Chairman of bpTT, Mr. Robert Riley was one of two Trinidadian businessmen who were bestowed with “Luminary Awards” at UWI’s Gala celebration, held in Manhattan, New York, on February 2, 2006. The other was Mr. George Gobin, General Manager of Microsoft West Indies.

According to internationally renowned entertainer Harry Belafonte, honorary patron of the event “the gala gives us an exciting opportunity to recognize those public figures who have made a difference in the lives of people everywhere”.

The awards ranged from exceptional achievements in arts and culture given to Brazil’s Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil to the development of the University and the region awarded to retired UWI heads Sir Shridath Ramphal, Sir Alister McIntyre and Professor Rex Nettleford.

Mr. Robert Riley was the first Trinidadian to be appointed as the Chairman of bpTT since the company began operations in this country almost four decades ago. In 2003, Mr. Riley was awarded the Chaconia Gold Medal for his contribution to the economic development of Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Gobin has been excelling in the field of Information Technology for the past 25 years. His expertise has served many of the Caribbean islands through consultancy, development of e-Government strategies and also implementing IT to solve issues related to finance, energy and telecommunications. He has been the recipient of several performance awards from the Microsoft Corporation.