ilburn Clarke is the CEO of Spatial Innovision, Inc. which recently won a Pioneer in Prosperity award. The company is a leader in geospatial solutions with offerings in imagery (aerial and satellite), geographic information systems, global positioning systems, systems integration, training, systems analysis. It does business all over the Caribbean from Bahamas in the North West to Guyana in the South East.
Silburn grew up in the Allman Town area of Kingston, Jamaica. His mother was a housewife and entrepreneur (shop owner) and his step-father was a fire officer. He was the eldest of 11 children in the Scarlett family, six of whom--all the boys--attended KC. The family is mentioned in Anthony Johnson's History of Kingston College, 1925 -2006.
Silburn attended the Chinese Public School on North Street and was awarded a Common Entrance Scholarship to Kingston College which was his first Choice and in 1966 he entered KC’s Melbourne campus. He left in lower Sixth in 1972.
His favourite teachers / major Influencers included headmaster Douglas Forrest, Mr. McDonald (Add Maths, advanced level Maths), Mr. Bryan , Ms. Barbar (Biology) and Trevor Rhone (English/Speech).
Silburn was a member of KC Cadet Unit. He also tried out for the KC Hockey Team and the Choir. He loved maths and the sciences and participated in that great experiment to have fourth formers sit Maths, English Language and Literature, subjects which he aced. He studied Add Maths and a couple other subjects in fifth form and sat Advanced Level Maths in Lower sixth. Although he passed Advanced level Maths with distinction, economic pressures forced him to enter the working world.
Silburn totally enjoyed his time at KC and explains, “The Fortis standard, can-do spirit, never-say-die resilience has entered my DNA and is a central core of what I do and how I operate.” His family is recognised as a strong KC family in Anthony Johnson’s book on KC history (The Scarletts). He is proud that as the eldest of nine brothers and two sisters he has set the pace. All his brothers except two went to KC. The elder girl, Jasmine Pitter (New York), is one of the most purple-hearted females around. His brothers include Ian, George (KCOBA Exec), James, Andrew (KC School Challenge), Lennox and Robert (Basketball).
After leaving KC he worked for a year at the government’s Survey Department (North Street and Hanover Street corner) where he got hooked on Land Surveying and subsequently entered CAST on a Government Scholarship to study Land Surveying graduating with a Diploma in Land Surveying with Honours and got a European Economic Commission (EEC) Scholarship to study Land Surveying in London in 1976.
He graduated with a Diploma in Land Surveying with Distinction and was offered extended fellowship to sit a Master’s of Science in Engineering at the University of London where he graduated with distinction specialising in Photogrammetry in 1980 (Photogrammetry is a specialisation of Land Surveying which employs measurements (metry) from aerial photography (photo) for producing highly accurate maps).
He earned a Masters in Business Administration with Distinction specialising in Finance (UWI Mona, 1992) and Masters in Computer-based Management Information Systems (UWI, Mona , 1995).
He is currently writing for a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) at UWI Mona, with completion anticipated in 2011, (see www.dbaone.biz).
The business Spatial Innovision was formed in 1998 and is built around the competencies Silburn has gathered in his professional journey.
