Appointment Of Board Members
On August 1, 2009, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority Act 2009 ("the Act") came into force. In accordance with the Act a new Board has been appointed and the public is hereby advised of the composition of the new Board as follows:
Chairman
Wayne Aranha
Chairman
Mr. Wayne Aranha.
Mr. Aranha joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Bahamas in 1976 and spent 24 years as a partner before his retirement in 2008. He is a member and past President of the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was a director of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean and he is currently a member of the board of the new Insurance Commission of The Bahamas.
Non-Executive Directors
Mr. J. Paul Morgan.
Mr. Morgan is an independent advisor on policy and regulatory frameworks in the Energy, Telecommunications (ICT) and Water sectors. He has spent his career of 38 years to date in utilities. He is the former Chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization, former Chairman of the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators, and former Chairman for two terms of the Office of Utilities Regulation in Jamaica. He is a past President of the Jamaica Institution of Engineers.
Ms. Katherine Doehler.
Ms. Doehler is a communications specialist with 25 years experience working in Canada and internationally in the telecoms, broadcasting and cable TV fields. She is a founding member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education, a past member of the Canadian Standards Association Standing Committee on Telecommunications, and a past Director of the Board of the Telecommunications Applications Research Alliance. She is a partner of Syntel Consultancy Inc.
Executive Members
Mr. Michael Symonette, Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Symonette served as Executive Director of the Public Utilities Commission from October 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009. He was employed with the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation which later became the Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC) from 1960-2006. He spent the last 11 years at BTC as President and CEO. He oversaw the establishment of URCA and will act as CEO of URCA during a transition period until a new CEO is appointed in accordance with the URCA Act.
Mr. Usman Saadat, Director of Policy and Regulation.
Mr. Saadat has 14 years of global communications experience including 5 years in economic consulting with UK based National Economic Research Associates (NERA) and Europe Economics. He served as advisor on major regulatory projects for the European Commission, and led projects for European and Asian national telecommunications regulators including OFTEL in the UK, ODTR in Ireland and OFTA in Hong Kong. Mr. Sadaat also spent three years as an Economist with the regulatory team in the head office of Cable and Wireless PLC. His most recent responsibility was as Chief Executive Officer of Cable & Wireless St. Lucia, prior to which he served as Business Development Director of Cable & Wireless International.
August, 2009