Gloria Shillingford
Gloria Marilyn Shillingford is a teacher who became a school principal and later a government minister. Shillingford has a Bachelor of Arts from Teikyo-Westmar University and began working as a teacher in 1979. She later became the principal of St. Andrews High School before deciding to go into politics.
In 2005, Shillingford contested for the Wesley constituency seat in the House of Assembly on the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) ticket. But she lost the election to her opponent. The DLP made her a senator in the House in 2005 to compensate her for her electoral loss. However, she contested the elections again in 2009 and won the Wesley seat. She defeated Ezekiel Bazil of the United Workers Party (UWP).
Gloria Shillingford was appointed the Minister for Social Services, Community Development, and Gender Affairs. She also served as the Secretary-General of the UNESCO Dominica Commission. In June 2017, she was elected President of the Dominica Council on Ageing (DCOA) at the 22nd annual general meeting of the council which held at the Fort Young Hotel.
Shillingford has been honoured far and near for her contributions to the development of Dominica in many areas, including an honour given her by the Wesley Methodist Church. She is a trustee of the Dominica Association of Teachers and served on the Supervisory Committee of the Marigot Cooperative Credit Union.