Annual Vernley Ward Bursary Dinner and Dance
Introductory Remarks for 2008 Honoree
Dr. Laurence Clarke
by Karen Wharton
For everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven.
This is the season. This is the time for the New York Chapter to recognize our fellow alumnus, Dr. Laurence Clairmonte Clarke.
Dr. Clarke was born on January 26, 1952 to Ms. Daphne Petronnella Clarke of Plaisance and Mr. Vivian Slowe of Beterverwagting. He attended St. Paul 's Anglican School in Plaisance before transferring to Comenius Moravian School in Georgetown. His successful performance at Common Entrance gained him entry to Queen's College in 1962.
Laurence did very well academically. He consistently ranked in the top 3 of his class from 1964 to 1968. And he ended his academic life at Queens College with 8 O'levels and 3 A'levels.
Laurence was an athlete. He was an avid table tennis player. 1964 Table Tennis Junior Champion runner-up, 1968 Under 17 Track and Field champion; Under 17 triple jump school record; 1969 Senior Track and Field champion; 1968 Table Tennis Senior Champion Runner-up; school colors in track and field and in table tennis; Wright Cup Cricket team; and 1969 Queen's College Sportsman of the year.
The Editor of the Lictor, our school magazine; School Prefect; Head of Austin House; Sergeant in the Cadet Corps, Laurence was the quintessential all-round student, the embodiment of the Queen's College spirit.
After graduating from Queen's College in 1969, Laurence began his life-long career in banking when he joined the Guyana National Cooperative Bank - GNCB.
In 1978 Laurence left Guyana for the World Bank in Washington DC. He was a financial analyst from 1978-1984 at the World Bank. In 1984 he became the Senior Investment Officer and later Head of the Africa Enterprise Fund (Washington-Kenya). This proved to be his passport Into Africa. He moved to Kenya. This was followed by World Bank Country Manager/Resident Representative assignments to Zambia and Angola.
Along the way, he pursued other opportunities away from the World Bank. Laurence served as the Executive Director, Caribbean Center for Monetary Studies in Trinidad where he worked closely with eight central banks of the Caribbean and for the establishment of a single Caribbean Currency. He was Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Botswana (1991-1995). More recently, Laurence was the Economic Advisor to the President of Liberia, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa 's first Female President.
In last March, Laurence moved to Southern Sudan where he is the Senior Manger of the Southern Sudan Program and Juba Office. He is working with the Southern Sudanese government in anticipation of the referendum on the independence of the Southern Sudan that is scheduled for January 20011.
Laurence holds a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Economics) from the University of Guyana ; a Bachelor of Business Administration (Special Honors Finance) and a MBA (Finance and International Business first Class Standing) from the University of Windsor, Canada; and a PhD in Monetary Economics from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.
He speaks French, Portuguese and Spanish, not to mention the excellent command of English.
For many of us, this would be sufficient. Not to Laurence. He has been very active in the Alumni Diaspora. He was a principal player in the birth of the Washington Chapter; is a Life Member of the London Chapter; and has actively participated in many of the ICQC retreats and planning sessions. In 1994 Dr. Clarke published the "Queen's College Records of a Tradition of Excellence (Book of Records)." The book chronicles Queen's College from 1844 to 1994 and has become the reference on historical Queen's College facts. Many of us have our personal copies. In addition, he's active on many on-line Guyana-related newsgroups.
When we look to recognize achievers, we generally recognize the person with the impressive resume. The Guyana Scholar. The Rhodes Scholar. The Fulbright scholar. The Yale or Harvard graduate. Obviously, these are qualities that need to be recognized. But there are other qualities what we need to focus on with the same intensity. We need to focus on a person's ability to inspire, to motivate and his fellowship with his community. Does she give back to the community from whence she came? Is he a good Ambassador? Does she possess a sense of social consciousness, social justice?
Laurence possesses the resume and the sense of responsibility that make him a good citizen of the world.
Unlike many of you who have known Laurence for what may seem like all your lives, I met him about 10 years ago. I learned that Laurence spent his formative years in what he has described as "abject poverty." His experience has led him on his lifelong fight against poverty, banking is his weapon.
Laurence's war against poverty is not restricted to his professional life. His philanthropy, quiet as it is, frequently reaches all the way back to his place of birth, Guyana and particularly, Plaisance. I learned that he sponsored a Mother's Day event for the mothers of his family's church. Out of curiosity, or naiveté rather, I asked him, "Why, why do you do this?" Let me read to you from his response:
In material terms, it's a tiny little to share occasionally with a community that has so generously given so much to me and my family over so many years-and which we can really never ever fully repay; In spiritual terms, it's about maintaining connections with one's humble beginnings and roots , staying anchored in the one place one can truly call home-without which we are adrift.
Let us take a look at "the one place one can truly call home."
I want you to help the New York Chapter welcome home one of Queen's College's shining stars, Dr. Laurence Clarke.