By Prior Beharry
NEWLY-appointed president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago
(AMCHAM T&T) Stuart Franco wants clear actions to reduce crime in the country.
He also called for more mechanisms to facilitate public-private partnerships.
Chief Executive Officer at Trinidad Systems Limited (The TSL Group) became the organisation’s 17th president in its 31 years of existence. He was appointed at AMCHAM T&T’s 30th Annual General Meeting on Friday before about 300 of its members at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain.
Franco replaces outgoing President Caroline Toni Sirju-Ramnarine who served a two-year term from 2021-2023.
In his inaugural address, he said, “We must find more effective mechanisms for public-private partnerships. We must take a closer look at the areas where business can support the Government’s objectives and the desires of our people for better service delivery of public goods to see where collaboration can lead to improved results.”
Franco said his plans include building bridges and finding solutions to support business growth that
will unleash the full, dynamic potential of the country.
He said, “I make no apologies for saying that business has a huge role to play in realising that dynamism,”
Franco also spoke on the issues of crime, Customs reform and developing the technology sector where he said increased collaboration can yield significant success, a release from AMCHAM T&T stated.
Franco said in December, AMCHAM T&T as a part of the Joint Chambers, which also include the Energy Chamber, the TTCIC, and the TTMA put out a statement in late December stating that addressing rising, violent crime has to be the number one priority of the Government.
He said, “In that statement and in every subsequent communication, publicly and privately, we have offered our support and indicated our willingness to collaborate with the Police Service and the government more broadly in the context of a clearly articulated plan.”
Franco added, “As an organisation, we are reiterating the need for clear, targeted, coordinated, and
collaborative actions to urgently address and reduce crime,”
He said, “As we seek to enhance the culture of collaboration, we do not want to put out a list of things that we believe need to be done. Instead, we would like to work with the Government and the TTPS to develop a mechanism of continuous engagement to support the very clear and specific goal of reducing crime and then work on all the inputs and measures – the immediate actions and the longer-term solutions – that will allow us to achieve this common objective.”
The new AMCHAM T&T board:
PRESIDENT
Stuart Franco – Chief Executive Officer (The TSL Group)
VICE PRESIDENT
Anna Henderson – Chief Executive Officer (AMARANTH Business Solutions)
VICE PRESIDENT
Angélique Parisot-Potter – Executive VP and General Counsel (MASSY)
SECRETARY
Stéphane Picarle – General Manager Commercial (Shell Trinidad & Tobago Limited)
TREASURER
Tricia De La Rosa – VP, AML/ATF & Compliance (Scotiabank Trinidad & Tobago Limited)
Other members:
Gregory Hill – Managing Director (ANSA Merchant Bank Limited);
Caroline Toni Sirju-Ramnarine – Vice President, Corporate Operations and Transformation
(Atlantic LNG);
Giselle Thompson – VP Corporate Operations (BP Trinidad & Tobago);
Mitchell De Silva – Citi Country Officer – T&T Hub (Citibank (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited);
Andrea Davis – Country Manager (DHL Express Trinidad and Tobago Ltd);
Patricia Ghany – Chief Financial Officer (Esau Oilfield Supplies & Co Limited:
Glenn Hamel-Smith – Partner & Head – Banking & Finance (M Hamel-Smith & Co);
Simon Aqui – Country Leader (IBM Trinidad & Tobago);
Greer Quan – Chief Executive Officer – Caribbean (Pan American Life Insurance Group;
Dominic Rampersad – President (Phoenix Park Gas Processors Limited); and
Krishen Ramdeen – Managing Director of Corporate and Shared Services (Proman Limited)
Ex-Officio Positions:
Candace A. Bond – US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago
Nirad Tewarie – Chief Executive Officer
