Pond Island:--- The Supervisory Board of Directors (SBOD), St. Maarten Telecommunication Holding Company N.V. (SMTHC NV) and TelEm Group Management are continuing to take steps toward understanding each other’s respective roles and responsibilities under the guidance of Corporate Governance compliance expert Prof. Frank Kunneman, Managing Partner of VanEpps Kunneman VanDorne.
During the training, Prof. Kunneman made use of actual case studies to bring home various Corporate Governance compliance principles, noting how Board and Management can unintentionally misinterpret their respective roles, with both convinced that each is acting in the best interest of the entity they serve.
An introductory Corporate Governance compliance training was provided to the TelEm Group management team of CEO, Mr. Kendall Dupersoy, and the Supervisory Board of Directors led by Chairman, Mr. John A. Richardson, in May this year in a three-day session. This was followed up last week with a two-day session including live examples of Corporate Governance failure in action.
Mr. Richardson said he was very pleased that two new members of the SBOD, Attorney Ms. Dagmar Daal, and businessman Mr. Earl Wyatt could join their new board colleagues in the Corporate Governance compliance sessions so that they too can fully understand their roles as new SBOD members.
“With the high level of training that Prof. Kunneman gives, a solid foundation is being laid to address issues that we as a board and management have to deal with on a daily basis, including issues such as integrity, ethics, transparency and accountability through a better understanding of the law, Book 2 Civil Code of St. Maarten, the Corporate Governance Ordinance and the Articles of Incorporation of the relevant government-owned company,” said Mr. Richardson.
He said the training is geared towards understanding the role of Management and that of the Supervisory Board of Directors, legally speaking, but it also addresses the many layers of what led to court cases in Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and St. Maarten with situations that took place on these islands being addressed and expounded upon.
“Like in all walks of life, the legislation follows the reality/developments and in these cases, it is no different, or the law was there but there was a great lack of compliance. For some time now our way of life as we know it has come under extreme scrutiny. This is evident from the many court cases that are ongoing or have culminated in verdicts. From Mr. Kunneman we have learned that there is, however, a silver lining coming through,” said the SBOD Chairman.
He said stakeholders should be aware that the Supervisory Board of TelEm Group and the Management are taking their Corporate Governance compliance responsibilities very seriously and that management and board continue to undertake efforts to be corporate responsible.
TelEm Group CEO Mr. Dupersoy took the opportunity on behalf of management also to welcome the training of Professor Kunneman, noting that the sessions were very interactive and served as a timely reminder to both board and management of their respective roles in the company’s interest.
As a company we have been very proud of our high record of 95 to 98% Corporate Governance Compliance and with training such as this, at the level it was given, we are showing that we intend to maintain that high standard,” said Mr. Dupersoy.
