(Trinidad Guardian) A Massy Holdings executive vice president used the group’s 100th annual meeting yesterday to raise issues about the company’s spending of scarce foreign exchange on an executive management programme in Fort Myers, Florida that involves “bizarre rituals” and “highly dubious activities.”
Angélique Parisot-Potter is the executive vice president of business integrity and group general counsel at Massy Holdings.
When Massy chairman Robert Riley opened the floor for questions at the Hilton Trinidad annual meeting, Parisot-Potter was first in line to raise issues.
Reading from a prepared text, she said she was obliged to speak about significant governance and fiduciary concerns, as detailed in her 13-page document, including audio evidence, previously shared with the group’s CEO, Gervase Warner.
“Among other matters, one alarming issue is the so-called executive leadership programme, which has been present in our organisation for over a decade. This programme involves frequent travel to Fort Myers, Florida, and weekly commitments for over a year at a cost per participant of tens of thousands of US dollars for which there were over 11 participants last year, alone.
“Their bizarre rituals include that they can train Massy employees to communicate with the dead and that attendees can self heal with ‘white light energy’.
“This is a matter of grave concern to shareholders because the couple leading this programme appear to exert disproportionate influence over our executive team.
“In the midst of a foreign exchange crisis, Massy cannot be spending scarce resources on highly dubious activities, and contracts awarded cannot be pushed through without prudent due process. This is not just a governance issue; it’s a blatant disregard for shareholder interests. I urge the board to take this, and the other issues I have raised, seriously.”
In response to a WhatsApp question from Guardian Media after the meeting, Parisot-Potter said she had no option but to raise the issue with the shareholders of the company because she had raised “these matters internally with no resolution forthcoming.” She also expressed doubt that the Massy board had received her 13-page letter.
Responding to the group executive vice president, Riley said her letter was being taken very seriously as it is being reviewed and investigated. Riley said he hoped those issues could be resolved.
Warner: It’s the secret
of our success
Speaking with Guardian Media in interviews after the annual meeting, Warner, the Massy Holdings president and CEO, said the Port-of-Spain-based group spent between US$500,000 and US$1 million a year on the executive leadership training in Fort Myers, Florida.
“But we spend a lot more on other training programmes as well. We have a very heavy training and development programme as we lead 13,000 employees. When you think of $1 million or $2 or $3 million in the broad budget that we have for people development, we think it is worth the investment. We see the results in our bottom line from making investments like that.”
Asked whether it would be possible to fly the management trainers to T&T, instead of flying executives and directors to Fort Myers in Florida, Warner said that has happened as well.
“Flying four or five people to Fort Myers for four days, four times in a year is not going to affect the bottom line of the Massy group of companies. But it will make a huge difference in who those leaders turn out to be for the Massy group, out of their experiences.”
During the annual meeting, Warner admitted that although the group earns a significant percentage of its foreign exchange needs, it is not a net foreign exchange earner.
In one interview, Warner was asked whether that means some percentage of Massy’s foreign exchange needs come from the local commercial banks, which may mean that the group is getting foreign exchange for the leadership training programme that could go to other businesses.
“I am not sure I am following your logic because we spend millions upon millions of dollars in foreign exchange on an annual basis. This is a drop in the bucket. Part of why we are able to raise foreign exchange in this country is through the performance of our businesses. And there is a direct linkage to the performance of our businesses and the investment in these training programmes,” said Warner. Especially the training programme that formed the basis of Parisot-Potter’s complaint, he said.
“So I would argue that it is actually a net generator of foreign exchange because we make this investment and then we are able to get our export-earning businesses to perform better, to earn us more foreign exchange,” Warner added.
He said many of the group’s leaders and some board members have attended the programme.
“It is deep work to have us go in and understand where some of our automatic reactions as people come from,” he said, adding that he brought the company to Massy’s attention as he had an experience with it before he joined the Port-of-Spain-based group.
“Typically, there are things that have happened to us in our past that are triggers for us. And our minds run these reactions all the time. When we can slow down and put that automatic mindful trigger to the background and have access to the best version of ourself–we call our centre, spirit or soul–you find that who we can show up and be with one another comes from a very different place,” said Warner.
He said Parisot-Potter would not be the first executive who has had difficulty in a programme like this.
“We think a part of our secret at Massy is that we are willing to do this kind of work as leaders. It is the kind of work that we have done that allows us to have the results the company shows. That is because culture eats strategy for breakfast,” said Warner, adding that building the connection and trust with other leaders, employees, customers and communities is a big part of Massy’s success.
In its financial year ended September 30, 2023, Massy’s revenue increased by 15 per cent to $14.19 billion and its profit before tax was up by 23 per cent at $1.22 billion. Its after-tax profit declined by 5.2 per cent to $812.9 million as a result of the impact of discontinued businesses in 2022.