The Board of Directors of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has appointed Ms. Julie Charles as the new CEO effective January 1st, 2023.
Ms. Julie Charles is a highly motivated, task oriented and professional individual with more than twenty years of managerial level private sector experience. She is well prepared to serve in a wide array of leadership roles. She is a firm believer that people serving in leadership roles must always strive to be transformational by mentoring and inspiring the people on their teams to achieve unanticipated or extraordinary results by giving them autonomy over specific jobs, as well as the authority to make decisions in the areas that falls within their expertise.
Ms. Charles holds an Associate of Science degree in Marketing and Sales Management from Bronx Community Collage of the City University of New York, a Bachelor of Business Administration in Consumer Behavior and Marketing Research from The Bernard Baruch College of the City University of New York and an MBA in Marketing and Human Resource
Management from Walden University. Ms. Charles has also received a number of professional certifications. In 2016, Ms. Charles was acknowledged as an Anti-Money Laundering Certified Associate by the Florida International Bankers Association and in 2019 she was trained as a
Certified Court Mediator by The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. During her studies Ms.Charles was inducted into a number of honor societies including Phi Theta Kappa Society International Scholastic Order of the Two-Year College and Alpha Beta Gamma International Business Honor Society of Community, Junior, and Technical Colleges in 1997; the Golden Key
International Honor Society in 2018 and Delta Mu Delta Honor Society in 2019.
While pursuing her Associate and bachelor’s degrees in New York City, Ms. Charles worked as a Master Tutor and Tutor Coordinator at the Bronx Community College Office of Disability Services. Upon the completion of her bachelor’s degree studies in 1999, Ms. Charles returned to
the Federation to work at the TDC Group of Companies where she implemented a number of innovative and profitable marketing campaigns before leaving the company in 2004. Upon leaving TDC, Ms. Charles went to work for the St. Kitts Co-operative Credit Union (SKCCU),
where she was employed until 2021.
At SKCCU, Ms. Charles served as the Marketing & Human Resource Manager from 2004 to 2017 and the Marketing & Member Services Manager from 2017 to 2020. In her role as the Marketing & Human Resource Manager Ms. Charles was responsible for ensuring that all human resources policies and procedures were adhered to and the development and implementation of a number of successful marketing and staff development programs. She also served as the Acting General Manager in the General Manager’s absence. As the Marketing & Member Services Manager, Ms. Charles organized and led member education forums and conducted outreach to non-members to educate them about the products and services offered by the institution. She was also responsible for the development and implementation of the yearly marketing plan and served as Officer in Charge in the absence of the CEO.
In 2020 Ms. Charles was seconded from SKCCU to the St. Kitts Nevis National Co-operative League where she served as the Acting General Manger until June 2021. Her primary role was to serve as an advocate for the four League affiliates with local, regional, and international regulators and other external agencies. She also provided management consultancy and technical support to the affiliates to ensure regulatory compliance to the rules on the Credit Union
Movement. Ms. Charles is currently employed as a Financial Inspector at the Financial Services Regulatory Commission where she is responsible for providing supervision and technical support to regulated institutions.
Although Ms. Charles is driven and career focused, she has always taken time out from her busy schedule to give back to the community. Over the years Ms. Charles has invested considerable time and effort into addressing the many of the social issues affecting the lives of women and
children in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. In 2000 Ms. Charles started a Big Sister Program at the Basseterre High School, which peered young professional women with troubled teenage girls in a mentor mentee relationship. Although the program was discontinued a few
years later, Ms. Charles has continued to serve as a mentor to some of the young ladies who went through the program as well as other young ladies in her community.
In 2004, Ms. Charles became a Volunteer Facilitator for the Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Development in response to the many of challenges and hardships that women, especially adolescent women, faced in St. Kitts-Nevis. Ms. Charles has also served as an active volunteer
with Project Viola which is a program operated by the Ministry of Gender Affairs with the mission of formally acknowledging the right of all teen mothers to receive an education while providing additional support such as mentoring, day care services and tutoring that will facilitate the completion of their studies. She has also been a stern advocate for the victims of Gender
Based Violence.
Despite all her professional accomplishments Ms. Charles states that her greatest sense of accomplishment comes when she can make a positive impact on the lives of others. She has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into better understanding herself and helping others. Ms.Charles has had a number of articles and columns published, with local, regional, and
international readership, on subjects ranging from the silent epidemic of prostate cancer in St.Kitts-Nevis to the modern Caribbean Woman, and most recently her Mommy Chronicles. She is the host of the popular radio show Mind, Body, and Soul on Freedom FM 106.5 on Sunday
evenings.
