UPDATE: FSC confirms appointment of Dawn J. Smith
It said in a press release that Ms Smith replaces Ms Jacqueline Wilson who completed her contractual arrangements with the FSC and demitted office in 2012.
On being appointed General Counsel/Director, Legal and Enforcement, Ms Smith remarked, “the Commission is a key player in our economy and has developed a motivated team of professionals. I am pleased to join the Commission team at this time and look forward to the multi-faceted challenges attached to the General Counsel role.”
Ms Smith will be primarily responsible for providing legal advice to the FSC in relation to the Financial Services Commission Act, 2001 and other supporting financial services legislation.
She will also advise on enforcement action, take conduct of court proceedings in which the FSC is involved and coordinate and execute requests for assistance that the Commission receives from foreign regulatory authorities. In her capacity as Director, Legal and Enforcement, Ms Smith will also serve as the FSC’s representative on many regional financial services committees and working groups.
Managing Director/CEO of the FSC, Robert Mathavious commented that, “The Commission is delighted to be able to recruit such a high caliber legal professional, as Ms. Smith to serve as General Counsel/Director, Legal and Enforcement at this time. Dawn is a BVIslander who brings a wealth of experience both in the private and public sectors that will be a fillip to the Commission. Her passion for excellence in all her undertakings and in seeing young lawyers develop their full potential argurs well for our legal and enforcement teams that she will lead. I look forward to working closely with her and to tapping her immense drive, dedication, energy and knowledge in furthering the development of the Commission and the BVI Financial Services Industry.”
Ms Smith is admitted as a Barrister of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Virgin Islands). She holds a Bachelor of Liberal Arts (cum laude) from Middlebury College - Vermont, USA, a Bachelor of Laws (upper Second Class Honours) from the University of the West Indies - Cave Hill Campus, Barbados and a Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School – Kingston, Jamaica. She is a member of the BVI Bar Association, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a founding member and currently serves as Chairperson of the BVI Chapter of the Caribbean Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
See Previous story posted on January 15, 2013
FSC shake-ups! Dawn J. Smith in! Brodrick Penn Out!
-Attorney Smith named new head of Legal & Enforcement Division and Penn off to secondment at Premier’s Office
Word just reaching Virgin Islands News Online from our team of reporters and well placed sources inside the ruling National Democratic Party government is that Attorney Dawn J. Smith has left the private sector and taken up a job with the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
Attorney Smith, an indigenous Virgin Islander and the sister of Financial Secretary Neil Smith, has been appointed head of the Legal and Enforcement Division, as Director beginning January 2, 2013.
Attorney Smith, while in the private sector, worked with the law firms of Conyers Dill and Pearman and O’Neal Webster. Ms Smith also had a secondment as the Director of the BVI London Office from 2006-2009.
She is also a member of the Public Service Commission- a constitutional body responsible for promotions, hiring, transfers, termination and appointments of officers in the civil service.
Attorney Smith holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the West Indies, Barbados and a Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School, Kingston, Jamaica.
She also has a BA in Liberal Arts from Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, USA and several professional credentials, including Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and Solicitors, Supreme Court of England and Wales (non-practising), according to this news site’s research.
Attorney Smith’s terms and benefits as the new FSC Director of Legal and Enforcement Division are not immediately known.
Brodrick Penn heads to Premier’s Office
Meanwhile, the same sources have confirmed that Brodrick Penn, the Director of the FSC’ s Investment Business Division, is expected to head to the Office of the Premier for a secondment in the coming weeks.
Mr Penn, who was appointed to his current post at FSC in 2008 as Director of Investment Business, is responsible for regulation and supervising mutual funds and investment business in the Virgin Islands.
He also provides assistance in the development of the regulatory regime for investment business in the jurisdiction, and advises the commission on strategic and operational issues related to the funds and investment industry.
Mr Penn, who has years of experience in the Financial Services Sector, is also a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and holds a Bachelor’s Degree.
Penn's other professional qualifications include an LLM in International Tax Planning received in 2005 with certifications in Offshore Financial Centres, AML/Compliance, and Trust and Estate Planning.
It is unclear if he is been groomed to take over as the Permanent Secretary from Mrs. Rosalie Adams who is on a two year contract. The terms and conditions of Mr. Penn’s secondment to the Premier’s Office are not immediately known.
Both Penn and Smith could not be reached for comments.
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47 Responses to “UPDATE: FSC confirms appointment of Dawn J. Smith”
I don't know, but these are the questions that do need to be asked because at the end of the day when the BVI suffers it usually isn't because of the evil doings of the non-belongers but because our "own people" screw us out of house and home with their greed, corruption, nepotism and other cronyisms. It's a changing world and we need to be awake, aware and vigilant that we aren't destroying in minutes what took years to build up for the sake of thirty pieces of silver or a bag of fool's gold.
Its a dam fact that dawn is indigenous so what the @#$ you tring to figure? get your @#$$ back on the banana boat or aa next flight
I always wondered why greater empahsis wasn't placed on financial service within the government and rather having a statutory body oversea with no realy intigration with the Min of Finance or the Premier's Office. At least now something new is being introduced which would only strengthen this division...We certainly need new investment and no greater way to promote 2 QUALIFIED locals to these essential posts....Congrats to you both!
I wish both Ms. Smith and Mr. Penn well in their new positions, if indeed the reporting by VINO is accurate.
Dawn should be an extremely good hire for Enforcement. The FSC does not hire nearly enough people who have real private sector experience, and Dawn certainly has plenty of that, so hopefully she will bring that to bear in her new role.