Jamaica Charity Ball To Honor Executive And Philanthropist, Thalia Lyn, OD And Coach Extraordinaire, Glen Mills, OD, April 13, 2013, Miami

The American Friends of Jamaica, Inc. (AFJ), in collaboration with the Jamaica Committee, will host a joint fund raising gala, the 2013 Jamaica Charity Ball, in Miami on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the elegant Four Seasons Hotel at 1435 Brickell Avenue, Miami.  The gala will honor Ms.Thalia Lyn, CEO and Managing Director of Island Grill, recognizing Ms. Lyn’s outstanding achievements and unwavering philanthropic support for Jamaica, and Mr. Glen Mills, dedicated Coach of the Racers Track Club.  Ms. Lyn will receive the International Humanitarian Award and Coach Mills will be presented with the International Achievement Award.

Thalia Lyn developed the Island Grill concept and remains the “face” and driving force behind this successful Jamaican chain of 16 restaurants. She initially formulated the Company’s recipes, operational techniques and systems in 1991, and has continually updated and refined the concept.  The standards Island Grill established and maintains are a credit to Ms. Lyn’s leadership and business acumen. In addition to the commercial success she has achieved, she has always remembered to give back, serving on the Boards of numerous Jamaican companies, including the National Commercial Bank, as Trustee of the NCB Pension Funds, Jamaica Macaroni Factory, the Consular Corps of Jamaica and Mustard Seed Communities, among others. She was a past Chair of the Jamaica British Business Association, is Chairperson of the NCB Foundation, Committee Member of the PSOJ YUTE Program and the Fund-raising Committee of the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Her numerous awards include the FIU Business Woman of the Year in 2002 and 2007, Finalist in the Jamaica Observer Business Leader of the Year 1999 and Finalist in the Ernst & Young Caribbean Entrepreneur of the Year 2001.

Glen Mills is the coach and adviser to the male sprint athletes who won five of the six sprint medals in the 2012 London Olympic Games, including World Record holder and six time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt and the 100 metre World Champion Yohan Blake.   He is currently head coach of the Racers Track Club, prior to which Mills was Head Coach of the Jamaican Olympic Athletics team.  He has a long and successful history of coaching young athletes.  In the early 1970s, Glen Mills trained a significant number of male sprinters in the national junior team.  The Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) called on him to train the young sprinters for the CARIFTA games and his prominence as a coach continued to grow. In his 22 years as Jamaica’s Olympic athletics coach he oversaw athletes to 71 world championship titles and 33 Olympic medals.  In 2009, Coach Mills stepped down from the Jamaican Olympic team to make room for other up and coming coaches and to focus his efforts on the Racers Track Club. His role in the branding of Jamaica as the world’s sprint factory is unparalleled.