Holness to headline ACMF Anchor Awards

The American Caribbean Maritime Foundation (ACMF) will host its ninth annual Anchor Awards fundraising function on November 5 in Florida, with Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness serving as keynote speaker and special guest.

Held under the theme “Caribbean Maritime Professionals: The Backyard Advantage”, the 2026 Anchor Awards will recognise Marie McKenzie, senior vice-president of government and destination affairs at Carnival Corporation, and Richard Scheff, partner at Faegre Drinker, for their contributions to the maritime, cruise, shipping, logistics and legal sectors and their commitment to the Caribbean’s continued growth.

Both honourees have also been part of ACMF’s support network, reflecting their longstanding commitment to the foundation’s mission.

Proceeds from the event will support scholarships and grants for aspiring Caribbean maritime professionals, including marine engineers, logisticians, captains, port managers and other specialists in the maritime and logistics sectors.

ACMF aims to alleviate poverty and transform lives in the Caribbean through maritime education and community development. It provides scholarships, grants and educational resources to students pursuing careers across the maritime sector.

Since its founding, the foundation has invested more than US$2 million in more than 500 full-tuition scholarships and grants, helping students from across the Caribbean pursue maritime careers. Beneficiaries have come from Jamaica, The Bahamas, Grenada, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, and Dominica, with Jamaican students receiving the largest share of the funding.

Graduates have gone on to professional careers in the cruise and cargo industries, ports, and the oil and gas sector, working as engineers, ship officers, cybersecurity analysts, border security officers and in other fields.

“We are deeply honoured to welcome Prime Minister Holness to the ACMF Anchor Awards,” said ACMF Founder and President Dr Geneive Brown Metzger, Jamaica’s eighth consul general in New York. She founded the organisation after completing her tenure in 2012.

“His advocacy for infrastructure investment, education and opportunity throughout Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, is precisely the right focus and for the region at this time,” Brown Metzger said.

“His presence underscores the importance of the maritime sector to Jamaica and the Caribbean and the critical role that education and human-capital development play in creating opportunity for our young people,” said ACMF Interim Board Chair Dr Jennifer Nugent-Hill, assistant vice-president of government and community affairs at Tropical Shipping US.

The Anchor Awards has become a signature gathering of leaders from the cruise, cargo, shipping, logistics, ports, government and maritime sectors. The event celebrates those who have helped build and strengthen the Caribbean’s maritime economy while raising funds to support the next generation.

This year’s speakers include Professor Andrew Spencer, president of the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU), and Davia Findlator, an ACMF scholar and CMU valedictorian for the Class of 2024.

Findlator received a Fulbright Scholarship and is now studying at Syracuse University in New York.

The 2026 Anchor Awards is presented by Tropical Shipping US. Other major sponsors include Royal Caribbean, Carnival Corporation, King Ocean Services, philanthropists Roland and Loretta Malins-Smith, Nassau Cruise Port, Arawak Port Development, PortMiami, Port Everglades and the Barbados Shipping Association.

Proceeds will go to the ACMF Hope Fund to finance scholarships and grants for aspiring maritime professionals across the Caribbean. Former sponsors include Kingston Wharves and the Caribbean Shipping Association.

ACMF is dedicated to creating educational and professional opportunities for Caribbean youth and developing the skilled maritime workforce needed to expand and sustain the region’s maritime sector.

editorial@gleanerjm.com