10 things you didn't know about Greg Christie

Contractor General Greg Christie has expressed his intention to demit office at the end of the current contract period, opting not to seek a renewal. In his near seven-year stint as the primary watchdog of good governance, Christie has distinguished himself as a no-nonsense public servant who sees his job as that of protecting the public purse from would-be corrupt public officials and/or practices.

Described as strident by some, there are those who say Christie is all bark and no bite as no one has been brought before the courts to answer corruption charges, despite his many recommendations. In his defence, Christie has always argued that the Office of the Contractor General and the powers it does or does not have makes it somewhat of a paper tiger, as indeed the office does not have the power of prosecution and, as such, must refer its findings to another office for that office to prosecute.

Today, the outgoing contractor general, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, July 6, sheds the official cap to share with us 10 things we did not know about him.

1 He married his fiancée, Jan, at age 24, one year after leaving university.

2 He is a Campionite and has studied full-time in four countries and resided in five.

3 He enjoys travelling with his wife and has been on four continents. His favourite vacation city is Rio de Janeiro. He and his wife have vacationed in Brazil four times.

4 A former businessman, he spent 11 years in academia, consultancy and the private practice of law, before heading up Kaiser Aluminum's Jamaica country corporate office. He conceptualised and launched, on January 1, 1990, a start-up credit reporting company, Credit Security Systems (Jamaica) Ltd. He grew the company to become Jamaica's then largest credit bureau before he sold it, in late 1991, to noted financial analyst John Jackson.

5 He is one of only two Jamaicans to be ever appointed as a corporate vice-president of the United States aluminium giant, Kaiser Aluminum, and the only one to have been appointed as an assistant general counsel of the corporation. He also has the unique distinction of being the Kaiser corporate executive that was responsible for leading Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite, in 1994, to become the second company overall in Jamaica, and the first company in the Jamaica bauxite and alumina industry to be certified under the ISO 9002 International Quality Systems Standard.

6 A techy who is addicted
to gadgets, high-tech devices, and flight and motor-racing computer
simulators.

7 Was appointed as a
University of the West Indies law programme director and lecturer, at
age 24, making him the university's Faculty of Law's then youngest law
director. His former law students include the late Barbados Prime
Minister David Thompson, former Jamaica Solicitor General Douglas Leys,
current Jamaica acting Solicitor General Dr Kathy-Ann Brown, and
president Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, Milton
Samuda.

8 Is the son of the late
Carmel Christie, the noted language teacher, author, and playwright, who
scripted the long-running Jamaica radio play, The Fortunes of
Floralee, and the local Jamaica television series,
Life with the
Littles.

9 He has an
extensive Apple iTunes music collection, which covers a wide variety of
genres.

10 He is also an avid DVD
collector and enjoys action movies. He mixes a serious rum punch and his
favourite home-cooked dishes are his wife's curried lobster, breaded
pork chops and stewed chicken, and his helper's curried chicken, curried
goat and escoveitch fish.