Sue McCourt Cobb
Ambassador Sue Cobb originally hails from California and received her undergraduate degree from Stanford University. Having moved with her husband, Chuck, to Miami, she obtained her JD degree from the University of Miami in 1978.

She was the founding director of the Public Finance Department of the Greenberg Traurig law firm, and has worked as Managing Director and General Counsel of Cobb Partners, a private investment firm which focuses on resort and real estate development.

In December 2005, Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed her as the Florida Secretary of State, in which capacity she serves, among other things, as Florida's elections chief.

Sue was the US Ambassador to Jamaica from Aug. 2001 to Feb. 2005, and she will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the most hard-working, frank, earnest, giving, productive and charming foreign diplomats ever to serve in Jamaica.

She is a mountain climber, a skier and a scuba diver. While posted in Jamaica, Sue got to know and love Jamaica in unparalleled fashion - she has traveled to Maroon Town for the annual independence celebrations, she climbed Blue Mountain Peak, scuba dived in Negril, traversed the Cockpit Country on a mule, and frequented the black sands of Treasure Beach.

She has engaged tirelessly, both here and in the U.S., in civic and charitable work, for which she has received numerous local and international honors, including the Red Cross' Humanitarian of the Year Award.

Recently, Sue and Chuck Cobb made a generous grant through American Friends of Jamaica, to establish an endowment fund which will benefit the University of the West Indies and fund this annual AFJ/Cobb Family Lecture. We are extremely pleased to welcome her here to inaugurate this lecture series.

American Friends of Jamaica
The American Friends of Jamaica was established in 1982, driven largely by a handful of wealthy Americans who had homes on the North Coast, and who had developed a deep appreciation, not only for the beauty and exuberance of Jamaica, but also for the needs of its people.

Today, AFJ contributors include American multinational corporations with commercial interests in Jamaica, Americans who vacation, work or reside in Jamaica, past and present members of the diplomatic corps, and a dynamic group of "Jamericans" from the diaspora.

In its almost 25 years of existence, AFJ has become a well-established charitable organization, which has raised and distributed over US$10 million to assist Jamaican charities in the areas of education, healthcare and human and economic development.

The AFJ is what is known in the US as a "501(c)(3) organization," which means that contributions to it are tax deductible in the U.S. In other words, through AFJ, U.S. residents and citizens can make contributions to Jamaican charities, and get the tax advantages that would otherwise not be available if they were to make the donation straight to the Jamaican entity.

As such AFJ is a unique and valuable resource to Jamaica, combining integrity, credibility and a track record of charitable giving, the tax advantages that donors expect, and a widespread network of generous supporters and friends.

Throughout the 24 years of its existence, the AFJ has had a special relationship with UWI. Four endowments have been established to benefit UWI - three bursaries to assist students, and now this, the AFJ Cobb Family Lecture Series.

I will let Ambassador Cobb tell you more about the Cobb Family Lecture Series. Suffice it to say that the American Friends of Jamaica is very pleased and proud to be able to facilitate the generosity of the Cobb Family Foundation in establishing this endowment fund and, in doing so, promoting strategic and developmental research at UWI.