Crosswell-Brandt
Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer
FELICITY CROSSWELL-BRANDT is her father's daughter in more ways than one, or two.
This daughter of a commissioner of police is said to be the first woman locally to own a security company. An avid equestrian, she was also said to be the first woman patrol judge at Caymanas Park race track, 1978.
Crosswell-Brandt, renowned locally for her work in troubleshooting insurance fraud, also found time to participate in all levels of equestrian activities, show jumping, dressage, amateur jockey (Caymanas Park) and polo.
A 'magical childhood' included the possession of her own horse and many opportunities to ride patrol with the mounted police which was introduced by her father in that last decade before Independence.
Felicity remembers falling off a horse and being told by her father that such things happened when people rode horses. At the same time, he and his police colleagues would collude, 'quite unfairly', Felicity remembers, to make her win horse shows.
Although her father died when she was only 12, her life has been shaped by the things he loved and perhaps by simple genetic inheritance.
Recently recovered
Recently recovered from brain aneurysms that reduced her chances of living to a mere one per cent, she also credits her ability to rise above adversity to her mother.
Felicity, born on October 26, 1951, was one of three daughters belonging to Noel Crosswell, Commissioner of Police and Barbara Crosswell, a housewife until her husband died.
When Felicty was 12, Noel Crosswell passed on and widow Barbara discovered talents she never knew she had, as she pulled out all the stops to support her three children Felicity, Nicola and baby Jane. A commissioner's pension was a mere pittance.
When the commissioner was alive, the perks provided quite a comfortable living. When her husband died in 1964, Barbara Crosswell was aged 40 and had no career. But she proceeded, supporting her girls by making name tags for students' clothes, working as a secretary at Jamaica College and managing an apartment where they were able to live rent free. Her mother was traditional British with a 'stiff upper lip', Felicity remembers.
Her ability to just 'get on with it' when faced with bad luck would serve her daughters well, in their own lives.
Barbara Crosswell died in 1973. By then however, her two older daughters were in their first jobs and only Jane was left in school.
Felicity had started in 1969 as a filing clerk at the West Indies Sugar Company Limited, moving on in 1970 to work as secretary to Sales and Marketing Manager, Martins Travel Service Limited.
But, it was when she landed a job with Guardsman Limited as kennel manager, that her true calling was apparent. Felicity Crosswell-Brandt (now married) held several positions with Guardsman, including administrative manager and director of operations and administration, before deciding to create her own company.
She never had problems with her men who worked as security guards, she states. The greater challenge came from middle management and contractors who often felt that the 100 pound woman (then also a jockey) was a light weight.
But, they were to discover how wrong they were.
Between 1983-1986 Felicity opened and operated Management Security Consultants a security guard service with 200 guards.
The venture was started using the $50,000 equity she had in the one apartment she owned. In three years, the business was sold for quarter million dollars, absorbed into Ranger Security Company.
Felicity switched to work in the area of insurance fraud after one big case in which she worked along with the police to bust a ring connected to a Government agency which was causing several insurance companies to lose millions through fraudulent motor vehicle claims (the vehicles did not even exist).
In 1985, Crosswell-Brandt began to work as consultant to Motor Owners Mutual in fraud, working closely with the Fraud Squad. This first case resulted in the arrest of approximately 12 individuals from the loss adjusting and motor repair industries.
New career
In the process, she discovered a new career.
In the same year, she started motor loss adjusting and investigative services with approximately six members of staff. In 1995, she was appointed country manager for British West Indies for Mitchell International, software developers for the automotive and loss adjusting industry. Five years later, she merged with McKay & Associates Limited, became MSC McKay Jamaica Limited.
Crosswell-Brandt, in the meanwhile, also extended her investigative and loss-adjusting services to other islands in the Caribbean. It was on one trip to the Bahamas, in 1997, that what she thought was a persistent headache turned deadly.
A quick decision to get off the plane saved her life. She was hospitalised with blood pressure of 240 over 80 and diagnosed with two ruptured aneurysms. In 14 hours of surgery, doctors at the University Hospital of the West Indies laboured to save her life. Later she was told that she had only had a one per cent chance of survival.
In recovery she was asked to change her way of living, or suffer the consequences. "It was a very difficult period in my life," Crosswell-Brandt recalls.
Everything literally stopped, she said. She experienced severe depression and recalls that she 'spoke nonsense' for about one month after surgery. But, with time came healing with the support of her daughter, Rebecca (who was sitting examinations abroad at the time of her surgery but who called every 15 minutes for updates). Healing also came with her music.
"For six months I sat at the piano playing. I could not do anything else. I could not even speak about the business," Felicity recalls.
Those who know how much her work means to her will understand how frustrating this was. Her confidence was at its lowest. To this day, her short term memory has not returned to full form.
Still, today, she says that she is grateful for the mere fact of being alive. She still has one aneurysm unruptured and goes in for periodic testing.
Crosswell-Brandt slowly retook the reigns of her business. In 2002, new offices for MSC McKay were opened in May Pen. She also has added consultancy work with companies in the Bahamas and Curaçao.
Several landmark achievements, also since recovery, include assistance in launching of British Caribbean's product ASSIST between 2002 and 2003. This year, she has been working as a consultant to NEM, assisting in the launch of NEM Alert. MSC McKay has grown to 55 members of staff with five branch offices.
Her colleagues tell her that she is always inventing new things.
"My life has been very much shaped by my father the whole military life. People tell me I am the frustrated Commissioner of Police," she smiles.
Aside from her relationship with her daughter to whom she refers as the "greatest success in my life" she continues to enjoy equestrian pursuits at home in St. Ann, though gone are the days of galloping along Caymanas tracks.
The memories, the support of friends and family and her continuing love of music keep her on the right mental track.
