Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
Cosmond Jackson has been described as a sympathetic person, who continues to render assistance to unfortunate persons. - CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
HANOVER:
WESTMORELAND'S GOVERNOR-General's Achievement Awardee for 2005 is stalwart business leader and philanthropist, Cosmond Jackson.
Mr. Jackson was born on February 5, 1964, to parents Bertram and Nelly Jackson, and grew up in Hertford, West-moreland. His early childhood years were spent at Hertford Basic School, Petersfield and Unity Primary, and later the Mannings High School and the Bethlehem Moravian Teachers' College.
He holds a diploma and a first degree in business administration and is a Justice of the Peace for the parish.
Mr. Jackson has been described as a sympathetic person, who continues to render assistance to unfortunate persons, and did so even as a child when resources were scarce.
GOOD WORK ETHICS
His early career interest was in the field of electrical engi-neering, but he was unable to pursue this because of limited financial resources. Like many rural young men, he was forced to enter the working world at an early age, and so gained employment at the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) as a teller, where he was later promoted to accounts clerk.
News of his good work ethic and outstanding performance spread and reached beyond the JNBS and, as a result, Mr. Jackson was later drafted to the National Commercial Bank, where he was promoted within three years to the supervisory level.
Mr. Jackson later joined the Savanana-la-Mar branch of the Billy Craig Merchant Bank, as a manager in May 1992, after the head of the company approached him. At the time of his employment and although that branch had been opened since November 1991, the company had only one client with a balance of $200,000.
However, within two months of his arrival, Mr. Jackson increased the branch's portfolio by over 4,000 per cent.
FRUITFUL YEARS
In 1997, Mr. Jackson was among the few employees retained by Dehring, Bunting, and Golding, the new owner of the bank. He was promoted to senior manager and given the task of implementing his own business development strategies. By 1999, the Savanna-la-Mar branch had grown tremendously and by 2000, he was promoted to the post of regional vice-president.
Led by Mr. Jackson, the Savanna-la-Mar branch has been a model branch for Dehring, Bunting and Golding, having won the Branch of the Year award for three consecutive years from 2001 to 2003. In May 2004, he was promoted to regional vice-president in charge of Savanna-la-Mar, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.
Mr. Jackson has been married for the past 18 years, to Jocelyn Jackson, and is the father of three children. He continues to share a very special relationship with his parents who still reside at Hertford in the parish.
