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Godfrey W. Eneas
Wm. John Godfrey Eneas, B.Sc, M.Sc, Postgraduate Diploma in Tropical Agriculture, C.D.
Mr. William John Godfrey Eneas was born in Nassau,Bahamas on November 20th, 1942 and is the only child of his deceased parents, Mr. and Mrs. William V. Eneas.
Mr. Eneas graduated from St. Augustine's College in Nassau after he was successful in the GCE exams. He entered Tuskegee University in Alabama where he graduated with a B.Sc. in Horticulture in 1965. In 1966, he obtained a postgraduate diploma in Tropical Agriculture from the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad. A year later he received a M. Sc. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. From October 1967 to May 1968, he successfully completed a post-graduate course in Agricultural Economics at the University of Reading, Reading, England.
Mr. Eneas further completed a three (3) month course in Investment Analysis at the Economic Development Institute at the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
In July 1968, Mr. Eneas joined the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries as an Agricultural Officer which involved visiting farmers in New Providence and the Family Islands and advising them on new and improved husbandry techniques as well as conducting extension educational courses in specific subject areas. He was also responsible for crop forecasting and reporting.
Between 1970 and 1977, Mr. Eneas worked his way up through the ranks as the Department's Marketing Officer and Deputy Director and in 1978 was appointed Director of the Department of Agriculture. As head of the nation's Department of Agriculture, his primary achievement was reorganizing a colonial-styled operation into a department, which reflected the development objectives of a newly independent Bahamas. Also, during his 14-year tenure with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Eneas served as General Manager of the Bahamas Agricultural Corporation, which was the forerunner to The Bahamas Agricultural & Industrial Corporation (BAIC).
In 1982, he resigned from the Ministry to enter the private sector as an Agricultural Consultant.
Mr. Eneas is the recipient of several awards, among them an Agricultural Service Award from the Bahamas Livestock and Agricultural Farmers Association in 1974, the Distinguished Citizens Award for Agricultural & Fisheries from the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce in 1984 and Tuskegee University's Alumni Merit Award in November 1996.
As a member of the American Society of Agricultural Consultants, Mr. Eneas established Agro-Consultant Services in December 1982 and published a monthly agricultural newsletter. He also served as Co-chairman of the Bahamas Government's National Advisory Committee on Agriculture from 1993-1996 and the National Agricultural & Industrial Exposition. In September 2000, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Bahamas Cooperative League. Since 2000, Mr. Eneas has been
involved with the Caribbean Poultry Association and in 2011 was made an Honorary Member.
In 2001, The Bahamas Government appointed Mr. Eneas Chairman of the Sectoral Trade Consultative Group on Agriculture. The United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (F AO), selected Mr. Eneas as a National Consultant in September 2001.
In October 2002, Mr. Eneas was appointed Deputy Chairman, Bahamas Agricultural & Industrial Corporation.
Mr. Eneas was also accredited to the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO) as the Bahamas' first Ambassador to FAO in March 2003 and served until 2007 and was reappointed in June 2013. He has also served on the board of directors of the Tropical Agricultural and Higher Education Centre(CATIE), Turrialba, Costa Rica from 2005 to 2008.
Mr. Eneas is a regular contributor on the popular radio show, Love 9-7 FM, Jones & Co., and writes a column, "Eneas Files" for the weekend edition of The Bahama Journal. He is the author of two books, Agriculture in The Bahamas: Its Historical Development (1942-1992), which was published in August 1998, and The New Caribbean: A Region in Transition(January 2010). His third book, The Road to Bahamaland: The Story of the New Bahamas, was published in 2022.
In 2012, the Christie Administration appointed Mr. Eneas Consultant to the Minister of Agriculture, Chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Agriculture and a Commissioner of the Bahamas Trade Commission. In his capacity as Consultant, he prepared a 20 Year Plan: Rebuilding Bahamian Agriculture that was approved by the Cabinet of The Bahamas.
In conjunction with the Consultancy, Mr. Eneas was instructed to establish The Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI) on North Andros and was appointed its first President.
As part of the 49th year of The Bahamas Independence Celebrations in 2022, the National Honours Awards Committee selected Mr. Eneas was made a Companion in the Order of Distinction category.
Mr. Eneas is married to Sandra Reimer-Eneas. They have two sons, Geoffrey, an Entrepreneur, and Timothy, an Attorney-At-Law and Queen’s Counsel, and three grandchildren (Giavanna, Alexander, and Liam).
An Anglican, Mr. Eneas is a member of St. Matthew's Parish. He enjoys writing, particularly historical research, travel, current and public affairs and is an avid sports enthusiast.