Mrs Audrey V. Sewell currently serves as Per- manent Secretary in both the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.
Mrs. Sewell is a firm believer in the saying “Al- ways render more and better service than is expected of you, no matter what your task may be”. During her 30 years of dedicated and faithful public service, her thoughts, pur- pose and actions have always been in the in- terest of her country and people.
A trained educator, Mrs. Sewell attained Cer- tification from the Shortwood Teachers’ Col- lege, and this training put her in good stead to serve in several capacities in the field. She holds an MSc. in Human Resource Develop- ment from the University of the West Indies (UWI): a BSc. (Hons.) in Management Studies (UWI), a Certificate in Management Studies also from the UWI: and an Advanced Cer- tificate in Educational Administration and Leadership jointly from the Swedish Institute for National Development and the Vocation- al Development Institute. Additionally, she has accreditation from the State University of New York, Oswego where she was lectured by none other than former Governor General Professor Sir. Kenneth Hall.
During the course of her professional life, Mrs. Sewell taught at the then Denham Town Sec- ondary (now High) Ardenne High School, Girl’s Town Jamaica and spent years at the HEART TRUST/NTA where she rose to the rank of Director of Academies. In this position, she had responsibility for the network of the Agen- cy’s training institutions across the island. She further lectured at the Department of Man- agement Studies at the University of the West Indies, and the University College of the Ca- ribbean, and served as external examiner for both institutions. She has also lectured at oth- er tertiary level institutions and presented at numerous workshops and conferences.
For the period 2004 to 2008, she served as Prin- cipal/ Director of the Justice Ministry’s Justice Training Institute (JTI) where she transformed the JTI by petting it registered with the Univer- sity Council of Jamaica, upgraded the programme offerings and extended the pro- grammes to the Caribbean and International participants: before moving on to the Ministry of Education in 2008 to serve as the Perma- nent Secretary. At the MOE she advanced the transformation programme and was sub- sequently re- assigned to the then Ministry of Transport, Works & Housing in 2011 during a tu- multuous time, and was extremely instrumen- tal in steadying the operations and improving the efficiencies of the Ministry.
Following the change in administration in 2016, Mrs. Sewell was placed at the helm of the new supra ministry, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation and was later ap- pointed Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister where she has since served in the dual capacity.
Ever the consummate public servant, Mrs. Sewell sat on several Boards of Public Bodies including the Students Loan Bureau: National Council on Education: Overseas Examination Commission: UWI Technical AdviSOD/ COM She is married to Winston and is the mother of mittee, the Jamaica Customs and the HEART three sons. Trust/NTA. She currently serves on the Boards of the Northern Caribbean University and Pet- ro Caribe.
She was a also member of the Task Force set up to Review the Jamaican Justice System and some of the recommendations from that review are in the process of being implement- ed.
For her outstanding service to Jamaica, Mrs. Sewell has received National Honours includ- ing the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Education and in 2014 she was conferred with the Commander of the Order of Distinc- tion (CD) for outstanding public service in the fields of Education, Justice, Transport Works and Housing.
Mrs. Sewell will tell you that faith has seen her through many of life’s challenges, and she is an ardent and devoted member of the North Street Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Kings- ton where she has served in various capacities.
She is married to Winston and is the mother of three sons.