Christopher Samuda
President Jamaica Olympic Association
Biography
Christopher Livingstone Samuda is an Attorney-at-Law by profession having gained a Bachelor of Laws Degree with Upper Second Class Honours from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and the Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Law School. Mr. Samuda is a Notary Public
LEGAL PRACTICE
He is a founding partner of the Law Firm, Samuda & Johnson, where he is the Marketing Partner and heads the firm’s Sport and Entertainment Department, the Intellectual Property, Patent and Trademarks Department as well as its Housing and Real Estate Department.
His legal practice and areas of expertise include Sport and Entertainment; Intellectual Property and Copyright; Patents and Trade Marks; Civil Litigation and Dispute Resolution; Commercial and Corporate Transactions; and Housing and Real Estate. He has acted in major hotel and business acquisitions as well as mergers and represents and advises local and international interests in the sport, music and entertainment industries, the banking and insurance sectors and in trade and commerce.
A company adviser and consultant with a successful career spanning over twenty-five (25) years, four (4) continents and innumerable industries, Mr. Samuda is a former Council Member of the Jamaica Bar Association.
PUBLIC SERVICE AND VOLUNTARY SERVICE
Committed to public service, Mr. Samuda devotes much of his time to voluntary service.
The Sporting Arena
In the sporting arena, he currently serves as:
- The Second Vice President of Centro Caribe Sports (CCS)
- a Director of the Executive Committee of the Americas Paralympic Committee (APC)
- a Councilor on the Board of Trustees of the International Federation of Cinema, Television and Sports (FICTS)
- an Honourary Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Congress of Physical Education, Sport and Kinesiohrrapy
- the President of the Jamaica Olympic Association and the Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA)
- Chairman of the Jamaica Paralympic Foundation(JPF)
- Chairman of the Legal Commissions of CCS and APC
- a member of the Legal Commission of PASO
- a member of the Legal Commission of World ParaVolley
- A member of the Ethics Commission of PASO
- a member of Jamaica’s National Sport Council
- former member of the CONCACAF Working Group Professional Caribbean League
Some Major Sporting Achievements
Mr. Samuda brings to bear on sporting endeavours his competences and experience in dealing with multiple sports both at the policy and operational levels.
- Chairman, Jamaica’s National Sports Council’s Athlete Development and Well-Being Committee that spearheaded and was directly responsible for the successful implementation of the historic Jamaica Athletes Insurance Plan for national athletes (Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic) across several sports
- A member of the task group that worked on the current National Sport Policy and was a member of a two-man team that finalised and presented it to sport associations and federations and stakeholders (Olympic, Non-Olympic and Paralympic) for enactment
- Settled Terms of Reference for Commissions of regional Executive Boards/Board of Directors of CCS, APC, JOA and JPA
- Introduced locally para rowing, para fencing and para taekwondo as recreational and competitive para sports.
- Successfully established Jamaica as a meet location for track and field qualification for international events hosted by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
- The Keynote Speaker at galas and a presenter at sporting seminars on several occasions, locally and overseas, on topics including leadership, sport governance, economics and management, the business of sport, sport branding and marketing, managing talent and intellectual property, corporate and strategic planning and sport tourism and entertainment
- Chef de Mission, Jamaica’s Paralympic Team to the 2011 Para Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the Director in Charge of its team to the 2012 London Paralympic Games, England, and the 2013 Lyon World Para Athletics Championships, France.
- Executed the Business of Sport International Conferences
- A member of Jamaica’s National Sport Council from 2013.
The Education Field
In the field of education, Mr. Samuda served as the Chairman of the:
- Board of Governors of the Media Technology Institute (M.T.I.) from 2007 to 2016
- Board of Wolmer’s Boys’ School 2015 to 2019
Creative and Performing Arts Industries
In the creative and performing arts, Mr. Samuda is currently the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Chorale of Jamaica (NCOJ) and was the former Chairman of the Creative Production and Training Centre (C.P.T.C.) a government owned film and production house for culture and sport and served in that capacity from 2007 to 2016.
Corporate Profile
Mr. Samuda is lead adviser to several Jamaican and Caribbean commercial entities.
He is also the Chairman and a Director of private companies in sport and business.
Mr. Samuda inaugurated and has hosted Prime Ministers of the region and local Ministers in breakfast fora styled “Meet the Prime Minister” and “Meet the Minister” in facilitating bi-lateral discussions between regional and local Prime Ministers and the top brass of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and Private Sector of Jamaica (PSOJ)
Positions Held
Mr. Samuda has held corporate positions including the:
- President of the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU), from 2004 to 2007, which apex body has oversight responsibility for all credit unions in the English speaking Caribbean and also Guyana and Belize
- Caribbean’s primary delegate to the world governing credit union body, the World Council of Credit Unions, from 2004 to 2006
- President of the local governing body, Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League Limited, (JCCUL) from 2004 to 2007.
- President of GSB Co-operative Credit Union Limited (now First Heritage Cooperative Credit Union) from 2000 to 2006.
- First Chairman and a founding Director of Jamaica’s successful Credit Union Fund Management Co Limited (now Cumax Wealth Management Limited) from 2004 to 20
- Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Jamaica’s Fair Trading Commission (FTC) from 2012 to 2016
- Co-Chairman of the Peoples’ Energy Vision Programme, sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (I.D.B.) and Deputy Chairman of the Jamaica’s Copyright Tribunal
- Chairman of the Government’s Legal Committee in the rationalisation of the Public Sector.
