News Release: HAMILTON, Bermuda – Four Bermudians have been named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List:

Commander of the British Empire:

• Jeremy Cox CBE — for services to the economy of Bermuda.

Queen’s Certificate & Badge of Honour:

• Carika Weldon, PhD — for services to the Covid-19 pandemic response.

• Clarence “Tootsie” Bean — for services to music.

• Cathy Bassett — for services to young people.

Jeremy Cox CBE

Jeremy Cox is the executive chairman of the Bermuda Monetary Authority. Under his guidance and leadership, the BMA has gained worldwide recognition, which has significantly contributed to Bermuda’s reputation as a top-class regulator for financial services. This success has been in turn instrumental in driving the local economy and livelihood of many Bermudians.

Mr Cox has led the BMA through several milestones during his tenure. Most notably, in 2016, he led Bermuda and the BMA through the process that ultimately culminated in the jurisdiction achieving full equivalence with Europe’s Solvency II Insurance Regulatory Regime. Thanks to Jeremy Cox’s thoughtful leadership at the BMA, Bermuda is viewed as a role model jurisdiction for others to follow.

Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour

Carika Weldon, PhD, MRSB, FIBMS

Dr Weldon returned to Bermuda from the UK to devise a testing regime for Bermuda to increase testing capacity as part of the Covid-19 pandemic response.

She has done so at a great sacrifice to her existing work in Oxford. She led the development of the Government’s Molecular Diagnostic Lab and has dramatically increased the island’s testing capacity, a critical element in successfully controlling the spread of Covid-19 on the island.

Clarence “Tootsie” Bean

Throughout his long career, some 75 years, Mr Bean has tutored and inspired many budding musicians. He is known as one of the greatest and well-respected drummers to grace the stages of Bermuda and the wider world, performing with Lance Hayward, Johnny McAteer, The Calypso Trio, Jon Hammond, The Counts Band, Irene Reid, Ruth Brown, Lionel Hampton, Gregory Hines. He played for the 1993 US Presidential inaugural Concert held at the John F Kennedy Centre, and has performed at the Lincoln Centre, Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall. He has been described as “a man blessed with effortless charm and a smile that could melt chocolate” — “he may not be the tallest man but in terms of talent his stature is king-size”.

Cathy Bassett

The recipient of two Paul Harris Awards from Rotary, Mrs Bassett is a veteran educator having served as a teacher and principal within the Bermuda public-school system. She has been a Brownie Leader for over 30 years and a Rotarian for the past 15 years. Her volunteer service includes as a Pink Lady, co-ordinator for Keep Bermuda Beautiful and chairwoman of the Duck’s Puddle Youth Community Initiative.