According to Sagicor Group Jamaica Limited’s 2022 annual report, four executives were separated from the financial conglomerate in addition to other senior leaders who resigned to take up positions at other listed companies.

These executives include Shared Services Vice-President of Group Marketing Alysia Moulton White, who was separated on December 31; Sagicor Real Estate X Fund Chief Executive Officer and Shared Services Vice-President of Asset Management, Real Estate & Investment Management Brenda-Lee Martin on September 30; Shared Services Assistant Vice-President of Innovation and Application Development Dale Nicholson on August 31; and Sagicor Bank Assistant Vice-President of Cards and Payments Kevin Chin-Sue who was separated on August 19.

Moulton White, who was with Sagicor since September 2010, is now facing charges along with her sister Tricia Moulton who was the Sagicor Bank Jamaica branch manager for Liguanea. The Liguanea branch is now being led by Derrick Lewis while both sisters and two other Sagicor employees had their bail extended until their next court appearance on September 21.

Lee-Martin joined Sagicor in December 1992 and was promoted to vice-president of asset management at Sagicor Investments Jamaica in late 2015. She was then promoted to her current role of X Fund in June 2018. With Sagicor Group selling its remaining interest and deconsolidating from X Fund on September 30, 2022, it was noted that she remains the CEO of X Fund but is no longer a Sagicor executive. This was never disclosed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) where both companies are listed.

Nicholson was promoted to his new role in 2022 before being separated later in the year, while Chin-Sue was promoted to his executive role in 2019. Sagicor Vice-President of Cards and Payments Sabrina Cooper resigned on December 31 to take up the role of CEO at Scotia Investments Jamaica Limited, and the shared services vice-president of finance for insurance accounting resigned on December 31 to take up the role of group chief financial officer of Supreme Ventures Limited.

The separation of the executives comes at a time when parent company Sagicor Financial Company Limited (SFC) has been making moves across the group of companies to reorganise and strengthen its suite of leaders. However, these changes are at a less than ideal time based on recent events.

“A significant component of that transformation is focused on our strategic move to be a more digitally inclusive and efficient company. This led to the redesign of our senior leadership structure for Sagicor Group Jamaica effective October 1, 2022. These changes will allow us to refocus our energies to be more nimble and better equipped to innovate as quickly as our clients and the market demands require,” said a statement from President and CEO Christopher Zacca.

As a result of that reorganisation, Mark Chisholm, Willard Brown and Karl Williams were given new titles with expanded roles for the financial conglomerate in the areas of revenue, technology, insurance and shared services. Howard Gordon was recruited from National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited for the new role of senior vice-president, group technology & Sagicor Life Jamaica operations.

Future Transitions

Next month will make six years since Zacca has held his post as the top boss at Sagicor Group Jamaica. However, Zacca is currently 63 and will be 64 in August. His predecessor Richard Byles turned 65 in February 2016 before retiring from his role in June 2017 and taking up the chairman’s role following 13 years as the top leader. Former SFC President and CEO Dodridge Miller retired from his executive role on March 31 after hitting 65 last year. Andre Mousseau took up the mantle of SFC president and CEO on April 1 after originally joining SFC in February 2019 as the chief financial officer. Prior to that, he was at Alignvest Private Capital which engaged in a transaction with SFC in 2019.

It was announced on April 17 that Joanna Banks and Tracy-Ann Spence would be joining Sagicor Group on July 17 in executive vice-president roles. Both women, who just hit 40, will be coming from Pan Jamaica Group Limited and NCB Capital Markets Limited, respectively, in C-suite roles overseeing 12-figure balance sheets. Spence will take over the chief investment officer role from the former holder Sean Newman, who has taken on the role of managing director with Jeffries in Atlanta, Georgia, this month.

It’s yet to be seen who might take over from Zacca in the coming years, but it should be noted that Zacca joined Sagicor as an outsider over other executives at the time. Whoever takes up the mantle will be looking at potentially a US$542,000 base salary and US$1.45 million or $193.13 million in local currency in compensation.

Leadership Succession

Similar to Sagicor Group Jamaica, a number of executive leaders will be retiring from their roles in the coming years. JSE Managing Director Marlene Street Forrest is set to retire next year, as the leader in her early 60s has been with the company since September 2000. General Accident Insurance Company Managing Director Sharon Donaldson-Levine is also in her early 60s and has been with the company for 34 years to date.

GraceKennedy CEO Donald Wehby and NCB Financial Group CEO Patrick Hylton are both set to turn 60 in July and August, respectively. Former GK CEO Douglas Orane retired from the role in June 2011 at 64 which was a year before the company mandatory age of retirement.

“Every year, I have to present to the corporate governance committee, and I can tell you, it’s a very detailed exercise with a lot of forms. I have to share with the corporate governance committee potential successors for my role as the Group CEO, but not only present to them, I have to share with them what am I doing to develop potential successors to be in a readiness period at the appropriate time when I am ready to retire,” stated Wehby at a March GK briefing.

JMMB Group CEO Keith Duncan will also turn 61 in June, leading the financial conglomerate since January 2005. Scotia Group CEO Audrey Tugwell Henry, Pan Jamiaca Group CEO Jeffrey Hall, Wisynco Group CEO Andrew Mahfood, and Mayberry Investments CEO Gary Peart are in their early-to-mid-50s.

In anticipation of future changes, different listed and private companies have appointed new leaders. Honey Bun appointed Daniel Chong as the deputy CEO on April 1 as co-founder and current CEO Michelle Chong is in her 60s. Wisynco Group also appointed Sean Scott last August to the role of deputy CEO as well. Richard Burgher will demit his role as president of Marathon Insurance Brokers this month to let Levar Smith take over on July 1, while Tania Waldron Gooden became the CEO, on Monday, of Chicken Mistress Limited trading as Island Grill.