NCU has new board chairman

Northern Caribbean University (NCU), the Seventh-day Adventist Church-owned and operated institution of higher learning in Jamaica, has a new chairman. He is Pastor Everett Brown, who was appointed to the position on November 30 during the 14th session of the West Indies Union Conference, held in Mandeville, Jamaica.

Brown, who was also elected president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica on November 29, succeeds Pastor Derek Bignall, who had been serving as chairman since January 2009.

"As chairman of the board, I give my commitment to continue to foster the ideals of NCU, which seeks to provide holistic Christian education to individuals throughout the region and by extension the world," said Brown. "In addition to the academics, we remain resolute in our efforts to improve the lives of people in the community in which we offer our services. We are thankful to God that through our recently launched media group - radio and television - we will continue to impact the nation through the teaching of good moral values in places that our lecturers are unable go."

The University's board of governors also has a new vice-chairman in the person of Pastor Leonard Johnson, who served as president of the Bahamas Conference prior to his appointment as president of the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists.

Characteristic leader

Brown was born in Ramble, Manchester. He is a past student of the May Pen High School and a graduate of NCU where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion and Theology, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA). He also holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Andrews University. He has served the Church for more than 26 years as pastor and evangelist for the Brown's Town, Portmore, Waltham and St Johns Districts of Churches from 1984-1994; youth director of the Central Jamaica Conference from 1989-1995; secretary of the Central Jamaica Conference from 1995-2000 and president of the Central Jamaica Conference from 2000-2010.

In addition to being chairman of the NCU board of governors, Brown will also serve as chairman of the Andrews Memorial Hospital, the Book and Nutrition Centre and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency in Jamaica. He is also a member of the Correctional Services Task Force.

Brown and his wife Lana are the parents of two sons, Jonathan and Matthew.

NCU is co-owned and co-operated by the Atlantic Caribbean Union Mission of Seventh-day Adventists (ACUM), and the Jamaica Union Conference of Seventh-day Adven-tists, which both came out of a reorganisation of the former West Indies Union Conference on Novem-ber 29. On that day, the various stakeholders of the 104-year-old institution, signed 'the NCU Accord', formalising their commitment to its sustainable growth and development.

NCU, the largest Seventh-day Adventist university worldwide, has an enrolment of approximately 6,000 students from 23 countries on six campuses across Jamaica.