“I have known Lisa Taylor-Stone for over nine (9) years in both a professional and personal capacity. Lisa is a known trailblazer that has created and implemented many impactful and lasting solutions within the entities she has served.

She is shrewd and innovative and has a track record of being a high achiever. A creative and meticulous individual who strives for excellence at all times and epitomizes what a true professional should be. As such, she is well known and respected by her superiors and peers alike for her professionalism and high standard of work.

Lisa is multi-talented and has a myriad of cutting-edge skills that are applicable to any area of business. Some of her expertise that readily comes to mind include: Strategic Planning, Research, Project Management, International Events Planning & Management, Training & Development, Public Speaking, Resource Mobilization, and Data Analytics.

In addition, she has excellent business acumen.Lisa’s work ethic is unchallenged and her integrity and professionalism unquestionable. It is against this background that I unreservedly endorse her undertakings.“

“I am Valerie P. Veira, C.D., J.P., Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (Jamaica).

Mrs. Lisa Taylor-Stone was employed to JBDC during the period July 1, 2013 to July 26, 2019 in the capacity of Manager – Project Management and Research Department (PMRD). She led a team of five (5) Team members, four of which were University graduates. Lisa reported directly to me in my capacity as CEO of the organization.

Under Lisa’s guidance, the role of the department evolved substantially. The role of the department became recognized as a key guide to the JBDC in developing programmes for supporting the development of the Micro, Small and Medium-sized enterprise sector (MSME) for which JBDC has the mandate to lead.

It is also through the many Research projects conducted by the Team under her leadership that JBDC has become recognized as the source for reliable data on the sector. This is an important legacy that continues.

Lisa is self-motivated and is constantly reaching forward not only for her workplace assignment but importantly, her personal development.

I expect her to continue making a sterling contribution wherever and whenever she decides. She is no longer employed to JBDC, but will always have an open door to me as she needs. I celebrate her ability to dream big, to execute big and to succeed big. A great future is always on the horizon for Lisa.“

“I am Olivene Thomas, the Unit Coordinator of the Human Resource Development Graduate Programmes Unit in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at The University of the West Indies’ (UWI) Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica.

As the chief architect of the operations in my Unit I thought that it would be a good idea for me to take a course in grant proposal-writing. I found one advertised by the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and enrolled.

I met Lisa there, as she was the head of the unit at the JBDC that was responsible for delivering the course. I was impressed not only by the content delivered by the slew of experts employed by the programme, but also by the follow-up that the JBDC did to ensure that participants got our projects completed and financed.

Our Master’s programme at the university already had a course in Small Business Development and Growth, but I confess that I spoke with our lecturer to ensure that we were delivering a course that included all of the JBDC’s components to our students. Beyond this, I suggested the need for grant-writing classes for staff of the Faculty of Social Sciences when our Dean’s Office issued a questionnaire asking for suggestions for courses that would help with staff development.

Today we have an annual workshop, open to all academic staff-members to finetune this skill. This, however, is not the only way in which Lisa has impacted our work at The UWI. She also included us in the delivery of the Employee Engagement Conference that she and her staff organised between October 2017 and October 2019. We partnered with Lisa and her team to deliver the premier HR conference in Jamaica. Through this conference we were able to network with key industry players – some of whom have become guest lecturers in our classes and at our conferences; gather new material for use in our courses; and showcase the HR research being conducted at The UWI.

This was a truly auspicious alliance since we were also able to reconnect with several members of our alumni who have returned to support the Unit in its building endeavours. Personally, I have met few people who work as hard as Lisa and who inspire me as much as she has. I remember having that kind of drive earlier in my career, but I became jaded until I met her and wanted to reach again for the stars with respect to Jamaican HR. I believe that if we can get that right we will reclaim our economy and ultimately our society.

Lisa helps with that mission just by doing the work that she does and by incorporating us in her ride to the top.“