JMEA appoints first female head

The Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) has appointed Kathryn Silvera as its first-ever female president.

The appointment followed the association’s annual general meeting held Wednesday at Summit Kingston.

Silvera will serve in the role for the 2025/2026 term and is joined at the executive level by Deputy President Cecil Foster, Managing Director of FosRich Group of Companies; and returning Treasurer Damion Dodd, Chief Financial Controller and Corporate Secretary at Seprod Limited.

A respected figure in Jamaica’s manufacturing and distribution sectors, Silvera currently serves as Director at Caribbean Foods Limited, the producer of Foska Oats, and as Director of Sales and Marketing at Chas. E. Ramson Limited, where she leads brand strategy, advertising, and the management of over 40 distributed brands across the local market.

She succeeds outgoing president Sydney Thwaites, who served for two consecutive terms from 2023 to 2025.

Silvera has highlighted among her key strategic priorities a national push for improved industry data collection and intelligence.

“Too often, our ability to advocate for trade agreements, investment incentives, or policy reform is undermined by the absence of hard evidence,” she stated. “We cannot continue to operate in the dark. Data is not a threat to competitiveness—it is the foundation of it. It is how we attract capital, negotiate trade deals, shape policy, and prove our sector’s capacity and potential. Without it, we will continue to be overlooked in national development priorities.”

Silvera announced the JMEA’s intention to launch an Industry Intelligence Platform that aggregates critical performance data from members to support evidence-based advocacy and stronger private-public sector alignment.

She also underscored the importance of strengthening linkages across sectors such as tourism, agriculture, and the creative economy. With over 20,000 new hotel rooms expected to come online over the next decade, she urged national stakeholders to embed Jamaican manufacturers, artisans, farmers, and creatives into every layer of the tourism supply chain.

“This is not just about import substitution. It is about building national wealth by ensuring Jamaican inputs are at the center of every guest experience and major development,” she said.

Other top priorities outlined include energy policy reform, addressing workforce productivity and the skilled labour shortage, and cultivating civic pride and cultural confidence. Silvera emphasised that Jamaica’s global identity must be reflected in both the products it exports and the pride it instils in its people.

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