Christopher Samuda will lead the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) for a third consecutive term after being returned unopposed in Wednesday’s elections at the JOA headquarters.
– Advertisement –
The result was a resounding show of confidence from the island’s sporting bodies, ensuring that Samuda, first elected in 2017, will serve until 2029.
While his presidency remains secure, Samuda made it clear that this will be his final term at the helm, stressing the importance of term limits and succession planning.
The election saw the executive largely unchanged, with decisive outcomes across other posts:
- President: Christopher Samuda – Unopposed
- Honorary Treasurer: Nichole Case – Unopposed
- First Vice-President: Jacqueline Cowan – Unopposed after Raymond Anderson’s withdrawal before the meeting.
- Second Vice-President: Robert Scott – 44 votes, defeating Ian Forbes with 4 votes.
- Directors: Nicole Grant Brown – 46 votes; Gary Peart – 46 votes; Karen Anderson – 46 votes; Anthony “Billy” Wilmot – 45 votes; Laurel Smith – 44 votes.
- Director Candidate Not Elected: Osayimwese Osagboro – 4 votes.
The directors elected join an experienced team that will guide the association through the next four years.
Samuda to CNW: ‘An overwhelming vote of confidence’
Speaking to CNW Network, Samuda described the results as both humbling and affirming.
“My directors and I are grateful and humbled. The results are an overwhelming vote of confidence, but more importantly, they signal that our members have bought into our vision completely and are on the mission with us in innovating, re-engineering, and commercialising an Olympic movement of which we are servant leaders and the custodians just for a time.”
He outlined an ambitious agenda for his final term, pledging to accelerate infrastructure development, deepen member engagement, and expand Jamaica’s influence in global sport.
“We will continue to deepen our member and stakeholder engagements, monetise our assets and activations, build out our headquarters into a landmark sporting facility, invest and re-invest further in our member associations and their athletes and coaches, modernise our educational products and services, internationalise the Jamaica Olympic Association as critical to the global sporting stock, revolutionize thought and action in sport and serve our country selflessly as we continue relentlessly the business of change and transformation.”
– Advertisement –
Final term, lasting vision
Samuda, who succeeded the long-serving Mike Fennell in 2017, reiterated that his third term would be his last, in keeping with the term-limit principle he introduced upon taking office.
“When I became president in 2017, I immediately introduced term limits because I think that’s the way to go in terms of sports governance. It allows sufficient time for the persons on the executive to make their mark and create legacies, so certainly I won’t be here for 40 years,”he told the Jamaica Observer media outlet.
With his leadership extending over a decade by 2029, Samuda intends to leave behind a strengthened, modernised JOA that is both financially sustainable and internationally recognised.
and then 