On Tuesday during an extra ordinary meeting of the shareholder, two additional members were appointed to the Supervisory Board of Directors of NV GEBE, Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake announced on Wednesday. This brings the complement of the board to five, with the first three members appointed in January.
The new board members are Patrice Gumbs and Candia Joseph. Gumbs has been Managing Director since 2007 of PDNA Technologies NV d.b.a. Quality Technology, an electrical, telecom, structure cabling, maintenance and consultancy company. Prior to that Gumbs worked with United Telecommunications Services, Antelecom and Lands Radio Telecommunication.
Joseph is a Senior Auditor at Foundation Government Accountants Bureau (SOAB). Prior to that she was an auditor at the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences; St. Maarten Student Support Services S4; Sintacc Accounting & Consulting; and Island Cooking Gas.
Romelio Maduro acted as Chairman, after having been designated as such by the meeting. The Council of Ministers took a decision on January 28, 2014 and the Corporate Governance Council gave an advice dated February 10, 2014 with respect to the board appointments.
A proposal to adjust article 12 paragraph 1 of the articles of Incorporation of NV GEBE to reflect the appointment of minimum three (3) and a maximum of seven (7) Supervisory Board members was unanimously adopted by the meeting. The changes to the articles of incorporation were ratified by the Council of Ministers on December 17, 2013.
The other three board members appointed back in January are: Kelvin Bloyden, designate Chairman of the Board of Supervisory Directors of NV GEBE, Veronica Jansen-Webster and Zylena Bary.
"In my back to basics approach, two young professionals have been appointed to work along with the other three board members to take NV GEBE to a higher level creating a brighter future for Sint Maarten. They will be able to share their expertise and knowledge.
"To all the critics, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Corporate Governance Council for their role and positively approving all of those who I have submitted to go through the process of this government entity. The Council shows confidence in our young professionals.
"NV GEBE can now move forward in tackling pertinent issues in the NV GEBE vision relevant to the people, and infrastructural needs of this country. Some of these entail investment in alternative renewable energy sources in order to reduce the fuel clause, a reduced rate for senior citizens, energy policy, street lights management agreement, telecommunications, waste to energy, switching from heavy fuel to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and water and sewage infrastructure investments.
"I congratulate the new board and look forward to a plan of action regarding the strategic development of our utility company," Minister Hon. Maurice Lake said on Wednesday.