Personal bio
For over 44 years, Colm Imbert has been serving Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Region in his original profession of Engineering, while branching out into Law and Politics. Immediately following graduation, with Honours, in Civil Engineering from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus in 1979, he worked on several projects within the Caribbean Region as a Consulting Civil Engineer. While developing his practice and gaining experience he successfully pursued a Master’s Degree in Maritime Civil Engineering from the University of Manchester, England, and was formally registered as an Engineer in Trinidad and Tobago in 1986. Mr Imbert then transitioned into the academic world and lectured in Construction Management at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies from 1985 to 1991. He also worked as a specialist consultant from 1990 to 1991 for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Sea Defences for the Government of Guyana. In 1991, Mr Imbert entered public life as a Member of Parliament and a Cabinet Minister with responsibility for the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Ministry of Local Government, until 1995 when he became a Member of the Opposition. During the period 1995 to 2001, while in Opposition, Mr Imbert focused on the application of his knowledge and skills in Engineering as a Property Developer and Project Manager throughout the Caribbean Region. During his 4th, 5th and 6th terms as a Member of Parliament, from 2001 to 2010, he once again served in the Cabinet as Minister of Health and Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education, until he again resumed responsibility for the portfolio of the Ministry of Works and Transport in 2005. After a General Election in 2007, Mr Imbert took on the additional responsibility of Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives in Trinidad and Tobago and continued to build on his past performance in the Ministry of Works and Transport in the development of the country’s infrastructure. In 2010, in his 7th term as a Member of Parliament, he returned to the Opposition and returned to his Property Development business. In 2015, in his 8th parliamentary term, he returned to Government and was appointed Minister of Finance of Trinidad and Tobago, a position still holds 8 years later in 2023. He is now in his 9th parliamentary term, having been an elected MP for over 31 years. In 2007, he expanded his knowledge base by completing an LLM with distinction in Construction Law and Arbitration at Robert Gordon University (RGU) and followed this in 2015 with a second LLM in Oil and Gas Law from RGU, again with distinction.