The International College of the Cayman Islands has announced business and community leader Carlyle McLaughlin will be the keynote speaker at its 40th anniversary banquet. The event is on 24 September at the Westin Casuarina Resort.
College President John Cummings said Mr. McLaughlin was the obvious choice as the keynote speaker because of his successful career and community service.
Attendees can expect Mr. McLaughlin to discuss the College’s history and impact as Cayman’s first institution in the country to offer a college education that is internationally accredited, along with ICCI’s plans for the future.
As testament to that impact, Mr. McLaughlin credits his bachelor’s degree in business at the International College in 1976 as the stepping stone that launched his 25-year career in
accounting.
“My most vivid recollection was being a part of a movie that was filmed to promote the college way back when,” said Mr. McLaughlin, referring to a film that featured life in the Cayman Islands in 1974 — including collecting college students in a van around the
island — the British governor and the emerging banking industry.
Mr. McLaughlin was his high school valedictorian, but family did not have the financial means to send him overseas to go to a university. Government and private scholarships were not readily available to Caymanian students in those days.
He got his first break when the International College granted him a scholarship where he studied business and accounting alongside Caymanian and international students, earning his bachelor’s degree.
“I used to hitchhike to go to school because I didn’t have a car. Then I would have to walk to the street corner (about three-fourths of a mile) where Countryside Village is now to
catch a ride into town to go back to work,” said Mr. McLaughlin.
Later, the predecessor of Ernst & Young sponsored Mr. McLaughlin’s studies toward a master’s in business administration, which he earned in Florida, and set him on a course to pass the CPA exam.
Mr. McLaughlin retired as senior partner from Ernst & Young and is former chairman of Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. He has served on numerous boards and associations,
including the International College, Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants,
the Immigration Board, the National Drug Council, the National Pensions Board,
Cayman Islands National Insurance Company and the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm.
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