Ms Susan Torry and Ms S. Valerie Kelsick have been appointed as members of the Board of Procurement Regulations while Reverend Joy Abdul-Mohan was reappointed as a Member.

The swearing-in ceremony took place yesterday Thursday February 29 at The President’s House.

Ms Torry has had a long and distinguished career in the banking sector. After gaining an Honours Degree in Management Studies at the University of the West Indies in 1989, Ms Torry began her long relationship with Republic Bank in their Graduate Training Programme moving quickly to management positions in various locations.

Having obtained a Diploma in Business Management in 2002 and ten years later, an LLB from the University of London, Ms Torry entered the rank of Senior Managers starting as the Regional Manager East, Central and Tobago, moving on to HFC Bank Ghana, Republic Bank Barbados and eventually to the position of General Manager, Group Marketing and Communications before she retired in 2020.

After retirement until December 2023, she was the Senior Manager, Operations and Administration at Ansa Bank Limited in the Ansa McAL group of companies while also acting as the Corporate Secretary to the Board of Ansa Bank Limited.

Ms Torry’s professional experience includes being a representative of the Barbados Banking Association on the Project Coordinating Committee to launch the Credit Bureau in Barbados and as a member of the Working Group Committee for the Digitization of Payments in the Government of Barbados.

Ms S. Valerie Kelsick has an extensive and diverse background covering over 35 years’ experience in project management, project finance, banking, facility maintenance and consulting civil engineering.

She holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from Columbia Business school and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Southampton. She also holds various professional credentials including a Fellow of the Association of Professional Engineers, a Project Management Professional and a Registered Engineer.

As a Project Officer at the Caribbean Development Bank from 1998 to 2005 and a Project Manager at Republic Bank for 14 years, Ms Kelsick has designed and supervised construction works, prepared and evaluated bids, negotiated contract terms, and scheduled and allocated resources of major civil engineering land and marine works. She has also spearheaded operational efficiencies in areas related to electronic payment processing, procurement and bank operations. She has conducted financial and economic appraisals, risk assessments and technical feasibility for projects in various sectors including water and sewerage, shelter, micro-credit, natural disaster rehabilitation, roads, electricity, ports and airports.

Apart from her professional work, Ms Kelsick has been the Chair of the National Insurance Property Development Company, a Trustee of the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago and the President of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago. She has been a mentor for the Special Olympics and a Board Member of the Patrons of Queen’s Hall.