Above: CANTO’s new Board. Standing from left: Director C. Philip, Director C. Carter, Director O. Neil, Director D.Newman, Director M. Sutherland, Director L. Gomez. Sitting from left: Treasurer H. Etnel, Chairman J. Wilkins, Vice Chair, R. Cameron; and Secretary General T. Wankin. Photo courtesy CANTO.
All good things must come to an end and CANTO’s 33rd AGM is no exception. The last day of the event concluded with conference sessions and the statutory obligations in the form of AGM proceedings.
The Tuesday conference sessions were under the theme: ‘Using Technologies and Data to Enrich our Lives‘ and was chaired by: Ghatim Kabbara of UTS. Several companies presented on the topic including Leon Williams, CEO of BTC; Giovanni King, Bureau Telecommunicatie en Post; Mike Antonius, Managing Director, Telesur & Frederick Morton, CEO/Founder of Tempo; Shernon Osepa, Manager Regional Affairs Latin America & the Caribbean, Internet Society; Anders Ljung, Business Manager, Hexatronic; and Neil Berriman, Director, Networld Consultants. The delegates were exposed to the endless possibilities of data in line with CANTO’s theme of reimagining ICTs.
Coupled with the conference sessions were the Mini Expo which included exhibitors from Huawei, Hexatronic, Cinex, Ictual IT Solutions, 3Z Telecom, 4Net, Prysmian/Draka, Qvantel USA, Power & Tel and Cable & Wireless Communications/Flow/Cable & Wireless Business. The expo was collocated with the conference sessions and gave delegates direct access to the exhibitors’ products and services in a small intimate setting.
The climax of the event was the highly anticipated Board elections. There were five seats up for election including Cable & Wireless Antigua, Digicel Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas Telecommunication Company, Telem (St. Maarten),and United Telecommunication Services (Curaçao). Julian Wilkins representing Digicel Trinidad and Tobago was re-elected as Chair of the Board; Rochelle Cameron representing Cable & Wireless Grenada was elected to the position of Vice Chair; Helma Etnel representing Telem was reinstated as the Treasurer. Cable & Wireless Antigua represented by Melisia Sutherland was re-elected as a Director.
The resignation of Vice Chair, Leon Williams of Bahamas Telecommunication Company created an opportunity for a new position which was filled by Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) represented by Delreo Newman.
As a newcomer on the board Mr. Newman stated that: “GT&T is very happy for the opportunity to further serve the CANTO family in this capacity. We look forward to especially helping to shape policy that will provide a better ICT future for the region”.
At the official closing segment of the event, Mr. Wilkins thanked the members and delegates for the opportunity to once again serve in the capacity of Chairman. He mentioned that in life when you have a major opportunity to chair a regional organization it’s a tremendous honour and a blessing. He ended by reiterating the basic tenets of the CANTO strategic objectives which are to lead, engage and advocate for and on behalf of the membership.
The 33rd AGM was co-hosted by United Telecommunication Services (UTS) and Bureau Telecommunicatie en Post (BT&P). The event was sponsored by: Huawei – Gold Sponsor, Telesur – Silver Sponsor, BTC and Qvantel USA – Bronze Sponsors; Coffee Break Sponsors – ATN International and Internet Society.
CANTO invites members, delegates and all interested parties to the 33rd Annual Conference and Exhibition in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic from July 16th – 19th, 2017.
