At the 2012 Young Caymanian Leadership Award show held on Saturday (12) night at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, Garth Arch was the winner.

“It’s a tremendous honour. I feel humbled to receive the award,” said Mr. Arch, as he accepted the award and said, “I want to use YCLA as a platform to reach out to as many of the young people in this country as I can.”

Mr. Arch was born on April 20, 1976, in George Town.  He attended Cayman Prep School and is a graduate of John Gray High School.  Garth holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Miami, a MSc in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently working toward a PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of Miami.

Garth serves as General Manager of National Concrete, and later this year will transition into the family business where he will follow in his father’s footsteps as Managing Director of Arch and Godfrey.  He is also the Founder of Arch Engineering.  Garth is a Registered Professional Engineer in the U.S. in addition to being a Chartered Civil Engineer and a Chartered Structural Engineer in the U.K.  He is a Chartered Builder and an Ambassador of the Chartered Institute of Building to the Cayman Islands.

In his commitment to public service, Garth is Chairman of the Children and Youth Services (CAYS) Foundation Board, Chairman of the Trade and Business Licensing Board, Chairman of the Planning Committee for the Governor’s Award for Design and Construction Excellence, and immediate Past-President of the Cayman Society of Architects, Surveyors and Engineers (CASE).  He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman Sunrise and a member of First Baptist Church.

He was the first appointed Honorary Consul of Spain in the Cayman Islands and developed a new scholarship to enable young Caymanians to study abroad in Spain, with the first student having been sent this past summer.  He is president of CASE (Cayman Association of Architects, Surveyors and Engineers) and he worked to establish a mentoring programme in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce to encourage and guide students with an interest in design and construction. He is still active in the CASE Mentoring Programme.  He is assisting with the newly launched Set For Life youth work skills programme in Windsor Park.  Mr. Arch has also served as a Sunday school teacher at Elmslie Memorial Church.

He is a committed Christian whose life reflects a sincere devotion to his wife and family and a genuine concern for others.

We congratulate Mr. Arch. Other finalists were Dara Flowers Burke, Casandra Morris, Orchid Morrison and Samantha Widmer.

It was a shame that the audio disappeared during CITN/Cayman 27’s television broadcast of their own show before the winner was announced that lead to hundreds of viewers switching to another channel.