(Trinidad Guardian) Attorney Kerywn Garcia, SC, the attorney appointed by Massy to investigate claims made by its former executive vice president of business integrity and group general counsel, Angélique Parisot-Potter, about its executive leadership programme, will have the report completed this week.
Massy sources said the report was expected to be handed in before Friday. The investigation was focused on Parisot-Potter’s claims raised in the 13-page letter to the company’s president and chief executive officer, Gervase Warner.
On December 18, at the company’s annual general meeting, Parisot-Potter took to the floor during the question and answer period and voiced concerns about the conglomerate’s executive leadership consultant, the Florida-based Delphi.
Parisot-Potter claimed that Delphi engages in bizarre rituals for executives, that their leadership programme is a drain of scarce foreign exchange, and that the couple leading the programme appear to exert disproportionate influence over Massy’s executive team. She told the company’s board of directors, chaired by Robert Riley, that she had written to Warner but received no communication on the matter, so she was compelled to raise the matter at the AGM.
Amidst that, shareholders are concerned about bonuses paid to Massy executives. At the time of Parisot-Potter’s claims, she was the third largest shareholder with 3,133,641 shares in the company.
The biggest shareholder was Warner, with 24,994,769 shares, according to the 2023 annual report.
When questioned on whether she received a $7 million bonus from Massy, three days before she raised concerns about the governance of the company, Parisot-Potter instead directed the focus on Warner.
In a notice on the Jamaica Stock Exchange for the last quarter, Massy listed Warner with 29,459,348 shares.
Parisot-Potter’s shares were no longer listed.
Affonso, the incoming chief executive, was listed in the 2023 report with 2,638,496 shares. On the Jamaica Stock Exchange for the first quarter of Massy’s financial year, he was listed as owning 4,790,280 shares.
After Parisot-Potter’s claims, Massy’s board of directors subsequently issued a statement dismissing her claims as “untrue” and “scandalous” and saying it was appalled by her conduct and had initiated a disciplinary process against her duties as the general counsel to the company and “will follow due process to determine how this should be handled responsibly yet decisively.”
Parisot-Potter was sent on administrative leave until January 12, 2024, but she resigned on December 27, 2023, with immediate effect.
At the AGM, Parisot-Potter said, “This is a matter of grave concern to shareholders because the couple leading the 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.”
At that time, Warner said that many of the group’s leaders and some board members had attended the programme and that Parisot-Potter would not be the first executive who has had difficulty with 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 that the company shows. That is because culture eats strategy for breakfast,” he said, adding that building connections and trust with other leaders, employees, customers, and communities is a big part of Massy’s success.
Two months after her claims, on February 8, in a newspaper advertisement, Massy announced that Warner would proceed with early retirement on his 59th birthday, April 6, 2024. He will be succeeded by David Affonso, who is the same age and is due to retire next year.
On March 8, Massy’s vice president of global expansion, David O’Brien, announced that he would leave the company on June 8.
Warner sits on Massy’s Governance, Nominations and Remuneration Committee (GNRC) chaired by Robert Riley.
The Sunday Guardian reported that the shareholders had raised concerns about millions of shares acquired by four executives over the past ten years. Three of those executives, according to Massy’s 2023 annual general report, amassed about $130 million in shares over the past ten years.
The Sunday Guardian understands that there has been friction between Massy’s largest shareholder, the National Insurance Board (NIB) and Massy over the past few months.
The Sunday Guardian understands that friction first centred around the NIB seeking to have a representative on Massy’s board.
After Massy appointed Garcia, it halted its executive leadership programme run by the Florida-based Delphi Sphere Consulting, run by a couple, Paul and Indira Dial-Dominguez.
