Lisa Rene Shanti Hanna (born 20 August 1975) is a Jamaican politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss World 1993, receiving 1,444 votes to Golding's 1,740 votes, a difference of 296 votes.

Early life and education

Hanna was born in Retreat, St Mary, to Rene Hanna (of Lebanese descent) and Dorothy Hosang (of African and Chinese descent). She attended Immaculate Conception Preparatory School and The Queen's School, both in Kingston. At the latter, she became Head Girl, and was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations Development Programme.

Hanna attended the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, where she earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in communications.

Professional life

Career in entertainment

On Saturday, November 27, 1993, at a glitzy ceremony at the Sun City Resort in South Africa, Lisa won the 1993 Miss World pageant.

In 1998, Hanna acted in the romantic comedy How Stella Got Her Groove Back. In addition to her duties as constituency representative she served as opposition spokesperson on Information, Youth and Culture up to December 2011.

Under Hanna’s ministry, the National Foster Care programme was revamped, allowing the placement of over 855 children with 800 families.

Hanna’s ministry also bolstered the Ananda Alert System, which allowed 85% of missing children to be returned safely to their homes in August 2013.

In 2016, Hanna shared her strategy for tackling the needs of Jamaican children at a UNICEF conference in New York City. That same year, Jamaica moved up 52 places on the UNICEF Kids Rights Index to be ranked 51 out of 163 countries.

In 2015, Hanna successfully lobbied to have Jamaica’s Blue and John Crow Mountain’s declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site for Jamaica.

On November 7, 2020 the PNP elected Mark Golding as its 6th President after he defeated challenger Hanna by 1,740 votes to 1,444 in the 2020 People's National Party leadership election.

In March 2022, Hanna was appointed to APCO Worldwide’s International Advisory Council (IAC). Her role is to expand the Caribbean and Latin American focus in the areas of food security, trade, global economy and matters concerning gender and the security related to gender.

In August 2022, she announced she would not stand in the 2025 general election. She was succeeded by Kenneth Russell.

Personal life

Hanna married David K Panton, in 1999 in New York City. Hanna and Panton had a son, Alexander, born in March 2001. Together Richard Lake and Lisa Hanna run Lydford Logistics a contract manufacturing, commercial warehouse and shipping operation in Moneague, Jamaica.

See also

  • Women in the House of Representatives of Jamaica

References

  • People's National Party - Official Lisa Hanna profile
  • Lydford Logistics: About Us