Three new faces join SVGOC’s executive

THREE NEW FACES have joined the administrative executive of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee.

The three, Geshell Peters, La Prise Williams and Kevin Hannaway, joined previous servants, Stephen Joachim, Trevor Bailey, Keith Joseph and Jacintha Ballantyne.

The new executive was installed last Friday night at a Special General Meeting held at Hotel Alexandrina.

Peters, the new assistant secretary general/ treasurer, defeated Claude Bascombe, 12-5, as she replaced Suzanna Leigertwood- Ollivierre. Bascombe was seeking an elevation after he was co-opted on the outgoing executive to step in for James Bentick, who had migrated.

In the case of Williams and Hannaway, who are the two new trustees, they were already given the nod, having been the only nominees for the positions.

Meanwhile, Joachim, who in 2017 failed to to get the nod from affiliates for the post of presidency, had no headache this time around.

At Friday’s presidential race, Joachim earned 12 votes, while former vice-president, Wayne Williams, got 3 votes and former trustee, Vanburn Harry, mustered 2 votes.

Taking over from Wayne Williams is Trevor Bailey, the outgoing president, who held on the post for 24 years. Bailey, Joachim’s deputy, saw off Rohan Providence, 10-7.

Like Bailey, another durable member of the executive, Keith Joseph, will serve as secretary- general for another four years. Joseph ensured Vanburn Harry’s tenure ended, as he won 12-5.

The most competitive election, though, came in the race for the post of the treasurer, with the incumbent, Jacintha Ballantyne edging out Nicha Brancker by the slimmest of margins, 9-8.

Planning to address some of the concerns aired by affiliates, Joachim gave a solemn promise of his executive “to do better”.

“You heard the complaints here tonight… The message should be loud and clear… We have to do better; our affiliates are not happy,” Joachim lamented.

Joachim also looked at the critical areas of transition and success planning.

According to Joachim: “A lot of our people (executive members) are getting older and we really need to get some younger people in”.

Proper to the elections, affiliates were engaged in the SVGOC’s Annual General Meeting, in which the financial and executive reports for the last quadrennial were presented.