Anton Edsel Edmunds, who for much of his career has worked to promote business investment in his island nation and the Caribbean as a whole, presented his credentials as St. Lucia’s ambassador to the United States on September 8, 2017.

Edmund’s father, J. Edsel Edmunds, is a nematologist and former diplomat who served as St. Lucia’s ambassador to the United States from 1984 to 1998. He also had a nematode named after him: Longidorus edmundsi. Anton Edmunds attended college in the United States. He earned a B.A. in politics from Catholic University of America in 1989 and an M.A. from American University’s School of Public Affairs in 1992.

Beginning in 1990, Edmunds was manager of investment promotion for the Eastern Caribbean Investment Promotion Service in Washington. He moved to New York in 1995 as senior manager for business development for the government of St. Lucia.

Edmunds left the government post in 1997 to work as a consultant for a year before joining Caribbean-Central American Action, a private economic development organization. He started as director of marketing and business development programs before moving up to deputy director of the organization in 2002; executive director and COO in 2005; and executive director and CEO in 2008.

Since 2009, Edmunds has run his own consulting firm, The Edmunds Group International, which advises corporations and governments on doing business in the Caribbean region. His government clients included the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, the World Bank, the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank. Private-sector clients included Bank of America, ExxonMobil, Chevron, FedEx, Tropical Shipping, Seaboard Marine and Scotiabank. Edmunds remained with his consultancy until taking the Washington post.

Shortly after being installed as ambassador, Edmunds was the subject of a rumor that he had been killed in the October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas. The spokesperson for Jamaica’s opposition party sent out a condolence message in response to the rumor, then had to retract the message after Edmunds was found to be safe.

Edmunds is married and has one child.

-Steve Straehley

To Learn More:

Official Biography (pdf)

Trinidad Drug Bust: A Cautionary Tale for the Caribbean (by Anton Edmunds, Caribbean News Now)

Recommendations for a New Administration: Be a Good Neighbor to the Caribbean (by Anton Edmunds, Center for Strategic and International Studies)

Caribbean Diaspora Yet to be Harnessed (by Anton Edmunds, Caribbean News Now)