It appears Gary was destined to follow in Mr. Spaulding’s footsteps, as except for three years of his working life, Lester Spaulding has always been his boss – first at RJR, then at the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), and then again at RJR.

“I have always maintained a very good working relationship with the Chairman. We share a mutural respect and I owe great deal of my success in broadcasting to him because he is a very good teacher. Both of us share a passion for RJR in particular and for broadcasting in general”.

If anyone knows the challenges faced by the RJR Communications Group in the competitive media landscape, it is Group that faced tough economic times in 2008, in the early period of the global economic.

However, because of his grooming at the CBU and the CMC, Gary was primed to take the tough decisions. While working to take the tough decisions. While working in the Caribbean, he was a pioneer on many fronts. He was the Project Manager for the first live television coverage of the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, among many other accolades.

Allen is a unique character in that he began as a journalist back in 1987 (a freelance reporter at the Gleaner) and later became the boss of Jamaica’s largest media entity, thus giving him perspicacious insight into the dynamics and practices of a media operation, not to mention a certain empathy with those that drive the business.

Allen’s path to success has been likened to that of Jeff Immelt who succeeded the great Jack Welch at the American powerhouse General Electric (GE), leaving his own mark on a corporate leviathan. Allen too is carving his image into his company and may have already displaced the shadow cast by Spaulding.

The Gary Allen story is not complete, and undoubtedly there’s still a lot to be told. Listen out for more from him and the media conglomerate – RJR – that he guides.

He graduated from the University of Manchester, England with the degree of BA Commerce, with distinction. He also qualified as a chartered accountant. He was a fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

Roy Collister was made a Jamaican citizen in 1965. Friends have described Roy as being a very special friend; loyal, dependable, hospitable, ever gracious and utterly sincere.

Always by his side, smiling and bright, supportive and astute was Sylvia, mother of his two beloved sons – Keith and Paul. They keenly supervised their sons’ education and their upbringing, their confidence and excellent manners, their ambition and their accomplishments.

Both sons made their father extremely proud. Paul and his lovely wife, Natalia, gave Roy two beautiful grandchildren and they both made their grandfather extremely happy and proud. Keith will be getting married shortly to his beautiful fiancée, Carole. Roy was reportedly delighted with this union, and very pleased to know that both his sons are successful in business and in their personal lives.

The great love that Roy had for his wife, children and grandchildren was clearly shown in the pain and suffering that he endured night and day, year after year, just to stay alive to be with them as long as was humanly possible. As we say in Jamaica, ‘nuff respeck’ to Roy.

The quantity, but in particular the quantity of his service to Jamaica was a testimony to his commitment to his adopted country. Hon. Roy Collister used, and was invited to use his acumen, business capacity and vision in the development of a list of superb Jamaican enterprises.

He served T. Geddes Grant Ltd. for 32 years, and built that company into a fantastic organisation. He retired as chairman and CEO of the Caribbean-wide Geddes Grant Group of Companies – a conglomerate comprising over 40 companies with operations in most of the CARICOM states.

Over the years, he served as Director of:

• Courts Ja. Ltd.

• Mussons Ja. Ltd.

• West Indies Development Company Ltd. – a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Development Corporation.

• Pan Jamaican Investment Trust Ltd.

• First Jamaica Investment Company Ltd.

• West Indies Alliance Insurance Company Ltd.

• Amalgamated Distributors Ltd.

He also served as a trustee of the Washington-based Caribbean Latin American Action Organisation and the US-based International Executive Service Corporation.

For many years, Roy was extremely active in the financial services field and served as:

• A founding director of Trafalgar Development Bank, now Pan Caribbean Financial Services Ltd.

• A founding director of Pan Caribbean Merchant Bank Ltd.

• Chairman of Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Jamaica Ltd.

• A director of Royal Bank Jamaica Ltd., which later became Mutual Security Bank Ltd.

• A director of the Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.

• A director of the Insurance Company of Jamaica.

• A director of Employee Benefits Administrator Ltd. – an associate company of Life of Jamaica.

• A director of First Global Stock Brokers Ltd. – a subsidiary of Grace Kennedy & Co. Ltd.

• He also served as a member of the Council of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.

Roy Collister was a past president of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, a past president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica and a past president of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce.

His public service was most outstanding. He served as a director of the University of the West Indies Development and Endowment Fund and was the chairman of the fund’s financial committee.

He also served as chairman of the Jamaican Government Tax Reform Committee which was the predecessor of the Matalon Committee, which was responsible for major reforms of Jamaica’s personal and corporate tax systems which were implemented in the 1980s as well as for the design of the general consumption tax.

He also served as chairman of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute and chairman of the Jamaica Bauxite Trading Company.

Roy Collister was a director of the Government Trade Board, the Jamaica National Investment Promotions Ltd., the Jamaican Export Credit Insurance Corporation and the Export Development Bank, both subsidiaries of the Bank of Jamaica.

He also served as a member of:

• The Government’s Divestment Committee

• The Government Hotel Divestment Committee

• The working group of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on CARICOM affairs, appointed by CARICOM to deal with economic convergence criteria and the development of CARICOM capital markets including a Caribbean Stock Exchange.

• The Industry Advisory Council on International Business Services, appointed by the then minister of Industry and Tourism.

Hon. Roy Collister was also a member of the Caribbean Law Institute’s Advisory Committee. He participated in the drafting of a model CARICOM Insolvency Bill – a joint project of the University of the West Indies Faculty of Law and the Florida State University College of Law.

He accompanied successive prime ministers to Washington to lobby Congress and the US Executive for the easing of trade restrictions on CARICOM exports. To further this easing of trade restrictions, he also worked with the Miami-based Caribbean Latin American Action Organisation of which he was a trustee.

Roy had always been heavily involved in the stock exchange and the securities industry. If he himself were to be listed as a stock, some say that he would be blue chip and oversubscribed. Listed as one of his assets if he was to issue a prospectus on his IPO would be the word ‘FRIENDSHIP’.

He was a man of integrity,

He was a man of humility,

He was a man of dignity,

He was a man of dedication,

He was a man of loyalty,

He was a man of family,

He was a man of God,

He was a friend.

Roy Collister passed away on April 11, 2010 after a long illness. He was 75 years old.