Governor’s Office Press Release: Appointment of members to commissions

Governor Duncan Taylor has announced a number of appointments to oversight bodies which assist in supporting democracy and good governance.

David Ritch has been appointed Chairman of the Constitutional Commission for a period of three years.  Mr Ritch began his career in the public sector where he served for a period of three years as a Crown Counsel and Senior Crown Counsel in the Chambers of the Honourable Attorney General and then as Clerk of the Court.   Mr Ritch then moved to the private sector as an associate before establishing the firm Ritch and Conolly Attorneys-at-Law where he currently serves as the Senior Partner.  He is a past president of the Law Society and has served on numerous Government Statutory Boards.  In recognition of his services to the Cayman Islands he was appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2003 by her Majesty the Queen;  and in the same year received the Cayman Islands Quincentennial Lifetime Achievement Award for Law.  He is a Justice of the Peace.

Ian Wight has been appointed a Member of the Commission for Standards in Public Life for the remainder of a previous member’s term, which expires on 14 January, 2014.  Mr Wight served as Managing Partner of Deloitte in the Cayman Islands for over twenty years with overall responsibility for the operations of the firm comprising four main service lines:  Audit, Tax, Consulting and Financial Advisory.  He has extensive experience in insolvency matters  and special expertise in the wind up of financial institutions, investment fund companies, and special purpose vehicles companies.   Mr Wight has been an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales since 1974 and a Fellow since 1981.  He has been a member of the Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants since 1979.   Mr Wight retired from Deloitte in 2012.  He now works as a consultant and has a consultancy arrangement with Deloitte.

Donovan Ebanks has been appointed Chairman of the Civil Service Appeals Commission for a period of three years.  Mr Ebanks worked as a public servant for thirty-six years.  For nineteen years he worked in the Public Works Department, eleven as Chief Engineer.  In 1994 he was promoted to Deputy Chief Secretary and was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Her Majesty The Queen.  In 2009 he was appointed Chief Secretary and shortly thereafter became the first Deputy Governor of the Cayman Islands.  Mr Ebanks is former Chairman of the National Hurricane Committee and the National Hazard Management Council.  He currently serves as Chairman of the Records Management Advisory Committee.  He is a Justice of the Peace.

The Governor has also appointed Stacey VanDevelde and Deanna Look Loy to serve as  Members of the Civil Service Appeals Commission.

Until recently Mrs VanDevelde worked as Director, People, Performance & Culture at the public accounting firm KPMG, following a ten year tenure during which she helped the firm become the first in the Cayman Islands to achieve the Investor in People standard.  Mrs VanDevelde was a member of the Board of the Cayman Islands Society for Human Resource Professionals (CISHRP) from 2000 and served as President from 2006 to 2008.  Since leaving KPMG, Mrs VanDevelde has devoted her free time, expertise and energies to community endeavours and is the founder and Chairman of Feed our Future.  She was appointed a Notary Public in 1997.

Mrs Look Loy worked as a public servant for thirty three years.  She started her career as a teacher of Spanish in John Gray High School and George Hicks High School.  She was Head of the Spanish Department in both schools.  She worked as an Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Health Education and Social Services for a period of seven years and as Director of Social Services from July 1994 until July 2011, a total of 17 years.

The Governor said:  “I am honoured to be able to appoint such outstanding members of the community into these important roles.  Their extensive knowledge and experience will be invaluable to the Commissions they serve on.  I am confident that this will help ensure that the Commissions meet their legislative and constitutional remits effectively.”