Portia Simpson-Miller served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from 2006 to 2007, and again from 2012 to 2016. Simpson-Miller is the first woman to serve as Prime Minister of Jamaica. She 

Portia Simpson-Miller was born in 1945 in the rural community of Wood Hall, St. Catherine. Simpson-Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Administration from the Union Institute & University.In 2002 the Institute conferred upon Simpson-Miller the degree of Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Simpson-Miller is the first graduate to have received the Institute’s honorary degree.In 1999, Simpson-Miller completed the Leaders in Development executive education program at the Harvard Kennedy School.

In 1974, Portia Simpson-Miller became involved with the People’s National Party and was elected to the city council of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation.

 In 1976, Simpson-Miller was elected to the House of Representatives and served until 1983, when her party boycotted the elections. She was reelected to that seat in 1989 and until 2017, when she resigned. During that time, she held a number of roles - Minister of Labour, Welfare, and Sports from 1989 to 1993, Minister of Labour and Welfare from 1993 to 1995, Minister of Labor, Social Security and Sports from 1995 to 2000, Minister of Tourism and Sports from 2000 to 2002, and as Minister of Local Government and Sport from 2002 to 2006. She was also the Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2012, and then again from 2016 to 2017. 

Simpson-Miller served as Vice President of the People’s National Party 1978 to 2006 and as its President from 2006 to 2017.

She has also been a member of the Board of Trustees of CIFAL, which is an international training center for governmental authorities in Atlanta, Georgia. Most recently, in 2011 she was appointed by the UN Secretary General, to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). She also chairs the CARICOM Committee on External Trade.