Biography
Andrew Hinds is a Ph.D. student in Public Affairs and a Graduate Assistant at the Maurice A. Ferré Institute for Civic Leadership in the Green School at Florida International University. His research explores how artificial intelligence technologies can be leveraged to improve local governance, strengthen local government service delivery, and enhance policy outcomes.
An educator by profession, Andrew, has over five years of teaching experience at both the secondary and tertiary levels. He is also a Justice of the Peace for Jamaica, reflecting his commitment to service and civic leadership. From 2020 to 2024, he served as a member of the National Youth Advisory Council of Jamaica. Prior to this, he was Regional Coordinator and later elected Second Vice President for National and International Affairs of the Jamaica Union of Tertiary Students.
Andrew is a graduate of The Mico University College, where he earned a Bachelor of Education degree in Secondary Education (Social Studies major, Geography minor) and served as President of the Guild of Students. He later completed a Master of Science in Development Studies with a concentration in Governance and Public Policy at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
His leadership extends beyond academia. Andrew is a former Executive Board Member of the Global Jamaica Diaspora Youth Council, a Governor-General’s “I Believe” Initiative Youth Ambassador, and the recipient of the Governor-General’s Achievement Award for the Parish of St. James in 2022. A former National Youth Parliamentarian, he founded the Andrew Hinds “I Know” Initiative in 2017 to annually recognize young leaders in his community of Granville, St. James.
This former Junior Councillor in the then St. James Parish Council is a late academic bloomer, Andrew, who only learned to read in grade five has transformed challenges into triumphs, inspiring many through motivational talks and seminars aimed at youth empowerment and development.