WILLEMSTAD:--- Yesterday, staff and personnel of ORCO Bank in Curaçao, Bonaire, and St. Maarten were officially informed that Managing Director Mrs. Désirée Alberto-Martina will retire effective July 1. At the same time, it was announced that Mr. Gijsbert Turkenburg will be her successor.
Due to reaching retirement age, Mrs. Alberto is stepping down after more than 13 years at the top of this bank. At ORCO Bank, she concludes a career of over thirty years as an internal auditor in the financial sector in Curaçao. She joined ORCO Bank on January 1, 2012, as Group Chief Internal Auditor. She was appointed Managing Director on March 1, 2020, after which she and Mr. Edward Pietersz, Managing Director and CEO, formed ORCO Bank's management team for the last few years. Ms. Alberto's responsibilities included the bank's operations, as well as risk, compliance, and finance. ORCO Bank has shown a substantial growth in recent years, which was further enhanced last year following the acquisition of FCIB Bank in Curaçao and St. Maarten.
At ORCO Bank, as an executive, Mrs. Alberto was also closely involved in many community projects that this bank supports. Her passion was particularly with the Ride for the Roses Foundation's massive annual event, benefiting cancer patients and their loved ones in Curaçao and Bonaire. Although she can take it easy, she also wants to make herself useful to the community after her retirement, for example, by being employable as a volunteer for charities.
Successor
Her position will be taken over from July 1, 2025, by Mr. Gijsbert Turkenburg, originally a chartered accountant. He is no stranger to Curaçao and certainly not to ORCO Bank and sister organization Aruba Bank. His first introduction to these islands was when he worked at Van Dien & Co. on St. Maarten from 1980 to 1990. In the late 1990s, he became a partner at PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) Netherlands. After holding various positions in different countries on behalf of this group, he was Managing Partner PwC Dutch Caribbean for Curaçao, St. Maarten, Aruba and Bonaire for two years in 2016. He served PwC until 2021, after which he established himself as an independent consultant in Curaçao under the name GAN Consultancy BV. From that position, he provided services to a variety of clients in the Netherlands, Suriname, Aruba, Curaçao and the Caribbean Netherlands. As for ORCO Bank, Mr. Turkenburg performed various assignments starting in 2022.
