Our Board of Directors is led by Mr. Brian McDonough.  Mr. McDonough will not be considered independent until 2024. Mr. Chris de Caires has therefore been appointed lead independent director. The Board otherwise consists of 2 Executive Directors, 3 Majority Shareholder Directors and 3 Independent Directors.  

• Brian McDonough Chair

  • Brian McDonough retired from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in May of 2019.

    Brian was previously the Executive Vice-President, CRO Global Credit Risk Management, at the Bank’s parent company, CIBC. He led CIBC’s Corporate and Commercial Adjudication globally and was responsible for assessment, adjudication and monitoring of credit risk in Wholesale Banking and Commercial Banking for CIBC.

    Brian joined CIBC in 1983, has held various senior positions in Risk Management, and was appointed to the position of Executive Vice-President, Wholesale Credit and Investment Risk Management in July 2008.

    He is a graduate of McGill University, University of Alberta and University of Toronto.

• Mark St. Hill CEO
  • 

    Mark St. Hill was appointed Chief Executive Officer of CIBC FirstCaribbean with effect from November 1, 2022.

    Mark has responsibility for the operations of the bank across twelve countries in the English and Dutch Caribbean.

    Mark, a career banker, previously served as Managing Director, Retail & Business Banking having been appointed to that role in May 2013. In that role he had responsibility for the development and growth of CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Retail & Business Banking operations including the Bank’s cards issuing business across its regional footprint.

    He led the bank’s transformation journey to a modern digital bank offering clients access to a suite of instant loans, credit cards and other cutting-edge innovations in personal and corporate banking.

    Mark also previously served as Barbados Country Manager and Managing Director of CIBC FirstCaribbean’s Barbados Operating Company.

    Previous to that he was the Director, International Banking with responsibility for the leadership and development of the International Banking (Personal & Corporate) offering across the six centers in The Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Curacao and Turks and Caicos Islands.

    Mark also serves as Chair of the Jamaica Operating Company –FirstCaribbean International Bank (Jamaica) Limited and FirstCaribbean International Finance Corporation (Leeward & Windward) Limited. Additionally, he is a director of FirstCaribbean International Bank (Trinidad & Tobago) Limited. He is also a Director of the FirstCaribbean International ComTrust Foundation Limited, a registered charitable foundation which manages the Bank’s corporate giving program.

    An experienced banker with over 30 years in various positions spanning Insurance Brokerage, Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Credit Risk, International Banking and Wealth Management, Mark has also held senior management positions in several countries in the Caribbean such as Grenada, British Virgin Islands and Barbados.

    Mark is a Fellow of the British Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, a graduate of the FirstCaribbean Executive Leadership Program with Wharton Business School and has also completed the Masters Certificate Program in Financial Services Leadership in conjunction with Schulich School of Business and CIBC.

    He is also the President of the Barbados Hockey Federation.

• Chris de Caires Lead Independent Director

  • Business Executive

    Chris de Caires has been Chairman and Managing Director of the Fednav group of companies in Barbados since July 2006. Fednav is a private shipping group that operates a fleet of over 100 bulk cargo vessels worldwide. Mr. de Caires has been the principal of de Caires & Co. Inc., a consulting firm providing corporate finance and management advisory services, from 2002. He was the senior vice president of the Interamericana Trading Corporation, a regional Caribbean automotive group, with responsibility for all group operations, from 2000 to 2002. He was a partner in the East Caribbean firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers, with responsibility for corporate finance and management

    consulting, from 1994 to 1999. Mr. de Caires was the finance manager of The Barbados Light & Power Company, an electric utility, from 1982 to 1994, with responsibility for financial and accounting matters. Between 1970 and 1982, he worked with the accounting firms of Coopers & Lybrand in Barbados and Reeves and Neylan in the U.K. Mr. de Caires is a director of Banks Holdings Limited, a regional beverage manufacturer owned by AB InBev. He is the chairman of the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation, a charitable organisation charged with enhancing entrepreneurship on the island. He has also served as a director for a number of companies, including Sagicor

    Financial Corporation, Trinidad Cement Limited and Scotia Insurance (Barbados) Ltd. Mr. de Caires was chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association and has served the Government of Barbados as chairman to the local organising committee for the ICC Cricket

    World Cup 2007 and the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. He holds a masters degree in business administration from the Henely Management College in the U.K. and qualified as a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

• Michael Capatides Majority Shareholder Director (subject to regulatory approval)

  • Retired CIBC Executive

    Michael Capatides retired as Vice-Chair, CIBC Bank USA in 2023, after nearly 30 years at CIBC.  He held multiple senior positions as a member of CIBC’s Executive Committee, including Senior Executive
    Vice-President & Group Head, CIBC U.S. Region, and Senior Executive Vice-President,
    Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel, Administration.

    Mike holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Rutgers State University Central Off (Arts) and a Juris Doctor from Columbia University School of Law

• Craig A. (Tony) Gomez Independent Director

  • Managing Partner, BakerTilly

    Craig A. (Tony) Gomez is the Managing Partner of BakerTilly, Chartered Accountants, Nassau, Bahamas. The Firm is an independent member of Baker Tilly International. He is responsible for the Firm's overall practice and the management of its day-to-day operations. The Firm provides audit, accounting, consulting and corporate restructuring (liquidations and receiverships) services to a broad range of clients in The Bahamas and the Caribbean.

    Craig is a graduate of Minnesota State University at Mankato, Minnesota, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and subsequently qualified as a Certified Public Accountant in thG state of Minnesota, U.S.A. He began his career as a staff accountant with Price Waterhouse, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, prior to returning to The Bahamas.

    He is a member of the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA} and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He is Chairman of Bahamas Central Securities Depository; a Trustee of the Mitchell / Ekedede Brain Injury Foundation; a Director with the Minnesota State University Foundation, Minnesota, USA and Chairman of its Audit Committee.

    Craig is also the former President of Bahamas Red Cross Society; former Deputy Chairman of Bank of Bahamas and former Chairman of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB).

• Wayne Lee Majority Shareholder Director

  • Managing Director and Head, Europe & Asia Pacific, CIBC Capital Markets

    Mr. Lee is Managing Director and Head, Europe & Asia Pacific Region.  He is responsible for CIBC’s business and operations in the Europe and Asia Pacific Region, with offices in London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Luxembourg, Beijing and Shanghai.

    Mr. Lee joined CIBC in 2001 and has held increasingly senior and international positions.  His previous roles at CIBC included Head of Asia Pacific and Chief Financial Officer of Capital Markets, International Operations, and Strategy and Corporate Development.  Prior to joining CIBC, he was with PwC in Toronto.

    Mr. Lee is a member of CIBC Capital Markets Executive Committee. Mr. Lee also serves as a Director of the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce and as a Council Member of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  In addition, he served as Vice Chairman and member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. He is a member of the Male Allies of The Women Foundation in Hong Kong and the 100 Women in Finance, promoting gender equality in and out of the workplace.

    Mr. Lee received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the McGill University (Montreal) and is a Chartered Accountant and a Chartered Financial Analyst.  He has lived and worked in Toronto, New York, Hong Kong and is now based in London.

• Paula Rajkumarsingh Independent Director

  • Senior Vice President, Shared Services-  Massy Holdings Ltd.

    Paula Rajkumarsingh is the Senior Vice President, Shared Services of Massy Holdings Ltd. She is a Corporate Financial Executive, with over 15 years of experience at a senior management level. She is a Director of the Trinidad & Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce and also serves as a director for the St Joseph Convent Cluny Board of Management. She previously served on the boards of the Sugar Manufacturing Company as well as a private Equity Fund.

• John Silverthorn Majority Shareholder Director

  • Retired CIBC Executive

    John Silverthorn is former Senior Vice President, HR Advisory Services & Talent Development at CIBC.  In this capacity, John had responsibility for leading HR Business Leader support across CIBC’s Strategic Business Units and Functional Groups as well as Employee and Labour Relations, and Training Development across CIBC.  John also led CIBC’s Return to Office work efforts through the pandemic.  John was previously Senior Vice President, Human Resources for CIBC Talent Management and prior to that, Senior Vice President, HR, Retail Markets.   

    John retired from CIBC on November 1^st, 2022.  Prior to joining CIBC in September 2006, John spent over 20 years with IBM, where he held a variety of senior Human Resource leadership positions in both Canada and the United States, and across IBM’s services, consulting and sales organizations.

    John has a Masters in Business Administration from York University.  John served as a government appointed Trustee of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Chair of the HR Committee from 2011 to 2019, and as a Board Director and Chair of the HR Committee for CIBC Mellon since September 2022.

• Pim van der Burg Executive Director

  • Pim van der Burg was appointed as Chief Commercial Officer effective November 1^st, 2022 and is responsible for all FCIB’s client segments – Retail and Business Banking, Wealth Management and Corporate & Investment Banking.

    Prior to this appointment Pim was Managing Director Corporate & Investment Banking from December 2015.

    He joined FCIB in 2006, following the acquisition of the Caribbean operations of the Dutch banking group ABN AMRO and was responsible for the integration of the acquired organization. At ABN AMRO Pim held a variety of senior international positions in the areas of Corporate & Investment Banking and Wealth Management.

    Pim has a master’s degree in business and civil law at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He also participated in the Strategic Management in Banking program at INSEAD and is a graduate of the FirstCaribbean Executive Education program at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.