{{Short description|Jamaican politician (born 1965)}} {{Use British English|date=March 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Mark Golding | honorific_suffix = MP | image = Mark Golding-Jamaica (Cropped)2.jpg | caption = Golding in 2020 | office = Leader of the Opposition | monarch = Elizabeth II<br>Charles III | 1blankname = {{nowrap|Governor General}} | 1namedata = Sir Patrick Allen | prime_minister = Andrew Holness | term_start = 11 November 2020 | predecessor = Peter Phillips | office2 = Minister of Justice | prime_minister2 = Portia Simpson-Miller | term_start2 = 5 January 2012 | term_end2 = February 2016 | predecessor2 = Delroy Chuck | successor2 = Delroy Chuck | office3 = President of the People's National Party | predecessor3 = Peter Phillips | term_start3 = November 2020 | term_end3 = | office4 = Member of Parliament <br />for Saint Andrew Southern | term_start4 = 7 November 2017 | predecessor4 = Omar Davies | office5 = Member of the Senate of Jamaica | term_start5 = September 2007 | term_end5 = January 2012 | birth_name = Mark Jefferson Golding | birth_date = {{nowrap|{{birth date and age|1965|07|19|df=y}}}} | birth_place = Mona, St Andrew, Jamaica | death_date = | death_place = | party = People's National Party | spouse = Sandra Golding | relations = Sir John Golding (father) | children = 3 | alma_mater = Oxford University | citizenship = Jamaica | occupation = Politician, investment banker | profession = Attorney | education = Campion College }}
'''Mark Jefferson Golding''' (born 19 July 1965) is a Jamaican politician, who has been Leader of the Opposition of Jamaica and President of the People's National Party (PNP) since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-11-11|title=Mark Golding Appointed Leader of the Opposition|url=https://jis.gov.jm/mark-golding-appointed-leader-of-the-opposition/|access-date=2020-12-11|website=Jamaica Information Service|language=en-GB}}</ref>
Previously an attorney-at-law and investment banker, Golding was a member of the Senate of Jamaica from 2007 to 2017 and served as Minister of Justice from 2012 to 2016 in the government of Portia Simpson-Miller. He was elected as Member of Parliament for South St Andrew in a by-election in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mark Golding - PROVEN|url=http://weareproven.com/project/mark-golding/|access-date=2020-07-23|website=weareproven.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Jamaica Observer Limited|url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/I-m-no-soft--uptown-boy_62957&template=MobileArticle|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Jamaica Observer}}</ref>
On 7 November 2020, Mark Golding was elected as the 6th president of the PNP after polling 1,740 delegate votes to defeat Lisa Hanna who polled 1,440 in an election that saw 96% voter turnout amongst delegates in the 2020 People's National Party leadership election.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mark Golding wins presidential race for opposition party in Jamaica|url=https://www.myvuenews.com/mark-golding-wins-presidential-race-for-opposition-party-in-jamaica/|access-date=2020-11-14|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Early life== Golding was born in 1965 in Mona, St Andrew, Jamaica at the University Hospital of the West Indies.<ref>{{Cite news |date=22 September 2022 |title=Golding: I'm a true born, tax-paying Jamaican |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2022/09/22/golding-im-a-true-born-tax-paying-jamaican/ |access-date=17 May 2025 |work=Jamaica Observer}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/newsmaker/mark-golding-putting-up-a-strong-fight-for-pnp-leadership/|title=Mark Golding Putting Up A Strong Fight for PNP Leadership|date=9 October 2020|access-date=7 February 2024|newspaper=Caribbean National Weekly|first=Jhaneal|last=French}}</ref> He is the younger of two children born to Patricia ({{nee|Levy}}) and Sir John Golding. His mother was born in England, the daughter of a Jamaican doctor from Westmoreland Parish and his Australian wife. His father was born in England and moved to Jamaica in 1953 where he became a pioneering orthopaedic surgeon and rehabilitation physician. His paternal grandparents were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in the United Kingdom in the 1890s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20230326/carolyn-cooper-massa-marks-time-soon-come|title='Massa' Mark's time soon come?|newspaper=The Gleaner|location=Jamaica|date=26 March 2023|access-date=7 February 2024|first=Carolyn|last=Cooper}}</ref><ref name=plarrs>{{cite news|url=https://livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk/client/en_GB/lives/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ASSET$002f0$002fSD_ASSET:380145/one?qu=%22rcs%3A+E007962%22&rt=false%7C%7C%7CIDENTIFIER%7C%7C%7CResource+Identifier|title=Golding, Sir John Simon Rawson (1921 - 1996)|year=2015|work=Plarr's Lives of the Fellows|access-date=7 February 2024}}</ref>
Golding later recalled that he "grew up on the university campus in the 1970s, at a time when progressive thinking, and the anti-apartheid movement were powerful currents around me and I have always had a progressive orientation as a youth coming up."<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 October 2020 |title=Who is this man, Mark Golding? |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2020/10/04/who-is-this-man-mark-golding/ |access-date=17 May 2025 |work=Jamaica Observer}}</ref> Golding was educated at Mona Prep, Campion College, Jamaica, Marlborough College, University of Oxford and University College London.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mark Golding|url=https://jis.gov.jm/profiles/mark-golding/|access-date=2020-12-11|website=Jamaica Information Service|language=en-GB}}</ref>
== Business career == Golding was admitted to the bar in 1990 and joined the Hart Muirhead Fatta Law firm.
Golding co-founded Dehring Bunting & Golding (DB&G) in March 1992, alongside Christopher Dehring and Peter Bunting, and served as company secretary. DB&G was Jamaica's first privately owned investment bank.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lamble |first=Max E. |date=11 September 1992 |title=DB&G strives for new frontier |url=https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1992-09-11/page-45/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 July 2025 |work=The Financial Gleaner |pages=10}}</ref> In June 1994, DB&G were appointed by the National Investment Bank of Jamaica to handle the divestment of $150 million of shares in the domestic airline Trans-Jamaican Airlines.<ref>{{Cite news |date=4 June 1994 |title=Trans-Jamaica Airlines Divestment |url=https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1994-06-05/page-64/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 July 2025 |work=Outlook Magazine |pages=1}}</ref> In December 1994, he told the ''Financial Gleaner'' that the Money Lending Act should be repealed or amended, because it was "an inhibition to the progress of the commercial paper market."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Robinson |first=Radcliffe |date=2 December 1994 |title=Commercial paper market here to stay |url=https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1994-12-02/page-69/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 July 2025 |work=Financial Gleaner |pages=1}}</ref>
Over the course of his career, Golding has served as a director at GraceKennedy Limited Caribbean Information, Credit Rating Services Limited, and the Bank of Nova Scotia under Scotia Limited. Golding is also the chairman of the Mona Rehabilitation Foundation and of Arnett Gardens F.C. In 2010, Golding co-founded Proven Investment Limited, a publicly listed investment company.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Mr. Mark J. Golding, M.P. Lawyer Profile on Martindale.com |url=https://www.martindale.com/attorney/mr-mark-j-golding-m-p-1231403/ |access-date=2020-07-23 |website=martindale.com}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Hon. Mark J. Golding - HMF |url=http://www.hmf.com.jm/attorneys/partners/mark-j-golding |access-date=2020-07-23 |website=hmf.com.jm}}</ref>
== Political career == Golding was appointed to the Senate of Jamaica in 2007 by then-prime minister Portia Simpson-Miller, who named him as the Minister of Justice after the PNP electoral victory in the 2011 Jamaican general election. He was also named Chairman of the Legislation Committee of Cabinet. During this 4-year term, 121 Acts of Parliament were passed. Golding was behind the island-wide decriminalization of marijuana. In 2017, Golding was elected to Parliament as the representative for South St. Andrew.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2020-11-10 |title='We will be constructive, fearless,' promises new Opposition Leader Mark Golding |url=http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20201110/we-will-be-constructive-fearless-promises-new-opposition-leader-mark-golding |access-date=2020-11-14 |website=jamaica-gleaner.com |language=en}}</ref>
After the PNP's loss in the 2020 Jamaican general election, Golding announced his intention to run for leadership of the party. Golding won the Presidency of the PNP on November 7, 2020, defeating Lisa Hanna. He received praise for the upstanding nature of his campaign.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />
Golding was re-elected in the 2025 Jamaican general election.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-04 |title=General Elections: Landslide victory for Golding and Samuda - Jamaica Observer |url=https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/09/03/general-elections-landslide-victory-golding-samuda/ |access-date=2025-09-04 |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Personal life == Golding spoke at the funeral of his father, John, in 1996, describing him as "a constant example of how life could and should be lived." He called on the government to support the institutions he helped create.<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 April 1996 |title='A life dedicated to helping the needy' |url=https://gleaner.newspaperarchive.com/kingston-gleaner/1996-04-05/page-3/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=3 July 2025 |work=The Jamaican Weekly Gleaner |pages=3}}</ref>
Golding married his wife, Sandra, in 1990. They have three children. He was a musician throughout his time at Oxford University.
== Notes == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Cite web|date=2020-11-11|title=Mark Golding Appointed Leader of the Opposition|url=https://jis.gov.jm/mark-golding-appointed-leader-of-the-opposition/|access-date=2020-11-14|website=Jamaica Information Service|language=en-GB}}
{{Authority control}} {{People's National Party}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Golding, Mark}} Category:1967 births Category:Members of the Senate of Jamaica Category:Alumni of University College London Category:Living people Category:Justice ministers of Jamaica Category:20th-century Jamaican lawyers Category:Jamaican bankers Category:Investment bankers Category:21st-century Jamaican lawyers Category:Members of the 13th Parliament of Jamaica Category:Members of the 14th Parliament of Jamaica Category:Members of the 15th Parliament of Jamaica Category:People educated at Campion College Category:Jamaican people of English descent Category:Jamaican people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:Jamaican people of Australian descent Category:People educated at Marlborough College