The Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFS B) announced today that Betty A. Roberts, FCIB, TEP has been selected as the Recipient for the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding, sustained contribution to the industry.
CEO Aliya Allen points out, “This role model for women in the industry has always demonstrated her commitment to the sustainability of the financial services sector, no matter what hat she has been wearing at any given time. She has been an Ambassador of the industry and has taken time to give back to the sector and to the business community at large, while retaining a self-effacing persona that belies the giant of a woman that she is.”
In 2001 when BFSB introduced its FSI Excellence Awards programme, Betty was the very first Executive of the Year, with peers and BFSB singling her out in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the financial Services industry. Today, this outstanding Executive is still hard at work, ever adding to her impressive portfolio of accomplishments. She says, “The pace of change in the industry today is greater than any other time of my career in financial services. It is not a season for the faint hearted but I am encouraged by the tremendous talent that we have available in the younger generation of Bahamians involved in the sector. I would like to encourage these participants to be resilient, creative and adaptable. Never quit learning and opportunities will ever be present”.
The selection is part of the annual FSI Excellence Awards programme, when BFSB recognises industry practitioners in the categories of Executive of the Year, Mentor of the Year, Professional of the Year, and Achiever of the Year. Also recognised at the annual Awards Gala Dinner is the Student of the Year, chosen from College of The Bahamas Graduates.
The Awards Dinner this year will be held on November 20, in the Grand Ballroom at Atlantis, Paradise Island.
Background on Betty Roberts
From 1979 when as a young professional at Coutts & Co. (Bahamas) Limited Betty was seconded to the National Westminster Bank Trustee & Income Tax Department in Hyde Park, London to the present day where she now serves as President and CEO, First Trust Bank Limited (a private bank & trust company licenced in The Bahamas), she has been a veritable star within the industry. In the intervening years, she has held various high ranking positions in the industry, including Deputy Managing Director, Client Relations and Manager of the Trust Department at Coutts & Co. (Bahamas) Limited; Senior Vice President at Shipston Group Limited, a private investment company and family office structure; Managing Director and Compliance Officer, Deltec Bank & Trust Limited and Executive Vice President, The Deltec Banking Corporation Limited; Managing Director of SG Hambros Bank & Trust (Bahamas) limited, the former Coutts & Co., serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the SG Hambros Group. In 2004 she became a self-employed consultant, with SG Hambros Bank & Trust as one of her clients.
In February 2006 she was named as the CEO and First Vice President of First Trust Bank Limited, becoming President in October of the same year. At that time she also was named to the Presidency of the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc., a position she also still holds today. At First Trust, Betty has overall responsibilities for the day to day operations of the Bank, including general oversight and execution of the investment program established by the Founder. She also has overall responsibility for execution of the International Grants Strategy for two large charitable entities operated by the Bank.
She is a Past Director of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB), Past President of the Bankers Association of The Bahamas, and a past Deputy Chairman of the Association of International Banks & Trust Companies in The Bahamas. Professional Directorships include that of JS Johnson & Company Limited and a Private Trust Company (family office structure), based in Lyford Cay. She is a Protector for various Family Trusts. She is a member of the Bahamas Institute of Bankers and Treasurer of the Bahamas Branch of the International Women’s Forum, as well as a member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP Bahamas Branch), of which she was a Founding Member.
She is involved with a number of charitable endeavours – with particular interest in those focussing on matters of the mind and spirit. She served as a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Lyford Cay Foundation for 6 years before rotating off the Board in 2014 and has served for many years as Director at the Christian Counseling Centre.
Betty earned the Associate of the London Institute of Bankers Trustee Diploma from the City of London Polytechnic (1980) winning the Edward Jones prize for best achievement in Practical Trust Administration and Investments. She has completed numerous courses in supervision and management (American Management Association, Canadian Institute of Bankers and the Industrial Society International) and in 1992 was elected as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London.
Betty Roberts
