Who is Fayval Williams?

Fayval Williams makes history as the first woman to be appointed Minister of Finance.

But who is she?

Nora Gaye Banton reports on the the political career of Jamaica’s new Minister of Finance.

A seasoned politician with an extensive background in finance and public service, Fayval Williams has held several senior Cabinet posts.

She’s served as Minister of Science, Energy, and Technology, Minister of Education, Information and Youth, Minister without portfolio in the Finance Ministry and State Minister in the same Ministry.

She had also served as a member of the Economic Advisory Council for the Jamaica Labour Party JLP in 2014.

Williams was first elected as Member of Parliament in the 2016 general election when she polled 7,143 votes to become the first female Member of Parliament for East St. Andrew. 

In the September 3, 2020 General Elections, Williams was re-elected to the House of Representatives, besting her previous margin of victory.

No stranger to the Finance Ministry, on March 7, 2016, Fayval Williams was appointed as State Minister to work alongside Audley Shaw and Rudyard Spencer.

Her portfolio responsibilities included, but were not limited to, fiscal policy.

Williams was then promoted to Minister without portfolio on March 23, 2018, by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in a Cabinet reshuffled to serve under Dr. Nigel Clarke.

Fayval Williams grew up in Ty Dixon, St. Catherine, and is the seventh of nine children of her parents, Myrtle Johnston and James Johnston. 

She attended Ferncourt High School.

Shortly after leaving high school, Fayval Williams landed a job at the Bank of Nova Scotia in Kingston, where she worked as a teller for three years before she left to pursue studies in the United States of America.

She holds a Bachelors in Economics from Harvard University. 

Williams’ latest appointment builds on her longstanding career in finance.

She’s a Chartered Financial Analyst with a Masters in Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Her concentration was in Finance.

Before entering politics, Williams gained industry experience in the United States, working as an Information Systems Analyst at noted investment firm Morgan Stanley and as a valuation analyst in commercial real estate in Chicago.