UWI Toronto Awards

Chairman, GraceKennedy Limited

Douglas Orane is non executive Chairman of GraceKennedy Limited, a position he assumed on July 1, 2012.

Prior to this position, he served as CEO from 1995 and, in 1998, added Chairman of the GraceKennedy Board of Directors to his portfolio. On his retirement as CEO in 2011, he assumed the transitional position of Executive Chairman.

Mr. Orane's career at GraceKennedy began in 1981 when he joined the company as Corporate Planner. Since then he has held several leadership positions in almost all areas of the highly diversified Group. An engineer by training, Mr. Orane holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Glasgow University. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School where he earned a Masters degree in Business Administration. Under his guidance, GraceKennedy has articulated a vision of transforming itself from a Jamaican trading company into a global consumer products and services Group by the year 2020. His insistence on benchmarking to the best companies internationally has contributed to GraceKennedy's success, and its continued profitability even in an unpredictable global economy.

Mr. Orane possesses an active social conscience and leverages his position as a leader of industry to highlight the possibilities in Jamaican society. As President of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (for two terms between 1992 and 1994) he gained national attention for his incisive, rational and pragmatic views on topical issues, particularly on electoral reform. In 1998, he chaired a Task Force to examine ways to reduce waste in the public sector. Implementation of the resulting recommendations, known as The Orane Report, saved the Jamaican government several million dollars. In 1998, he was appointed an Independent Senator in the Jamaican Senate, a position which he held for four and a half years.

In 2002, the Jamaican Government named him a Commander of the Order of Distinction (C.D.) in recognition of his contribution to commerce and the private sector. In 2009, he was appointed to Jamaica's Privy Council by Governor General, Sir Patrick Allen.

He continues in the philanthropic footsteps of previous GraceKennedy Chairmen, lending his active support to the company's programmes for inner-city residents and youth, and to strengthening education institutions at all levels throughout the country.