Bridgewater, Ferguson And Hodgson Inducted
Three new Honorary Fellows – one posthumously – were inducted into the Company of Honorary Fellows of Bermuda College yesterday evening [Feb 18].
A spokesperson said, “Mr. Craig Bridgewater, Dr. Janet Ferguson, and the family of the late Dr. Eva Hodgson, received distinctive stoles and their certificates from the Chair of the Company of Honorary Fellows, The Hon. K. H. Randolph Horton, JP in ceremonies streamed live.
Craig Bridgewater and Grace Swan, representing her sister, the late Dr. Eva Hodgson
“Craig I.V. Bridgewater, FCPA, FCA, CIA Craig Bridgewater currently serves as Group Head of Finance for the Bank of N.T. Butterfield. Prior to joining the Bank in October 2019, he was a Partner with KPMG in Bermuda where he had been appointed as the sector lead for the Banking & Asset Management Practice. He was also KPMG in Bermuda’s Head of People with responsibility for Human Resources, Learning & Development, Diversity & Inclusion, Performance Management and the Graduate programme.
“In 2019, Craig was awarded the Fellowship designation by CPA Bermuda in recognition of his outstanding contributions made to the accounting profession and to the community. Craig has published several articles on thought leadership related to the banking and asset management industries, and was responsible for creating the Firm’s banking publication, Insights, which focused on the banking industry in Bermuda.
“Being community minded with a particular interest in education, Craig is currently the Chairman of the Governing Body of the Berkeley Institute, and a member of the Board of Education, the Albert College Board of Governors, including being Chair of its Finance Committee, and the Frederick Sydney Smith Scholarship Committee which issues scholarships for the benefit of Bermuda students attending Albert College.
“Craig has most recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Bermuda Airport Authority and also acts as Chairman of the Board’s Finance Committee. He is impressively civic-minded with his participation in numerous other organisations, boards and committees. Craig is married to Monique and has two daughters – Myah [17] and Celeigh [8]
Craig Bridgewater
“Dr. Janet Ferguson, served as the Executive Director of the Lifelong Learning Centre [LLC], Bermuda College for almost ten years. She is committed to nurturing and celebrating human development and achievement through learning. To that end, she has worked across the spectrum of lifelong learning practice as a consultant/facilitator, strategy development advisor and adjunct lecturer. Her cross-cultural international employment experiences include Bermuda, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom and the Seychelles. Her engagements have included strategy development and action-learning interventions for public, corporate and education sector clients.
“Under her leadership, the LLC experienced exponential growth, both in terms of membership and the range of programmes offered, from under 500 members in 2010 when she assumed the position of Executive Director to more than 1200 upon her retirement in 2019; and from less than 20 courses per semester to just under 40 during this period.
“Dr. Ferguson has also served as an Adjunct Faculty Member at Bermuda College [1981-83] and as an independent consultant to the Adjunct Faculty, Bermuda College [1993-2006].
“She has also served in myriad other areas of the Bermuda community: trustee and co-chair of the Education Committee of the National Museum of Bermuda, coach/consultant to Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Task Force [BEST] and consultant, coach/facilitator in the area of strategy development to a number of entities of the Bermuda public sector, including the Central Policy Unit within the Cabinet Office, Office of the Ombudsman, The Berkeley Institute, the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation and the Department of Tourism where she was a significant contributor to the Bermuda National Tourism Plan.
“Additionally, she has served as consultant and coach/facilitator for Bermuda Electric Light Company Ltd. and has served as a Board member of the Adult Education School, The Reading Clinic, Vision Bermuda and the Bermuda Arts Council.
Dr. Greene, Board Chair, Peter Sousa, Evangeline Anderson [representing Dr. Janet Ferguson, who is overseas] and Randolph Horton
“Currently, a visiting/adjunct lecturer for the bi-annual Adult Education Guided Intensive Study doctoral programme at Teachers’ College, Columbia University, New York, Dr. Ferguson’s teaching practice supports the negotiation of “troublesome knowledge” in the arena of racial identity through the use of arts-based methods.
“Her membership of the University College of the Cayman Islands Graduate Council includes responsibility for both supervisory and marking graduate work. And, as an adjunct instructor and board member at StoryCenter a California-based organization that supports individuals and organizations in using storytelling and participatory media for reflection, education, and social change, she explores the cross disciplinary applications of storywork in relation to established knowledge and practice in the areas of transformative learning, strategy and organisational development.
“An accomplished researcher, Dr. Ferguson has published numerous articles in scholarly and other forums dealing in large part with transformative education and behaviour, and an academic litany of degrees and qualifications that undergird it all. Dr. Ferguson is married to Justice Ian Kawaley, former Chief Justice of Bermuda, and has one son.
“In Bermuda, the dis-enfranchised were challenged by Mrs. Florenz Maxwell who insisted, after the Theatre Boycott of 1959, that we must be prepared to accept a biased account of our past, unless we were prepared to write our own.
“It is within this context that the Company of Honorary Fellows of the Bermuda College is drawn to consider the foreword to Second Class Citizens, First Class Men, and in particular, the following words by its author Eva N. Hodgson:
“…This brief account of a decade of second-class citizenship is certainly no substitute for the history of the coloured people in Bermuda; it is however, a reminder that our achievements come only through struggle” [1963]
Grace Swan, representing her sister, the late Dr. Eva Hodgson
“The late Eva Naomi Hodgson OBE PhD, was born into a Hamilton Parish family with strong religious convictions and a deep concern for social justice. She is nationally recognised as a social activist, writer, labour union leader, and educator, and was known for her efforts to fight racism in Bermuda, from the segregation era into the 21st century.
“Earning no fewer than six academic degrees from prestigious universities in Canada, the U.K and the USA – including a Ph.D from Columbia University, Dr. Hodgson was never not labelled by some as a troublemaker for her uncompromising and sustained views in her mission to have the community confront institutionalised racism, institutionalised protectionism and more broadly social injustice.
“The passing of Dr. Hodgson earlier this past year in 2020 reminds us of her powerful legacy as a racial justice advocate, long before the popularism of the Black Lives Matter wave. She refused to allow the community to be satisfied with the end of official segregation and the ascendance to political power of black Bermudians.
“In the late 1980’s, together with a small group of dedicated people, she started the National Association for Reconciliation and for many years was the Co-Chair. She aligned herself with newer organisations such as Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda … and continued to push for affirmative action and chastise the Government for a lack of real progress.
“It is this submission, that the sustained campaign and journey of Dr. Eva Hodgson for social justice and improving race relations in Bermuda is deemed worthy of recognition.
“Maya Angelou helps to guide the transition of her vision into the future …
“…Our young must be taught that racial peculiarities do exist, but that beneath the skin, beyond the differing features and into the true heart of being, fundamentally, we are more alike, friend, than we are unalike.
“This posthumous award by the Company of Honorary Fellows of Bermuda College ensures that the voice and work of Dr. Eva N. Hodgson OBE Ph.D will never be silenced.”
Congrats. A small community that produces so many giants. Congratulations and well done.