Hon. Audley Shaw
Minister of Finance & the Public Service
Audley Shaw was born in Christiana, Manchester on June 13, 1952.
He attended the Christiana Leased Junior School, Knox College and Holmwood Technical High School in North East Manchester. He first worked with the Jamaica Milk Products as a Laboratory Technician. He then worked with the JAMAL Movement as Area Literacy Officer for North East Manchester and as Zone Officer for St. Andrew.
In 1981 Mr. Shaw graduated from Northern Illinois University (NIU) with the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts Degrees in Journalism with graduate studies in Marketing, Finance and Public Relations.
Mr. Shaw joined the Chicago Office of Burson-Marseller (a Public Relations Consultancy firm) in 1981 as Client Executive, and later put that experience to work when he joined the Jamaica National Investment Promotion Limited (JNIP) later named JAMPRO and now renamed Jamaica Trade and Invest, as Director for Public Relations and Advertising.
Between 1983 and 1986 Mr. Shaw was responsible for JNIP’s Marketing and Overseas Offices. This gave him responsibility worldwide with offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. During this period many new investments came to Jamaica, employing thousands of people all across the country.
In 1986 Mr. Shaw resigned his position with Government and became a Merchant and Marketing Consultant. In widening his scope to political sphere he joined the Jamaica Labour Party in 1987.
Two years later, he was appointed by the Leader of the Opposition to the Senate and served as Shadow Minister of Information and Culture, Shadow Minister of Public Utilities and Transport as well as Shadow Minister of Industry and Commerce. In March 1993 he was elected Member of Parliament for North East Manchester.
In September 1995 he was appointed Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament – the watchdog of expenditure of public funds by Government Ministries and Agencies. In the 1997 General Elections, Mr. Shaw was re-elected to serve a second term as Member of Parliament. He was subsequently appointed Shadow Minister of Finance. In 2002 Mr. Shaw was re-elected to serve a third term as Member of Parliament, and in 2007 he was again re-elected to serve a fourth term as Member of Parliament for the North East Manchester constituency.
Mr. Shaw served as General Secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party and has been a Deputy Leader of the JLP since 1999. In September 2007 Mr. Shaw was appointed Minister of Finance and the Public Service in the new Government of the Jamaica Labour Party.
Mr. Shaw is the recipient of the Donald R. Grubb NIU distinguished Alumni Award.