Chairmen

L to R: His Excellency, the Most Honourable Kenneth Hall, Sir Keith Hunte, Sir Roy Augier, Dr Dennis Irvine

Sir Roy Marshall – 1973 to 1974

Sir Roy Marshall has had the distinction of being the first Chairman of the Caribbean Examinations Council. He served for one year while he was Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies. By virtue of his resignation from that post, he had to demit the post of CXC Chairman. Sir Roy Marshall, a Barbadian served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies from 1969 to 1974.

Dr Dennis Irvine 1974 to 1979

After Sir Roy Marshall demitted the office of Chairman, Dr Dennis Irvine, the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana was elected Chairman.

It was his task to provide the leadership to respond to an ambitious agenda set by the Heads of regional participating governments for the conduct of the first CSEC examination in 1979. Dr Irvine presided with distinction over the administration of the first CSEC examinations in 1979.

Dr Irvine had a distinguished academic career. After earning a first class honours degree in Chemistry from the Leeds University and a PhD from Cambridge, he began his career at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria where he was first a lecturer and then Professor of Chemistry. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana for 13 years and later UNESCO's Science Adviser to the Caribbean and Education Consultant to the Jamaican Government in the 1980s, before joining Commonwealth of Learning(COL). He served at COL as Director of Caribbean Programmes as well as of Materials Acquisition and Development from its early days in July 1989 until July 1994.In 2002, he was named an Honorary Fellow of COL and received Jamaica's highest national honour, Commander of Distinction.

After he passed away in 2005, Council took a decision to name the CAPE Regional Top Award in his honour.

Mr A Z Preston, OJ- 1979 to 1986

Mr Aston Zachariah Preston succeeded Dr Irvine as Chairman at the 1979 Council meeting. Mr Preston served as Pro Vice Chancellor in charge of finance in at the University of the West Indies, Mona from 1969. Five years later, he reached the peak of his university career when he was appointed to the distinguished position of Vice Chancellor of the university.

He served both as CXC Chairman and Vice Chancellor up to the time of his death in 1986.

Sir Roy Augier – 1986 to 1996

Sir Roy may be rightly called “Mr CXC.” He has been with CXC from its inception and served as the Convenor of the first Caribbean History Subject Panel which prepared the syllabus for the first CSEC examination in 1979.

Born in St. Lucia, Sir Roy studied at University of St. Andrews in Great Britain where he earned an MA (1949) and PhD (1954). Sir Roy joined the History Department at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus as a lecturer in 1955, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer ten years later. In 1989 he attained Professorship and later Professor Emeritus in 1995.

Sir Roy also served as Dean, Faculty of Arts and General Studies at UWI from 1967 to 72 and Pro Vice Chancellor, UWI 1972 to 1990.

Sir Roy still serves on Council as a Co-opted member of the Final Awards Committee and the Sub-Committee of the School Examination Committee.

Sir Keith Hunte – 1996 to 2002

Sir Keith Hunte was elected as Chairman of Council at the Council meeting held in St Lucia in 1996. Sir Keith’s tenure as Chairman was characterized by several changes at CXC. These included the introduction of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) in 1998 and the change of the CSEC Grading scheme from a five-point scale to a six-point scale.

A Barbadian, Sir Keith was Pro Vice Chancellor and Principal of UWI’s Cave Hill Campus at the time of his election to the post of Chairman. He joined the staff at the university as Lecturer in History and became Principal in 1983.

Sir Keith was also instrumental in the negotiations with the governments of Barbados and Jamaica for a CXC Headquarters Agreement and a Centre Agreement respectively. These agreements set out the privileges and immunities accorded the Council.

Sir Keith still serves on Council as a co-opted member of the Administrative and Finance Committee(AFC).

His Excellency, the Most Honourable Kenneth Hall, ON, OJ – 2002 to 2006

His Excellency, the Most Honourable Kenneth Hall was elected Chairman at the CXC meeting in St Kitts/ Nevis in 2002. It was under his tenure that the CXC Associate Degree programme was introduced and the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence launched. He demitted office in 2006 after he was named Governor General of Jamaica in February that year.

Since demitting the post of Governor General, His Excellency has resumed serving the Council as a member of the Administrative and Finance Committee(AFC).

Professor Hall obtained a Bachelor of Arts from UWI Mona, a Diploma from UWI St. Augustine, and both Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Queen's University of Kingston, Canada.