Effective Friday, December 21, 2007 Ms. Joy Douglas was appointed to act as General Manager of the UDC, assuming responsibility for the day to day operations of the Corporation. Ms Douglas’ appointment, is in keeping with the restructuring of the organization to facilitate its return to the core business of providing the technical services required for undertaking urban development projects across Jamaica. This is in response to Government’s mandate to the UDC.

An urban and regional planner by profession, Joy Douglas is a graduate of the UWI, Mona where she earned a B.A. (Hons.) in Geography and Social Sciences and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, where she obtained her Masters in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP).

Acting General Manager
Ms. Joy Douglas

Miss Douglas has been instrumental in the environmental movement in Jamaica, having co-founded the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT), and serving as its first executive director. She was also instrumental in the formulation of the PARC project, the forerunner of a system of parks and protected areas on the island and participated in several activities of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources headquartered in Switzerland.

At the regional level she collaborated with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) in fostering dialogue on the concept of eco-tourism, assisted with the co-ordination of annual Eco-Tourism conferences and participated in activities of the Caribbean Conservation Association.

For the past 16 years, Miss Douglas has been a local and regional consultant working on projects related to planning, institutional strengthening, tourism, natural resource management, EIAs, community development, programme evaluation and training. Prior to that she held several positions in academia and the public sector, having lectured at both the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the College of Art Science and Technology (CAST) now the University of Technology (UTECH) and working at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and the Ministries of Construction and Housing and National Security.

Most recently, she served as the senior urban and regional planner on the Development Plan for the Portmore to Clarendon Park leg of Highway 2000, a project of the Office of the Prime Minister.