Former T&T finance minister Wendell Mottley is now a Fulbright honouree. Mottley was so honoured at a glittering ceremony at New York's iconic Waldorf Astoria on May 27. A statement about the award said the board of directors of One-To-World honoured Mottley, 68, among three other honourees at the 2010 Fulbright awards dinner. "The purpose of this Fulbright Award is to promote global citizenship and inspire a peaceful world. One-To-World saluted Wendell Mottley for his thoughtful and lifelong business, government and environmental service, bridging cultures to bring about positive change," read the statement.
In his acceptance speech, Mottley, now a senior adviser at the New York-based Credit Suisse bank, related how his experience in a multicultural T&T equipped him with the cultural facility for success in a globalised world of international finance, development and environmental service. "No achievement is an island unto itself. I come from a micro state and, especially during my term as finance minister, I had to learn how to ride powerful currents in international economics and finance to successfully deliver locally. "On the same theme, during my term as a director of the World Wild Life Fund (WWF) in Washington, in setting out to save the tiger and the panda, we quickly learned that we had to save entire eco-regions and eco-systems so to do," Mottley said in the statement.
Contacted on Tuesday for a comment, Mottley said, "The award was unexpected, therefore all the more welcomed. It is a prestigious award. The ceremony was quite a sparkling ceremony, with 600 or 700 guests." In presenting the award to Mottley, Fulbright scholar, Mark Kamenicam, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, his incredibly varied lifetime achievements in scholarship; sports; public service; in writing a book on T&T's energy-led development; his work in local and international environmental affairs; and in international finance on Wall Street.
About Wendell Mottley
Wendell Adrian Mottley was born July 2, 1941, in Port-of-Spain. He was educated at Queen's Royal College and Yale University. He was the leader of the Citizens' Alliance, a dissolved minor political party, which contested the 2002 general election, capturing 5,955 votes (one per cent) and captured no seats. Mottley served as Finance Minister in the People's National Movement government between 1991 and 1995. He was responsible for the flotation of the T&T dollar. He won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.