Maxine Antoinette Henry-Wilson, CD (born February 1, 1952) is a Jamaican educator and politician, representing the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) (PNP; ) is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by Norman Manley, Norman Washington Manley who served as party president unti ...

(PNP). She served as Minister of Education from 2002 to 2007.

Early life and education

Henry-Wilson was born on February 1, 1952, in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

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 ...

. She attended the St Andrew High School for Girls,

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 ...

and

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

Education career

Henry-Wilson holds a master’s degree in public administration from the

and a master’s degree in public policy from

. She has served as lecturer in public policy and public sector management at

Mico University College The Mico University College is an institution of higher education in Kingston, Jamaica. History The Mico was founded in 1835 through the Lady Mico Charity, one of four teacher training institutions established during this period in the Briti ...

, Church Teachers' College and the

. From 2012 to 2018, Henry-Wilson served as Chief Executive Officer and Commissioner of the Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission.

Political career

Henry-Wilson was first appointed to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1992 from the PNP by then Prime Minister

P.J. Patterson Percival Noel James Patterson, (born 10 April 1935), popularly known as P.J. Patterson, is a Jamaican people, Jamaican former politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1992 to 2006. He served in office for 14 years, mak ...

. She served as Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister in 1992, and then as Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in 1993. From 1994 to 2003, Henry-Wilson served as general secretary of the PNP, succeeding

Peter Phillips Peter Mark Andrew Phillips (born 15 November 1977) is a British businessman. He is the son of Anne, Princess Royal, and Mark Phillips, and a nephew of King Charles III. At the time of his birth during the reign of his maternal grandmothe ...

. She was simultaneously appointed

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...

in the Office of the Prime Minister. Between 1994 and 2002, she was Leader of Government Business in the Senate, and was appointed Minister of Information in the Office of the Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001. She was first elected to the House of Representatives from the Saint Andrew South Eastern constituency in the 2002 general election, polling 4,959 votes to 4,100 for Philip Henriques of the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP; ) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in se ...

(JLP), and 127 for Peter Townsend of the National Democratic Movement (NDM). Henry-Wilson was subsequently appointed Minister of Education in the cabinet of

, serving until 2007 in the administration of

Portia Simpson-Miller Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller (born 12 December 1945) is a Jamaican politician who served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from 2006 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2016. She was leader of the People's National Party from 2005 to 2017 and Leader of the O ...

, after the latter became prime minister in 2006. She held the constituency in the 2007 general election, receiving 5,187 votes to

Joan Gordon-Webley Joan Gordon-Webley is a Jamaican politician. She has been a member of both houses of the Parliament of Jamaica. Early life Joan Gordon-Webley was born in Pell River, Hanover Parish. Political career In the 1980 Jamaican general election, she ...

of the JLP (4,618). Henry-Wilson retired from representational politics in 2011.

Honours and awards

* Henry-Wilson was awarded 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 ...

, Commander Class in 2018.

Personal life

Henry-Wilson is married to

attorney-at-law Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the preferred term for a practising lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including South Africa (for certain lawyers), Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the Unit ...

Gladstone Wilson. She has one daughter, Seya.

References