Succession planning will go on — UTC Chairman

Unit Trust corporation (UTC) Chairman Hubert Alleyne has defended  the Board’s decision to appoint Michael Alexander as acting UTC Executive Director, saying it was going ahead with its own  sucession planning. “We are moving on with our succession planning,” Alleyne said in an interview. He also said he was not going to be drawn into a public debate on whom the board should have appointed as acting Executive Director. A press statement from the UTC on Monday said  Alexander has been appointed to the post of President UTC Financial Services, but the Board has also decided to appoint him as acting UTC Director.

Furthermore, the press statement also sought to put to rest the notion that Alexander was a newcomer to the organisation: Alexander was seconded by the Central Bank in July 1982 to work with Jerry Hospedales and Clarry Benn to set up the Unit Trust, said the statement. “He is no johnny-come-lately to the Unit Trust,” one source said. The statement was signed by Clarry Benn Executive Director. Benn is out of the country on official UTC business. Sources said at the same  time the Board appointed Alexander as President, Financial Services, UTC’s Renrick Nickie was supposed to be appointed, President, Trust Services. Nickie, sources said, declined the position on the grounds that he did not have to go through that exercise.
But Nickie said he never declined any position offered by Unit Trust. “I never declined any position Unit Trust offered me. I don’t know that I have ever declined any position of responsibility at Unit Trust.” Told that he refused his appointment on the grounds that there was no need to assess him, Nickie said, “That was not true.”

Financial sources noted that when Executive Director Clarry Benn reached the retirement age of 60, his contract was renewed for a year. That contract came to an end on August 31. Benn has since been given a six-month extension. Sources said if the UTC board felt that it had not completed its succesion planning mandate, Benn might be appointed again and the Minister of Finance approached to give him another term. “The board in consultation with Central Bank Governor appointed Benn,” said one financial source on the Executive Directors’ six-month extension. Sources said had Nickie accepted his appointment as President, Trust Services,   both he and Alexander would have been assessed by the Board to see who would have been the better choice to replace Benn. “I guess he felt the executive position was his and he did not need to be assessed,” one source said. “Nickie’s ascension to Executive Director is not automatic when Benn leaves,” financial sources said. Nickie now holds the position of Executive Manager, Marketing and IT.