Tesi Johnson, Gleaner Writer

Managing Partner of KPMG, Raphael Gordon (left), chats with Lord Michael Hastings of Scansbrick CBE, during his visit to Jamaica. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

He left Jamaica for boarding school in England at age 14, but Lord Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick CBE still holds fast to his Jamaican roots, which he says afforded him the ability "to honour the old and treasure the young" wherever he went.

A true patriot of goodwill, Lord Hastings' work in uplifting humankind in Britain and across the world is quite extensive; and it is this dedication to humanity that afforded him the grand positions he now holds.

Grand feat

He is the newly-appointed Global Head for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for KPMG, one of the world's largest global networks of professional firms, providing audit, tax and advisory services in 144 countries. Holding cross-bench peerage in the House of Lords is a grand feat for any man, one of Jamaican parentage at that, but it is his newest capacity at KPMG that gives him the widest reach in effecting his service to community and country development and overall human development.

Concerns for Jamaica

He visited the island from September 13-14. His concerns for Jamaica span environmental, social and economic issues that are obvious to many, but ignored by most. Ultimately, Lord Hastings' wish is for more Jamaicans to be liberated into economic independence, rather than keeping them dependent on the state. "Jamaicans are instinctively entrepreneurial," he says, and he challenged those with the clout, government and businesses in particular, to channel this innate talent into legitimate ventures.

Lord Hastings is playing his role in upholding KPMG's reputation as a responsible corporate citizen by managing their CSR strategy such that it is applicable not only to Jamaica, of which he is very fond, but all the countries where this influence might be felt.