Maryland’s Wes Moore, business mogul Trisha Bailey to receive UCC honours

Wes Moore, the 63rd governor of Maryland in the United States, is to be conferred with a Doctor of Laws degree (Honoris Causa) by the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) at its annual commencement ceremony on July 16.

In making the announcement, Professor Haldane Davies, president of the UCC, said “the board of directors of the UCC is elated that Governor Moore has consented to receive the honorary doctorate from our institution and to deliver the commencement address. He is a most eminent honoree and we are proud to welcome him to the UCC family and his maternal homeland”.

Maryland’s first black governor in the state’s 246-year history, Moore is just the third African American elected governor in the history of the US. He was also the first black Rhodes Scholar in the history of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, where he earned a bachelor’s in international relations and economics. As a Rhodes Scholar he received a master’s in international relations from Wolfson College at Oxford.

Moore is also a graduate of Valley Forge Military Academy and College, where he was commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the US Army. He has served as a White House Fellow, advising on issues of national security and international relations, is a decorated Army combat veteran, a best-selling author of inspirational memoirs, former Wall Street banker, social entrepreneur and non-profit CEO.

Born in the US of a Jamaican mother and American father, Moore has had a commendable history of community-contribution, including as chief executive officer from 2017-2021 of the Robin Hood Foundation, the New York City-based organisation that helps to fight poverty in the city by funding food banks and shelters. During his tenure, the Foundation distributed over US$600 million toward lifting families out of poverty.

Honorary degree

Before that, he built and launched the Baltimore-based business, BridgeEdU, which reinvented freshman year of college for under-served students to increase their likelihood of long-term success.

Also receiving an honorary degree from the UCC this year will be Jamaica-born US entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, Dr Trisha Bailey.

The real estate mogul will be conferred with a Doctor of Humane Letters degree (Honoris Causa).

In making the announcement, Davies said, “[Bailey] is an accomplished professional, outstanding role model especially for our diaspora community, and committed to the continued growth and resilience of her homeland. We proudly welcome her into the UCC family.”

Bailey is credited with defying the odds and becoming a successful entrepreneur, leader and trendsetter.

Hailing from humble beginnings in Jamaica and carving her space in the medical field in the US, she was the first to graduate college in her family when she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1999. She would later attain a master’s degree in business administration in 2005 and a doctorate in management in organisational leadership in 2010. Since then, her serial entrepreneurial track has furthered her life and the lives of more than 50,000 individuals.

Bailey is a prominent figure in the home medical equipment industry, having established pharmaceutical facilities across the country, and has dominated the real-estate market. She owns half of an island and more than 50 commercial and residential real-estate properties stretching from the US to Jamaica, including the exclusive Vero Beach and Edgewood communities in Florida.

Bailey has received several awards and accolades, including Woman of the Year in the home medical equipment industry, and she was one of the first-ever black women ranked among the top 60 Medicare providers in the US for home medical equipment.

UCC Honorary Doctorates have been presented previously over the past decade to a number of distinguished professionals including:

Professor Errol Morrison, former president, the University of Technology;

Bruce Bowen, former president and CEO, Scotia Bank Group;

Dr Henry Lowe, executive chairman, Environmental Health Foundation;

Richard Byles, former president and CEO, Sagicor Group;

Gary Hendrickson, chairman and CEO, Continental Bakery;

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Democratic member of the US House of Representatives;

Dorothy Pine-McLarty, chair, Electoral Commission of Jamaica;

Marlene Street Forrest, managing director, Jamaica Stock Exchange,

Leighton McKnight, retired territory leader, PwC Jamaica and PwC Caribbean leader for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion;

Godfrey Dyer, tourism and business titan;

Dr Sandra Reid, professor, UWI, St Augustine;

Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, founder Sandals Resorts, the Jamaica Observer and ATL Ltd. (posthumous award)