The Board of Directors
Richard Lewis
Mr. Richard Lewis was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Carreras Limited on July 1, 2011. Richard, a Trinidadian national, is currently General Manager/Director of Label House Group Limited, the leading brand identity and packaging solutions Company in the Caribbean.
In addition to Carreras, Mr. Lewis serves as a board member of Republic Finance & Merchant Bank Limited, Beacon Insurance Company Limited, Republic Securities Limited, Trinidad & Tobago Government Advisory Council for Competitiveness & Innovation, Ceramic Trinidad Limited, Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers' Association and Prestige Business Publications Limited, publisher of "Who's Who in Trinidad & Tobago Business" magazine. He is a past president of Trinidad & Tobago Manufacturers' Association.
Mr. Lewis received his HBA in 1974 from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.
Michael Bernard
Mr. Michael Bernard first joined Carreras Group Limited in 1988 and in 1991 he was appointed General Manager of the Jamaica Biscuit Company. In 1995 he assumed concurrently, the positions of Managing Director of two subsidiaries; the Cigarette Company of Jamaica Limited and Agricultural Products of Jamaica Limited.
In 1997, he was appointed to the Carreras Board of Directors until 2000 when he was seconded to the USA subsidiary of British American Tobacco, Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation. He regained leadership of the Cigarette Company of Jamaica Limited at the end of 2001 and was re-appointed to the Board of Carreras Group Limited in 2004. In 2005, he was appointed Managing Director of Carreras Limited, the role he held until retirement in 2010.
Michael currently serves on the Board of Directors of Salada Foods Ltd., Peak Bottling Company Limited, Jamaica International Insurance Company, Lascelles DeMercado and Company Limited, Lascelles Limited, J Wray and Nephew Limited and Event 2 Event Limited. He is a graduate of Jamaica College where he serves as Chairman of the Board of Management.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science summa cum laude degrees in Business Administration and Forest Management respectively, from Washington State University, and a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Michael is the 2010 recipient of the Carlton Alexander Award for Excellence and is also the 2010 Jamaica Institute of Management/ Gleaner Manager of the Year.
In 2012 he was made a Fellow of the Jamaica Institute of Management (FJIM). He is a philanthropist and a significant owner and breeder of thoroughbred horses and an avid follower of cricket.
Hon. William Mcconnell, Oj, CD, JP, FCA, Hon. LLD
Hon. William "Billy" McConnell, OJ, was appointed to the Board of Directors on February 6, 1997. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and is a member of the Jamaican Institute of Chartered Accountants. He was previously the Managing Director of both Lascelles deMercado & Company Limited and Wray & Nephew Group Limited until his retirement in 2011.
He has also served on many Boards most notably as Chairman of both the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica and Petrojam Limited and as a Director of the Sugar Industry Authority. He is Chairman of the Sugar Manufacturing Corporation of Jamaica Limited and is a Director of the Jamaica Observer Limited, Spirits Pool Association Limited, Caribbean Molasses Company Limited, Dolphin Cove Limited and the University Hospital of the West Indies – Private Wing Limited.
He is the recipient of the Order of Distinction – Commander Class and the Order of Jamaica for outstanding services in the development of commerce and export (1996) and for distinguished leadership in Business and Export Industry (2006) respectively and conferred with the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) in 2010.
Oliver W. Holmes
Mr. Oliver Holmes was appointed to the Board of Directors of Carreras Ltd. on February 6, 2007. He is Managing Director of Capital Options, a financial advisory firm he founded in 1997. Prior to establishing Capital Options, Mr. Holmes was the Chief Operating Officer of Manufacturers Merchant Bank Ltd. and prior to that Vice President of Citibank N. A.
He spent 23 years and served as a senior manager in virtually all aspects of the bank and its subsidiaries operations in Jamaica, including Vice President - Corporate Finance, Financial Controller - Citibank Jamaica and its subsidiaries, Corporate Banking Group Head, Managing Director - Citifinance Limited, Manager - Centralized Operations and Chief Inspector for the Caribbean region. During his career, he has led or participated in many notable transactions in the Jamaican and international markets.
In addition to Carreras, he sits on the Boards of Salada Foods Ltd., Allied Insurance Brokers Limited, Pulse Investments Ltd. and Caribbean Basin Investors Ltd. Mr. Holmes is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He attended the University of the West Indies where he earned a B.Sc. degree in Management Studies (Hons) and a M.Sc. degree in Accounting.
Mr. Holmes lists his hobbies as cricket, golf, squash, running and reading. He is married and has a son and a daughter.
Federico Jenkins
Mr. Federico Jenkins, a Costa Rican national, is a lawyer and notary public with an LL.M. from University of Miami. He also has a B.S. in Business Administration and a Masters in Computer Science from Costa Rica University.
He joined British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America in 2000 as a Legal Manager for Central America, and in 2004 was appointed Legal and Corporate Affairs Director for the Caribbean and Central America.
In 2011, he left the Legal function and assumed the position of Country Manager for BAT Panama. Mr. Jenkins has developed vast experience working as a Corporate Lawyer in Costa Rica and the U.S.A. He has worked for Mitrani, Rynor, Adamsky, Macaulay & Zorrilla, P.A as an Attorney, in CR Financial Inc. as Financial and Operations Principal, Jenkins y Jenkins Abogados S.A. as a Partner.
He has been a member of the Costa Rican Bar since 1985, member of the Economic and Social Sciences Professional Association since 1986, member of the American Bar Association (ABA) since 2000, member of the Florida Bar as a foreign legal consultant since 1996 and member of the New York Bar since 2000.
Patrice Gray
Mrs. Patrice Gray was appointed to the Board of Directors on August 1, 2011. Mrs. Gray is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours in Accounting and Management from the University of the West Indies.
Mrs. Gray joined Carreras in July 2011, having extensive experience and a proven track record in process reengineering, shared services, finance transformation, labour relations, project management and team building.
Mrs. Gray previously held several senior finance roles at Cable and Wireless, the last being Head of the Regional Shared Service Centre for Cable and Wireless Caribbean (LIME). There she maintained service levels and key performance indicators for business units managed across the Caribbean, as well as implemented process improvements that resulted in streamlined operations and system improvements which significantly reduced related costs.
Mrs. Gray is currently a fellow of the ACCA and enjoys swimming and reading.
Nicholas Hales
Mr. Nicholas Hales was appointed to the Board of Directors of Carreras Limited on February 7, 2012. He is currently Area Director - British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America and has 30 years of wide, international experience as a highly accomplished bi-lingual senior executive.
Nicholas has also served as Area Director for South Asia (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives) and West and Central Africa (Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana) at British American Tobacco. Other senior management positions include Chief Executive Officer of British American Tobacco (Bangladesh) Ltd and Pakistan Tobacco Company.
Over his long successful career, Nicholas has achieved outstanding results in both profit and market share growth, launched several new brands and presided over new market entry activities as well as a merger. Nicholas is a graduate of Johannesburg University. He is a sports enthusiast who loves kayaking, cycling, trekking and playing golf.
He has captained the England U19XV Rugby team, kayaked to Timbuktu and the length of Bangladesh, motorcycled from London to Dakar, trekked to Nanga Parbat and K2 Base Camps. He co-founded Vie et Vivre Foundation in Togo to aid in the fight against poverty, especially targeting education and AIDS awareness. Nicholas is married and has a daughter.
Amanda Cavill de Zavaley
Mrs. Amanda Cavill de Zavaley was appointed to the Board of Directors of Carreras Limited on November 8, 2012. She is currently the Head of Finance for BAT Caribbean and Central America.
Amanda has had an extensive international career in BAT, assuming the role of Finance Director in several markets including Venezuela, Bangladesh, Chile and Malawi. She was previously assigned to the BAT Caribbean and Central American Area as Area Head of Treasury and Projects in 1997 and as Finance Director during the period 1998-2003.
Amanda is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science from the Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. She is a British National and is bilingual.
Marcus Steele
Mr Marcus Steele was appointed to the Board of Directors of Carreras Limited on April 1, 2013.
He graduated from St. Jago High School and is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of the West Indies and a Master of Business Administration from Florida International University. Marcus also completed an Executive Programme in General Management at the Harvard Business School.
Marcus first joined Carreras Group Limited in the company’s Tobacco division, Cigarette Company of Jamaica Limited, in the capacity of the Company’s Management Accountant in April 1998. In June 1999, he was promoted to Finance Planning Manager and later appointed Marketing Finance Manager in June 2001. In May 2002, Marcus was appointed Finance Planning Manager for Cigarette Company of Jamaica Limited with overall responsibility for management of Marketing and Operations Finance.
In March 2004, Marcus was seconded to British American Tobacco Caribbean and Central America’s Area Office in Costa Rica as the Country Readiness Manager for the Caribbean with the responsibility for leading the migration of the Caribbean legal entities into the regional shared service centre. In July 2005, he was appointed Finance Planning and Reporting Manager for BAT’s operations in the Caribbean and Central America where he focused on financial reporting, strategy and planning.
Marcus was then appointed to the Carreras Board of Directors on October 1, 2007 and served as Finance Director and Company Secretary up until August 2011 when he was seconded to the Trinidad branch of another BAT company, Carisma Marketing Services Limited, in the position of Country Manager with responsibility for the general management of the Company’s businesses across 24 markets in the English, French and Dutch Caribbean.
Marcus also serves as a Director of First Global Financial Services and Demerara Tobacco Company in Guyana. He enjoys reading, dancing, cricket, football and athletics and has two children, son, Marquis and daughter, Sonique.
