US-Based Charity to Honour Lee-Chin

Jamaican businessman Michael Lee-Chin, is the 2006 Distinguished Awardee of the Chicago Concerned Jamaicans Inc. in recognition of his outstanding philanthropic work.
He will be presented with the award at the organization’s 19th annual dinner and gala to be held on Saturday (Nov. 4) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Chicago, where he will also be the guest speaker.
Mr. Lee-Chin is also expected to meet with leaders of Chicago’s business community at a networking event also slated for Saturday. “We are very honoured to welcome Michael Lee-Chin to Chicago,” said Caroline Dejean, incoming Vice President of the organization and chair of the sponsorship committee for the gala.
“It is clear that he represents the pinnacle of success not only for our countrymen, but also for entrepreneurs and business leaders worldwide. Even more than our common heritage, we share a mutual commitment to help improve the economic and social conditions of Jamaicans living in their native and adopted homelands.” In Lee-Chin, she added, we have “found a philanthropic-kindred spirit”.
Ranked among the 500 wealthiest people in the world, Mr. Lee-Chin is chairman of National Commercial Bank and owner of the Canadian-based AIC Limited, one of the largest mutual fund companies in Canada with assets under management of approximately $10 billion.
Mr. Lee-Chin is also known for giving generously to numerous philanthropic causes in Canada, where he resided for many years, as well as in Jamaica. He has given millions to Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum, the University of Toronto, and to his alma mater, McMaster University. He recently lent his support to the creation of the Jamaican Educational Initiative spearheaded by NCB, to help raise funds to ensure that all Jamaican children have access to tertiary education.
Chicago Concerned Jamaicans represents a multi-national, all-volunteer constituency of nearly 1,000 members. The organization has provided much-needed financial support both in Jamaica and the United States in the areas of education, technology, basic food and living needs, disaster relief and economic development.
Towards fulfilling its key mission “to provide cooperative and charitable support in the area of education,” Chicago Concerned Jamaicans has donated more than US$500,000 under a range of supportive programmes, offering more than 300 scholarships and other forms of educational assistance to United States and Jamaican students, as well as disaster relief and financial assistance to improve basic living conditions for impoverished families in Jamaica and across the wider Caribbean.