Douglas Anthony Clive Saunders OJ CD (born 15 February 1949 in

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

) is a

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n diplomat.

Biography

Douglas Saunders OJ CD is the

Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...

of the Jamaican Prime Minister's cabinet. Saunders is the third officer to take over the reins of this distinguished position as head of central government and has held this post from June 2008. He was born in Westmoreland, in rural Jamaica on 15 February 1949 and graduated from

Jamaica College Jamaica College (abbreviated J.C. or JC) is a State school, public, Christianity, Christian, secondary school and sixth form for Single-sex education, boys in Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica. It was established in 1789 by Charles ...

in 1967. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Studies at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

in 1972 before obtaining a Certificate of Diplomacy from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in 1975. He is also Pope Paul VI Scholar of St. John's University in New York where he obtained a master's degree in Government and Politics, majoring in International Relations in 1981. Ambassador Saunders spent the next thirty six years in the public sector in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade in various capacities. These include as Counsellor (Economic Affairs) at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York; Deputy Director of Foreign Trade; Deputy High Commissioner in London to Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Portugal; Director of European Affairs; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Cuba, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, the Republic of France, Ireland as well as High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa. He subsequently took the highest post in the Ministry as Permanent Secretary in September 2002. Saunders has received a number of awards for his outstanding contribution to the public sector. These include the Long Service Award in 1998 for 25 years of service to the Government of Jamaica in 1998; l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Commandeur) of France in 2002, the

Order of Distinction The Order of Distinction (OD) is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Ac ...

in the rank of Commander (CD) in 2003 and the

Order of Jamaica The Order of Jamaica is the fifth of the six orders in the Jamaican honours system. The Order was established in 1969, and it is considered the equivalent of a knighthood in the British honours system. Membership in the Order can be conferred upon ...

(OJ) in 2011, the nation's fourth highest honour.

Family

His parents are Clive Douglas Sauders and Gloria Saunders. He is eldest of four children raised in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica. His brother is attorney-at-law Revd. Maurice Saunders. He has four sons (Alexander, born 1979; Jason, born 1980; Christopher, born 1982; and Machel, born 1989), and is married to M. Angela Robertson, a lawyer, from Kingston. Douglas Saunders is cousin of cricketer George Alfonce Headley, Jr (1909–1983) of Jamaica.

References

UN.intMFAFT.gov.jm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Douglas 1949 births Living people Ambassadors of Jamaica to Cuba Ambassadors of Jamaica to Belgium Ambassadors of Jamaica to the Netherlands Ambassadors of Jamaica to Luxembourg Ambassadors of Jamaica to France Ambassadors of Jamaica to Ireland High commissioners of Jamaica to South Africa Members of the Order of Jamaica Commanders of the Order of Distinction Politicians from Kingston, Jamaica People educated at Jamaica College