Rudy Gurley, 42, is a true Caribbean man.

He was born in St. Lucia to a Barbadian father, and St. Lucian mother. His maternal grandmother hailed from Grenada, but spent half her life in Trinidad & Tobago. His maternal grandfather’s navel string is buried in the tiny island of Bequia, part of the chain of islands (the Grenadines) straggling southward from St. Vincent. Both Rudy’s grandparents on his father’s side hail from Barbados … his grandmother still lives there.  

Rudy attended the Vide Bouteille Infant and Primary School, and later the SDA Academy, both in St. Lucia. Apart from six years living and working in England, he has spent most of his life in the Caribbean.

He is a Fellow Chartered Management Accountant (FCMA), and holder of an MBA from Henley Management College. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors and the Institute of Management.

Rudy has had a long and distinguished career with British telecoms giant Cable & Wireless (C&W), a company set up by the UK Government over a century ago to provide telecoms services to former colonies of the British Empire.
 
In 2001 he became the first Caribbean national to head C&W Grenada. He again made history eighteen months later when he was appointed Chief Executive of C&W St. Lucia – the first local to hold this position in the company’s over 130-year history.

Rudy has served in a non-executive capacity on a number of company and statutory boards. During his stint as Chairman of the St. Lucia Development Bank, and Director of the National Commercial Bank Ltd, he was instrumental in merging these two institutions to form the Bank of St. Lucia Ltd. He served on the board of the new entity until he stepped down some time after his posting to Grenada. He also served as Chairman of the Government-owned International Financial and World Investment Centre Ltd (charged with managing the financial services industry on the island), and Chairman of the Finance Committee of CANTO (the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations).

Rudy has also held non-executive positions within the C&W Group. He is a former Chairman of C&W Grenada Ltd, and Director of C&W Dominica Ltd.

A leading player on C&W’s team negotiating the liberalization of the telecoms sector in the Eastern Caribbean, Rudy has been recognized locally for his business acumen. In 1994, the National Secretaries Association of St. Lucia named him St. Lucia’s Executive of the Year. In 2003, the TV and radio personality, and former press secretary to Prime Minister Anthony, Claudius Francis, picked Rudy as his choice of St. Lucia’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

The C&W Group, in its 2004 Annual Review and Financial Statement, not only featured a case study on Gurley’s leadership of the St. Lucia business unit, but also depicted on the front cover of the Review a beaming St. Lucian employee standing against a backdrop of St. Lucia’s twin peaks – the majestic Pitons – a World Heritage Site.

In some quarters speculation was rife that the high-flying executive was tipped for a major promotion within the C&W Group.

The circumstances surrounding Rudy’s departure from C&W are dramatized in the sequel to A Caribbean Tale – Sent From Overseas.

Rudy Gurley found his calling as a writer when he left C&W in August 2005. Initially, he set out to write one book, but ended up with two … written together.

In 2006 he established aCaribbeanTale.com to publish, promote, and distribute his work globally, and to do the same for other aspiring Caribbean writers whose stories and experiences are inspirational, uplifting, and of the highest standard.

He lives in St. Lucia with Susanna, his wife of ten years.