Ambassador Gillian M. S. Bristol, Director; Latin-American-Caribbean Centre (LACC)
Ambassador Gillian M. S. Bristol is a national of Grenada. She was educated at the prestigious St. Joseph’s Convent High School, The University of the West Indies, and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University in Boston. Ambassador Bristol has obtained honors degrees in Languages (major in Spanish) and Law at The UWI, and earned her Master of Arts in Global Affairs from the Fletcher School. She is no stranger to the multilateral relations community of the Americas having served for over 17 years in several senior professional portfolios at the Organization of American States (OAS), Washington, DC, with extensive experience in hemispheric security-related matters, which led to a specialization in programmatic and policy work as a Senior Specialist at the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE). Ms. Bristol was an active advocate for staff rights and fairness in the workplace, and achieved unprecedented success as President of the OAS Staff Association Committee 2007-2008 for which she earned from her colleagues the coveted Terry Woods Memorial Award for service above and beyond the call of duty. In 2009, she was appointed by the Government of Grenada as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America, non-resident Ambassador to Mexico, and Permanent Representative to the OAS. During her tenure as Ambassador, she held several high leadership positions at the OAS, contributing to management policy decisions in the advancement of the hemispheric agenda. Her engagement as Chair of the Permanent Council was instrumental to the success of multilateral diplomatic negotiations on sensitive international political situations, among them the reinstatement of Honduras in the OAS. In her role as Coordinator for the Caucus of CARICOM Ambassadors in Washington, DC she led important delegations to representatives in the United States Congress. As of 1st, August, 2016, she joined the newly established Office for Global Affairs at The University of the West Indies, Regional Headquarters at Mona, Jamaica, having been appointed Director of the Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC). Through this Centre, the University fosters relations with other tertiary educational institutions and governments and promotes regional integration in higher education.
