Karen Fitz Ritson Interview

In honour of International Woman's Day the Gleaner Editorial paid tribute to 59 outstanding women who they considered "phenomenal women" who inspired change in Jamaica. Our own Karen Fitz Ritson was a part of this distinguished line up. Read more on her interview with Dennise Williams about leadership and change management.

Karen Fitz Ritson

With a population of 2.7 million persons, the island of Jamaica may seem small compared to the larger industrialized nations.  However, the business community considers itself as advanced as any found in the first world.  And one segment of the business – financial services industry is a fiercely competitive one that measures success by the size of funds under management.

According to the Jamaica Securities Dealers Association, the industry manages J$344 billion or US$5 billion on behalf of its clients.

But who exactly is managing the funds?  How prepared are they to manage the ebbs and flows of money management?   When times are good, almost anyone can book positive returns.

But how do money managers cope in turbulent times?

Karen Fitz Ritson has dedicated her company to answering these questions.

“One of our responsibilities is to prepare corporate professionals for the next level of global competitiveness.”

This is no idle statement.  Ms. Fitz Ritson, director of Fitz Ritson & Associates (FR&A) knows her formula works as over 40 per cent of the over 600 professionals trained by her company have earned promotion after certification.

Now the name Fitz Ritson is not unknown in Jamaica, as the family has distinguished itself in the community through service in education and politics. Of note, her great grandmother, Mrs. Beryll Murray was the proprietor of the famed Blake Prep School.

Yet, early in her career, Ms. Fitz Ritson went into the financial services sector and eventually took Sigma Unit Trust (now Pan Caribbean Asset Managers) to the number one position in 1999.

But by 2001, Ms. Fitz Ritson took a different path and started her company, which merged her experience as a financial analyst and teaching.

“Teaching is part of my family traditional and I believe that I have just come full circle,” she says.

And so five years ago FR&A was born as a partnership with, “all our stakeholders including the major financial institutions that send staff for training.”

The company currently specializes in programmes geared at training individuals in the concepts of money management and critical/strategic thinking.

She explains it this way; “The business environment is dynamic so the rules of the game constantly change.  We train people to keep up with the times.  Remember that Jamaica is playing against the world.

Five years ago when we started, we focused on how to manage existing financial products. Now, based on global trends, we track the shifts that are relevant to our environment in order to meet current needs. For example, we teach new hybrid investment products and dynamic management trends.  Plus, we have also formulated Eastern strategies (Gung Fu) that compliment our local culture.

And it appears that methodology has bourne fruit.

Ms. Fitz Ritson notes that, “For example, in our Strategic Financial Management course held in 2004, 75 per cent of our students were promoted in their organization. This means what we teach works.”

Of course, Ms. Fitz Ritson doesn’t just train ‘em and forget ‘em. “One of the lovely things that has evolved over the five years is that our students now consider themselves ‘Ritsonites’. We are a family. You don’t just get a certificate and that’s it. We are a network of people who help each other along the way and support each other’s careers.”

That said, FR&A is not sitting on its laurels. Ms. Fitz Ritson noticed that there has been a transition in the landscape and has tailored her programme and her support network accordingly. Under the theme of ‘Managing in Turbulent Times’ the lecturers in her programme have revamped their modules to instruct current and future ‘Ritsonites’ on how to manage the changes in the economy.

“We see the global shifts and people need to know how to manage. We want people to come out as critical thinkers, regardless of the environment.”

Two of the major shifts in the environment are in the way education is delivered and the holistic approach to training.

In terms of programme delivery, Ms. Fitz Ritson says, “We track hits on our website and the statistics show 70 per cent of the hits are outside of Jamaica and have sparked inquiries from Europe and Singapore. Plus 20 per cent of our new local students are online. And we see that the trend is growing.”

The next shift is in the concept of leadership.  “Leaders of Fortune 500 businesses in North America are focused and committed to the vision they have established. They use the power entrusted to them to uplift the company and their employees so that it is a win-win situation. But leadership and power is about accountability, trust and being predictable because you are being entrusted to be the custodian of an entity.

It is an awesome responsibility and we at FR&A are committed to teaching this philosophy to our clients at an early age so that it will become second nature when they reach the top of their companies.”

Dennise Williams

To download a scan of the original article, published in the "Phenomenal Women" supplement of the Jamaica Gleaner, Wednesday March 8th, 2006, click here.