Robert Drummond, appointed president of First Global Financial Services.

Robert Drummond, who has operated as a project troubleshooter since joining GraceKennedy Limited three and half years ago, was yesterday named to head the group's equities and assessment management arm, First Global Financial Services (FGFS).

Grace's chairman and CEO, Douglas Orane, announced Drum-mond's appointment, to replace Sandra Shirley, in a memo to the group's more than 2,000 staff members, and Drum-mond himself later con-firmed the assignment.

"There has been an announcement," Drum-mond told the Financial Gleaner. "Ms Shirley officially leaves at the end of October, after which I formally assume the post."

Joe Taffe, the CEO of GK Investments, the umbrella under whichGraceKennedy shelters business outside its core food operations, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

But last night Taffe issued a statement confirming Drummond as successor, saying he would take up the slot at FGFS November 1.

"Mr Drummond, who currently serves as principal of GK Investments and CEO of FG Funds Management (Cayman) Limited, brings to his new position his skills in negotiating, executing and integrating mergers, acquisitions and new business ventures," Taffe said.

Shirley, who was said to be leaving to pursue new business interests, appears to be the first of the likely casualties from the creation of a new holding company - First Global Holdings - for the First Global financial entities, and the appointment in July of Courtney Campbell, formerly head of retail banking at National Commercial Bank (NCB), as its CEO.

Shirley

The companies that fall under First Global Holdings are:

FGFS

First Global Bank

First Global Funds Management, a Cayman Islands-domiciled mutual funds manager

First Global Trinidad and Tobago, formerly One-1 Financial Ltd, a small Port-of-Spain-based invest-ment bank that GraceKennedy acquired earlier this year.

Leverage the skills

Insiders say that Campbell's mandate is to leverage the skills across the institutions and "to make the First Global brand a major player in corporate finance across the Caribbean".

Since Campbell's appointment, though, industry analysts expected that some of the long-standing members of First Global, accustomed to their autonomy and now leapfrogged by the new man, would probably opt for the exit.

There was, however, evidence that Shirley, who has held several top posts in the financial sector - before joining FGFS she was a top executive with National Commercial Bank - was part of the process.

Business segments

Drummond, who has held senior management posts in Jamaica and the United States, joined GraceKennedy in February 2005 as business development manager, working with Orane on business strategies and mergers and acquisitions.

He was a key strategist on the GraceKennedy side when Grace and Guardian Insurance jointly developed the group's health insurance business, Medicos. GraceKennedy later sold its 50 per cent of Medecus to Guardian.

When GraceKennedy reorganised two years ago, splitting the group into two business segments, Drummond joined GK Investments as a principal, one of three officials working in business strategies and scouring the markets for opportunities for mergers and acquisitions.

"I am entering formal line management," Drummond said.

business@gleanerjm.com