Cornelius Alvin Smith
Cornelius Alvin Smith , GCMG (born April 7, 1937 in North Long Island, Bahamas ) is a politician and diplomat of the Bahamas, who has been Governor General of the Bahamas since 2019 .
Life
Entrepreneur, MP and Minister
Cornelius Alvin Smith, son of Silvanus Smith and Susan Smith, worked after attending the Bahamas Teachers Training College between 1956 and 1964 as a teacher and headmaster for the education authority. He then served as chief tax officer for the customs office from 1964 to 1967 and graduated from the University of Miami with a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He then worked between 1967 and 1982 as a human resources manager for Syntax Corporation , an international chemical and pharmaceutical company. He joined the Free National Movement (FNM) founded in 1971 as a member. In 1982 he founded his own company Smith & Associates , a consultancy for international companies with a focus on human resource development, training of employees, compensatory education and relationships between social partners, and was President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of this company between 1982 and 1992 .
Smith was first elected to the FNM in 1982 as a member of the House of Assembly , the lower house of the Parliament of the Bahamas. After his re-elections in 1987, 1992 and 1997 he represented the constituency of Marco City on Grand Bahama until 2002. At the beginning of his parliamentary membership, between 1982 and 1992 he was the opposition spokesman for education, public security and tourism. He was also a member of the special committee against drug smuggling and the constituency commission.
After the election victory of the Free National Movement in the elections of 19 August 1992, Smith was in the formed on August 21, 1992 first government of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham called and was in that between 1992 and 1995, first education minister (Minister of Education) and after from 1995 to 1997 Minister of Public Safety and Immigration . After the FNM won again in the elections on March 14, 1997, he took over the post of Minister of Tourism in the second government of Prime Minister Ingraham between 1997 and 2000 , before becoming Minister of Transport and Local Government from 2000 to 2002 ( Minister of Transport and Local Government) .
Ambassador and Governor General
On September 24, 2007, Cornelius Alvin Smith was named ambassador to the United States . As such, between January 2008 and 2013 he was both permanent representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) and non-resident ambassador to Malaysia , Mexico and Colombia . He was active in the Chamber of Commerce and in the Kiwanis and Rotary International service clubs . On June 11, 2018, he assumed the post of Deputy Governor General of the Bahamas and also served as non-resident ambassador to Costa Rica , El Salvador , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua and Panama between 2018 and 2019 .
As the successor to Marguerite Pindling , Cornelius Alvin Smith was appointed eleventh Governor General of the Bahamas on June 17, 2019 and sworn in on June 28, 2019. In August 2019 he was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), so that he has had the suffix "Sir" since then.
His marriage to Clara Elizabeth Knowles had three children.
Web links
- Entry in Caribbean Elections
- Entry in National Library & Information Service
- Entry in All Government Officials
- Entry in Rulers
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ca Smith Sworn In As Deputy Governor General . In: The Tribune of June 12, 2018
- ↑ Bahamas: June 12, 2019 in Rulers
- ^ The Bahamas: Governors-general in Rulers
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smith, Cornelius Alvin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Bahamian politician, Governor General of the Bahamas |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 7, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | North Long Island, Bahamas |