The Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry held its first working session on Tuesday, this week, following the recent Annual General Meeting at which there was an election of officers.
The members of the Board were all returned, except for John Benjamin, who has now retired, and Arlene Ross-Daisley, who has left the island to return to her homeland.
President of the Chamber, Attorney-at-Law,KeithleyLake, who has begun a new term of office, said five members were re-elected and two new members were elected.
On Tuesday, at a meeting of the Board, the officers for the incoming year were determined as follows: Mr. Keithley Lake, President; Carlton Pickering, Vice President; Mrs. Felicia Hill, Treasurer; and new comer, Sherma Blaize, Secretary. In addition to these officers are the supporting directors: Mrs. Vida Lloyd-Richardson; Mark Romney and Dr. Louis Bardfield.
Asked to comment on the work of the Chamber ahead, Mr. Lake had this to say: “Our number one focus this year is going to be to make sure that we offer far more services to the business community at large. Towards that end, we are going to be in the market to hire a new Executive Director, somebody who has extensive experience in Chamber of Commerce affairs.
“We are going to be revising our strategic plan, which will give impetus to that; and thirdly, we are going to be working very closely with the Government so that a lot of the decisions that affect the business community will have the input of the Chamber before some of these decisions are made, rather than after.
“Those are going to be our three strategic initiatives, in addition to our fund raisers and the other things we do in the normal course of business, such as seminars and training [which is] always available at the Chamber for small businesses.”
