Group of Companies at a critical time in its transformation
to the financial powerhouse that is today the renamed
ANSA McAL Group. As its Finance Director and the
Group Managing Director Mr Mansoor was an important
contributor to the restoration and consolidation of one of the
country’s important institutions. Today, he is the Chairman
of the Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Awards for Excellence
− an organisation which he co-founded under the watchful
eyes of Sir Ellis Clarke and Dr. Anthony Sabga.
Mansoor served in the Upper House as an independent
senator between 1987-1995, a period when Trinidad and
Tobago was in the straitjacket of IMF conditionalities
and prescriptions. Those were challenging times and his
contributions to the annual budget debates remain relevant
and important lessons in fiscal management even today. He
added his voice to that of the business community in calling
for the introduction of VAT and when the legislation was
brought to the Senate, true to his humble beginnings, he
introduced amendments to zero-rate basic commodities like
bread − a development that brought him high praise from
the grassroots Bakers Association of the day.
The quality of his brilliance has not diminished and
indeed he has been twice blessed. Blessed to have been
born of a special woman; one with a firm hand, keen
determination and a far sighted view of the world. Blessed
also to have found Maureen, his childhood sweetheart and
soulmate, for it is she who has provided the stability to steer
him steadily through life’s oft challenging mains.
Chancellor, Michael Mansoor has deservedly risen
to high prominence in our society. I invite you to receive
him, a Titan and a polymath and by the authority vested
in you by the Council and Senate of The University of the
West Indies, confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws,
honoris causa.
A
Titan
and a
Polymath
Michael Mansoor is immediate past chairman of the Council of the
St. Augustine Campus of The University of the West Indies. It was during
his chairmanship of Campus Council that we saw the introduction of
quality circles in our educational processes.
This is the citation delivered by former Public Orator of the Campus,
Professor Surujpal Teelucksingh when Michael Mansoor was conferred
an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2012
Mansoor was conferred the degree of Doctor of
Laws, honoris causa at the 2012 UWI St. Augustine
Graduation Ceremonies. Then Public Orator of the
Campus, Professor Surujpal Teelucksingh called him
“an intellectual heavyweight with a keen eye for a
good investment.”
In expressing condolences on behalf of The
UWI, Vice-Chancellor Harris stated, “This is a
considerable loss of a loyal friend of the University.”
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal,
Professor Clement Sankat added, “I knew him very
well, a quiet, clear thinker, a scholar in his own
right and a very fine gentleman; one who served
the Campus and the University very well as Chair
of our Campus Council, and a champion for The
UWI. He was very keen to see us diversify our source
of income and becoming a more independently,
sustainable institution – a noted banker of excellent
values and reputation and whose untimely passing
is a big loss to Trinidad and Tobago and the region.
We send our deepest sympathy to his family.”
A
STALWART
and a
FRIEND
