Lee ATTORNEY-AT-law Mrs. Barbara Lee, next month becomes the second woman to lead the regulatory body since its first executive director Geraldine Foster stepped down in 1997.
On February 1 Mrs. Lee takes up the post recently vacated by Mr. A.B. Stewart Stephenson and is pledging to fulfil the FTC's mandate and to maintain Jamaica's representation and leadership role at the regional level.
Mr. Stephenson who is an attorney-at-law has been appointed Consul General to Toronto, Canada and is expected to begin his posting next month. He will succeed Herman LaMont who has been re-assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.
Currently director of Legal Services and Enforcement for The Securities Commission, Mrs. Lee, has several priorities already in mind for her new job, particularly in public education - a responsibility of the FTC under its enabling legislation.
"One of the things we need to keep working at is to keep the competition fair and inform the public in general of their rights," she said.
According to Mrs. Lee, an experienced team is awaiting her at the FTC and she will be working with them on this and on any restructuring of existing programmes as needed.
"I won't want to re-invent the wheel," Mrs. Lee said.
Known for her tough-talking stance on issues regarding fair competition in the market, Geraldine Foster set the pace for those who took up the reins of the FTC and faced the corporate world. Mrs. Lee is sure that both parties have the same goal in mind - smoother business. Although perceptions of conflict might arise, she said, she plans to deal with this by airing them and arriving at the best possible solutions under the law.
No monopoly
The post of executive director has been held by attorneys-at-law in the past, Geraldine Foster, Phillip Paulwell and A.B. Stewart Stephenson. "Lawyers have no monopoly to guide and manage the organisation," Mrs. Lee responded to this observation.
"The FTC is an animal of legislation. It is felt that lawyers ought to be equipped to interpret and draft legislation and perhaps makes a lawyer suitable at this fledgling stage of the FTC," she said.
"At the moment all legislation is in place that we need to look at. But from time to time situations will arise and we have to make assessments and there may be need to make regulations addressing those matters," she said.
Mrs. Lee has been an attorney-at-law since 1983 having attended the University of the West Indies where she was awarded the Bachelor of Laws Degree (with honours) and the Norman Manley Law School where she received the Certificate of Legal Education. She served as assistant manager, Legal Division, for the National Export-Import Bank of Jamaica Limited, Chief Legal Counsel for the Revenue Board and more recently as Director of Legal Services and Enforcement for the Securities Commission.
The FTC executive director-designate is a member of the Jamaica Bar Association and works as a volunteer and facilitator with Jamaica Aids Support.
