Board of Directors

Vincent Pereira was appointed Chairman of Republic Financial Holdings Limited and Republic Bank Limited in 2020. He joined the Republic Group in July 2019 as a member of the Board of Republic Bank Limited. He is the immediate past President of BHP Trinidad and Tobago – an upstream oil and gas producer in Trinidad and Tobago, and possesses over 35 years of energy sector experience, having worked in Trinidad and Tobago and the United Sates. In his past role at BHP Trinidad and Tobago, which he held since 2005, Mr. Pereira led the firm’s safe and reliable operations, working toward ensuring the long term value enabled growth and development of BHP’s business in Trinidad and Tobago. Under his watch, the company successfully executed two additional major offshore upstream development projects, and pioneered the exploration efforts in the frontier Deepwater basins offshore Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Pereira is a Petroleum Engineer and holds a Master of Business Administration from Houston Baptist University.
External Appointments
Mr. Pereira is a Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, former Director of the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago, and former Governor on the Board of Governors of the National Energy Skills Centre. He is the current Deputy Chairman of United Way Trinidad and Tobago.

Nigel Baptiste was appointed to the Republic Bank Limited Board of Directors in 2016. He is the Managing Director of Republic Bank Limited since 2016 and a career banker with more than two decades of experience. Prior to his current position, he has served as Deputy Managing Director and Executive Director of Republic Bank Limited, General Manager Human Resources as well as Managing Director of the Group’s subsidiary in Guyana. Mr. Baptiste currently serves on the Boards of Republic Financial Holdings Limited, Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited, Republic Bank (Ghana) Plc., Cayman National Corporation and other subsidiaries within the Republic Group. He holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours and a Master of Science in Economics from the University of the West Indies (UWI), is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Programme, holds a Diploma with distinction from the ABA Stonier Graduate School of Banking (USA), and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (England).

Trevor Gomez was appointed to the Board of Republic Bank Limited in September 2020. He is the current Executive Chairman of Gravitas Business Solutions Limited and has more than 30 years of public accounting experience serving a diversified portfolio of clients with an emphasis on the financial services sector, consumer products, industrial products, retail and distribution, public companies, multi-nationals, and other large regional and domestic clients. Mr. Gomez has developed a robust understanding of critical business processes, financial accounting and reporting, and regulatory issues facing companies in several industries across the Caribbean. Over the course of his career in regional assurance operations, Mr. Gomez has used this understanding to the benefit of 15 partners and 300 team members who managed more than 500 audit clients. Prior to his current position, Mr. Gomez served at Ernst & Young for 25 years (1991 – 2015). In that time, he served as a Partner (1999), an Assurance Regional Service Line Leader (2004), and a Country Managing Partner (CMP) (2008). He is also a former Chair of the Audit and Accounting Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago. Mr. Gomez is a Fellow Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants of the UK and a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Trinidad and Tobago.
External Appointments Mr. Gomez serves on several boards, spanning a wide range of businesses in the fields of financial services, consumer products, industrial products, and the automotive industry. He currently serves on the boards of Agostini’s Limited, Unilever Caribbean Limited and four subsidiary companies within the Massy Holdings Group.

Derwin M. Howell was appointed an Executive Director of Republic Bank Limited in 2012. He also serves as Chairman of Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited, Republic Bank (Suriname) N.V., Republic Bank (EC) Limited and Republic Bank (Anguilla) Limited. Mr. Howell holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (First Class Honours) and an Executive Master of Business Administration both from the University of the West Indies (UWI). He holds a Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems from the University of Essex and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP). He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (SMIEEE), a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET) and a Member of the Engineering Council of the United Kingdom (Chartered Engineer).
External Appointments Mr. Howell is the Chairman of Habitat for Humanity Trinidad and Tobago and a Chancellor’s Representative on the UWI St. Augustine Campus Council.

Edward Ince was appointed to the Republic Group of Directors in 2016. Mr. Ince is currently Senior Partner/Co-Founder of Frontlight Ventures, a regional investment and consulting firm. He was formerly Managing Director of Prism Services Inc., a payments and operations outsourcing company that he co-founded in 1993, which has subsidiaries throughout the Caribbean and Central America. Prior to that he was General Manager Fujitsu-Caribbean (Eastern Caribbean). Mr. Ince has extensive knowledge of the Caribbean region, coupled with a background in technology, payments and back-office processing. Mr. Ince is a graduate of York University, Canada where he obtained a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Computer Science and is an Aubrey Collymore Scholarship recipient for Science.
External Appointments Mr. Ince also serves as a Non-Executive Director of Foster & Ince Cruise Services, Cave Shepherd and Co. Ltd., Productive Business Solutions (PBS) – public company Jamaica and the Barbados Sugar Industry Limited.

Alison Lewis was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Republic Group in 2014. A former Governor of the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund, Ms. Lewis has served as an Advisor in the office of Executive Director, World Bank, as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and as a former Commissioner on the Trinidad and Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission. In August 2015, Ms. Lewis was awarded the Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold) by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for meritorious and outstanding service. Over the last two decades, Ms. Lewis has served on several Boards, including the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad Cement Limited, the Sovereign Wealth Funds Group, the Economic Development Advisory Board and she is the former Chairman of the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.
External Appointments Ms. Lewis is a Director at NiQuan Energy Trinidad Limited and Kamfra Development Limited.

Jacqueline Quamina was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Republic Group in 2016. She is a former Executive Director of Republic Bank Limited and former Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Republic Bank Limited and Republic Financial Holdings Limited. Ms. Quamina has extensive experience in governance, corporate law as well as banking, finance and mergers and acquisitions in the Caribbean. Her experience in the Group included responsibility for communications, governance, risk and compliance. An Attorney-at-Law with more than two decades of experience, she holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine and was called to the Bar of England and Wales where she is a member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. Ms. Quamina holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of London, an Executive Master of Business Administration from the University of the West Indies, and is a graduate of the American Bankers Association Stonier Graduate School of Banking and the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Programme. She has participated in the Corporate Governance, Executive Education Program, Stanford University, and has completed the Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Canada Director Education and Accreditation Programme and the Certificate in Corporate Governance at the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute. In July 2016, Ms. Quamina was awarded the title of “Fellow of the Institute of Banking and Finance of Trinidad and Tobago for Distinguished and Meritorious Service to the Banking and Finance Industry”

External Appointments
Ms. Quamina is a former Chairman of the National Insurance Board of Trinidad and Tobago, she has also served as a Director on the boards of TSTT, TTNGL, Eastern Caribbean Financial Holdings, Unilever Caribbean and The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce among others. She currently sits on the board of Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited, Republic Finance and Trust (Barbados) Corporation, and Republic Funds (Barbados) Incorporated. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum.

Kristine Thompson was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Republic Group in 2011. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Cabot Saint Lucia, Inc., a luxury resort community currently under development by Cabot, its Canadian parent company. Prior to this, she was the Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Snacks Limited, a member of the Associated Brands Industries Limited (ABIL) Group. She also co-founded and developed the Chuck E. Cheese’s family entertainment franchise in Trinidad. Kristine was a former Vice President, Business Development at the Guardian Holdings Group (GHL) during a period of prolific M&A activity. She also founded a private equity energy fund while at GHL, and transitioned to leading the spun-off fund, where she amassed extensive experience in greenfield project development. Her early career was spent in management consulting at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where she advised Fortune 500 companies with stints at BCG’s Toronto, New York, Buenos Aires, and Melbourne offices. Mrs. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University in Canada and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

External Appointments
Mrs. Thompson currently serves as a member of the Beverage Leadership Council of the ANSA McAl Group and is a Director of Industrial Rubber Products (IRP) Ltd.

Gregory I. Thomson was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Republic Group in 2014. He served as the Deputy Managing Director of Republic Bank Limited for seven years before retiring from this position in 2012. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited. Mr. Thomson has more than 40 years of experience in banking and finance and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Physics from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus and a Master in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

External Appointments
Mr. Thomson is currently on the Board of Directors of One Caribbean Media Limited and is Chairman of the Board of Caribbean Information and Rating Services Limited.

Caroline Toni Sirju-Ramnarine was appointed to the Board of Republic Bank Limited on April 1, 2022. She is the current Vice President, Corporate Operations and Transformation, Atlantic LNG, and the President of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM T&T). With more than 25 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry, Mrs. Sirju-Ramnarine leverages considerable expertise in Engineering, Business Development, Project Development and Management, and People Management. As Vice President of Atlantic LNG’s Corporate Operations and Transformation, she has senior strategic leadership oversight of Digital Strategy; Information and Technology Systems; Sustainability and Corporate Communications; and Workplace Transformation. Mrs. Sirju-Ramnarine holds an MSc. in International Management from King’s College, London and a BSc. in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, where she was named one of the university’s 50 Distinguished Alumni.

External Appointments
A Member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago, and the International Women’s Forum, Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs. Sirju-Ramnarine is also a Director of Loan for Enterprise and Network Development (LEND), a micro-financing agency in Trinidad and Tobago.