SOME PUPILS OF the St Patrick’s Roman Catholic School are enjoying a good primary education while at the same time honouring the memory of a regional banking icon.
Chief executive officer of CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank, Gary Brown recently presented the Michael Mansoor Scholarship cheque to Roman Catholic Bishop of Barbados and St Vincent, Father Jason Gordon and headmistress Sister Pauline Dempsey.
Brown said the bank was happy to support children with the advancement of their education while at the same time commemorating someone who gave so much to the bank.
Bishop Gordon thanked the bank for its generosity, underlining the importance of children having access to a good education in an environment where they were also guided to develop good moral standards. Afterwards, the Bishop escorted the CEO and a team from the bank on a tour of the school, which provided positive examples of the work undertaken by the school.
The scholarship programme is a tribute to the late Michael Mansoor, who was CIBC FirstCaribbean’s executive chairman from its inception in October 2002 until his retirement at the end of 2013, after which he continued to serve on the company’s board of directors.
The scholarship fund was established following his death in December 2014 by the bank’s corporate social responsibility arm, FirstCaribbean International ComTrust Foundation, of which he served as the original chairman.
CIBC FirstCaribbean’s director, corporate communications, Debra King explained that the bank chose a scholarship programme to honour Mansoor for two reasons; he demonstrated a love for supporting education projects and he said that as a youngster, without a scholarship, he would have been unable to achieve at the level which he did. (PR)
