Doyle's created solid foundation for their children to flourish
August 19, 2020
Well set professionally and with a bright future ahead as the youngest Chief Executive Officer of a statutory Trinidad & Tobago (T & T) corporation, Eddison Doyle made the tough decision to uproot his family and come to Canada in 1991.
The move wasn’t made for selfish reasons.
With the support of his wife of 47 years, the couple aspired for their four daughters to be educated outside the twin-islands republic.
“We wanted them to get a good start in life and have the opportunity we didn’t get from our parents,” said Doyle who holds an MBA from the University of Toronto and postgraduate diplomas from Harvard University. “We were prepared to give up whatever bright future we had in Trinidad. I was in my early 30s and when you are so young and heading one of those major bodies, you could become a government minister. That was the track I was on. It was all for our children.”
They grasped the opportunity and are very successful.
Edwina Doyle Greenaway is Head of Partner Marketing Communications at a leading global consumer electronics firm, Tricia Wright is a freelance Marketing Consultant, Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas is a Neuroscientist and Mohawk College Professor and Eddie-Marie Doyle is a Junior Accountant.
Eddison and June Doyle with their children Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas (l), Tricia Wright, Edwina Doyle Greenaway & Eddie-Marie Doyle
With the onset of empty nest syndrome after the last child flew the coop in 2014, the Doyle’s – they have seven grandchildren -- pushed the reset button.
They now split time between the Greater Toronto Area and T & T where Doyle is the Chief Executive Officer of Acropolis Medical Centre in San Fernando where he was born and raised. Launched in 2016, the community-based state-of-the art outpatient day facility is the brainchild of Cecil Quamina who is the Senior Pastor at the First Church of The Open Bible.
Acropolis employs 17 medical doctors.
“The pastor told me he had this vision to create a medical complex and he wanted me to assist with the process,” said Doyle who was the Choir and Band Director and church’s Internal Auditor before migrating. “That seed was planted about 15 years ago and I gave him my commitment that I would return and help when he was ready to go. I am not a clinician, but I understand business and our revenue stream has doubled every year since the inception. It looks like that will be the case again this year despite COVID-19.”
Acropolis Medical Centre is located in San Fernando
Nearly 18,000 patients from T & T, Guyana, Grenada and Barbados received treatment at the centre in 2019.
“We also service corporate clients, including the top five banks in Trinidad, from an employee benefit and health & safety perspective,” noted Doyle. “This is a big niche market and we have over 200 of these clients which is a major accomplishment for us in a short space of time. We are now poised to move into a hospital mode and had it not been for the virus, that aspect of our operations would have been launched this month.”
The first Black executive to hold the position of Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President (Canada) at AT&T where he spent 44 months prior to joining the then newly-formed Lucent Technologies in 1996 as Chief Financial Officer before being promoted to Chief Operating Officer two years later, Doyle has been the President of E. Doyle Business Services Inc. that has been providing accounting and business consulting services to small and medium-size companies since 2002 and a partner with a Miami-based financial services firm for the last six years.
“Given that experience, I felt I had something to share with my country,” he said. “Also, when you reach a certain age, there comes a yearning desire to return to the land of your birth to give back to the extent that you can. As a government scholarship recipient, I still feel I am indebted even though I came back to Trinidad & Tobago and served my country for five years before migrating. I also have a desire to see the country move to train younger people because obviously the experience you get in a larger and developed country is always of some value to those in a smaller country. It’s chalk and cheese in terms of the exposure and I think God has blessed me to some degree when it comes to the positions I have held in the corporate world in Canada.”
There is another reason for Doyle’s decision to spend more time in T & T.
His mother, Viola Rochester-Doyle, turns 104 in September.
“I want to be close in her last years,” he said. “It’s a culmination of things. I have not moved back to Trinidad permanently. I am just there for a season while maintaining my connections in Canada.”
The recipient of a 1983 government scholarship to attend the London School of Accountancy after being an Accountant with Texaco, Doyle was the Port Authority Acting Chief Executive Officer, Vice-Chair of the T & T Tourist Board and Caribbean Shipping Association member before migrating.
Choosing Canada over England and the United States was easy for Doyle and his wife.
“We didn’t like England too much because a student life there is a hard one,” he said. “We were married at the time when I got the scholarship and my wife accompanied me there where I completed the three-year course in 18 months. I worked at the university library, earning two pounds a day that allowed me to buy two pieces of chicken and a tin of milk daily. Our memories of England were a hard knock life and we didn’t want to go back there. America, even back then, was a place that we didn’t want to expose our kids to the glitter and glamour. Canada was the more kind of peaceful and stable place to raise a family. In addition, my sister-in-law migrated here two years before us and was really behind us to come here.”
Eddison and June Doyle with their children, sons-in-law and grandchildren
Joining AT&T as an Accounts Payable Clerk in 1992, Doyle made history three years later as the Canadian operations first Back Vice-President.
In 2006, he was enlisted to help manage Toronto’s largest and most established summer festival after the City created the Festival Management Committee (FMC). The City was unhappy with the work of the previous organizers, the Caribbean Cultural Committee, accusing them of financial mismanagement.
Doyle has brought a high level of equanimity, spirituality, professionalism and expertise to the 53-year-old festival.
“Since 2006 up until last year, we haven’t had a negative audit,” said the FMC’s Chief Financial Officer and Financial Consultant. “Nobody can say there has been misappropriation of funds in that time and we aren’t running the business the way it should be.”
Married soon after leaving St. Benedict’s College where he honed his brass instruments skills and developed a love of learning, Doyle – whose favourite instrument is the trumpet -- is extremely grateful for the longstanding support of his wife, June Doyle.
Eddison and June Doyle have been married for 47 years
“We met when I was 15 years old and somehow I needed this stability,” he said. “For everything I have done, she has been there with me all the way.”
Doyle, who has never smoked or drank alcohol, and his wife lead God-centred lives.
His late father was a pastor and mom was a church organist and piano tutor. In addition, his mother-in-law fully embraced Christianity.
The regular churchgoer since age 15 attended Agape Christian Ministries for several years before switching in 2007 to Kingdom Covenant Ministries where he was the orchestra leader.
“With the guidance of both parents, we grew up grounded in our faith,” Doyle pointed. “We have always been church-goers. On the other hand, nothing is wrong with a Christian having some clean fun which we indulge in.”
June Doyle celebrated her 65th birthday last month with the launch of her first book, ‘Grown Up Conversations’.
“It’s an inspirational book aimed at encouraging people that when life gives you lemons, you can always make something resembling lemonade,” the 10th of 11 siblings said. “I was always at home raising our four girls while Eddison was out there working really hard to support his family. When our last one moved on with her life six years ago, I remember standing in our quiet home and thinking the time has come for me to do something for myself. While standing in the kitchen of a condo we had just purchased, I literally heard a voice saying, ‘You can write’. I was like, ‘Right, let’s do this’.”
With assistance from her daughter, Krissy Doyle-Thomas, she set up a website and started a blog about five years ago.
“It was really inspiring and motivating doing that and I really enjoyed it,” the family matriarch said. “I just wanted to motivate women to do something instead of crying over spilt milk. I am enjoying what I am doing and feeling on top of the world.”
The book is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and eBook Verizon.
For Edwina Doyle Greenaway and her younger sisters, their parents are their role models and heroes.
June Doyle recently released her first book
“My father instilled in me a passion for logic and a desire to think before I act,” said the eldest sibling. “When we had nothing, he made sure we had everything – love and security. Though we may have everything, he is always there showering us with even more love and ensuring we are very secure. Mom, on the other hand, has an unbridled desire to make sure her girls know who they are and be always confident, regardless of our journeys in life. Her prayers have always covered us.”
