Audrey Marks: From diplomacy to digital revolution

WESTERN BUREAU:

Senator Audrey Marks is back home, after nearly a decade as Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, to lead a bold mission to modernise government and empower entrepreneurs through digital transformation.

Now appointed minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, Marks is responsible for one of the most transformative portfolios in government: Efficiency, Innovation and Digital Transformation.

It’s a role she was born to take on, a culmination of years spent navigating diplomacy at the highest level, building businesses from scratch, and fiercely advocating for Jamaican entrepreneurs at home and abroad.

“It’s time to move from stabilisation to transformation,” Marks declared in a wide-ranging interview with The Gleaner. “We must build a fit-for-purpose bureaucracy, and that requires reforming how the government operates at every level; from procurement systems to digital infrastructure.”

Though only three weeks into her new ministerial role, Marks has already begun laying the groundwork for systemic change. Her immediate focus has been threefold: aligning internal stakeholders, reviewing key pain points in the public service, and engaging external partners such as the Bankers Association and the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

“The procurement process, for example, is a nightmare for everyone, including the civil servants themselves,” she explained. “If the rules are so rigid they prevent progress, we need to change them. We have to eliminate inefficiencies so government can serve, not stifle.”

A former small business owner, Marks brings a private-sector sensibility to the public sphere. Her entrepreneurial background gives her a sharp understanding of the challenges faced by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Jamaica, businesses that, she insists, are essential to economic growth.

“I came up as a small businessperson in this country, and it was a constant battle,” she recalled. “There was no encouragement from the system. Every step forward felt like pushing through cement.”

It’s one of the reasons she is so passionate about fostering a culture of innovation.

“Jamaica has some of the most creative people in the world. What we lack is an environment that allows them to try, fail, pivot and succeed. San Francisco didn’t invent brilliance, they just built a culture that supports it. That’s what I want here.”

Diaspora engagement

This philosophy extends to her advocacy for the Jamaican diaspora, a group she believes is crucial to national development. During her tenure as ambassador, Marks developed a comprehensive strategy to deepen diaspora engagement not just in remittances, but in knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship, and policy development.

“For 45 years, we’ve seen a brain drain. Our best minds have gone abroad. But many of them never emotionally left Jamaica,” she said. “We must tap into their intellectual capital. If we get their ideas and expertise aligned with our development goals, we can leapfrog the transformation process.”

Her diplomatic experience, which spanned the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, shaped a clear-eyed approach to international relations.

“There are no permanent friends or enemies in foreign affairs, only permanent interests,” she noted. “My job was to identify Jamaica’s interests and negotiate from that position.”

This pragmatic mindset helped Jamaica avoid major diplomatic fallout during her tenure, including potential sanctions in the aftermath of the Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke extradition crisis and damaging travel advisories that threatened the tourism sector.

“Success is not just what you achieve, it’s what you prevent. Quiet diplomacy matters.”

Even in diplomacy, Marks approached her role like a CEO.

“Before I took the post, I developed a business plan,” she revealed. “I identified four core stakeholders, the US government, the American public, Jamaican diaspora, and private sector players. Everything I did was tied to that strategy.”

As minister, she plans to bring that same structured, goal-oriented leadership to her work. Her management style, she said, is built on “inclusive consensus with accountability”.

“I believe in SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic, and Time-bound. We talk a lot in Jamaica, but we do not always follow through with clear timelines and deliverables. That’s a productivity issue, and we need to fix it.”

One of her key mandates will be digitising government services – from company registration to tax processes.

“There is no reason it should take more than a day to register a business. We must move at the speed of relevance,” she said, referencing the ‘SPEED’ acronym coined by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’ team - Streamlining Processes for Efficiency and Economic Development.

For Marks, this moment is not just a return, it’s an inflection point.

“I’ve come back not just with ideas, but with urgency,” she said. “We are sitting on potential. Now is the time to unlock it.”

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com