Are Local Professionals Not Good Enough for St. Maarten’s Top Jobs?
St. Maarten has a persistent problem, and it is time we address it honestly: our government appears to have little confidence in our own local professionals. While the Honorable Prime Minister has frequently spoken in the media about initiatives to bring home and empower local talent, the glass ceiling for residents seems firmly fixed at middle management.
Why is it that government and government-owned companies routinely look to international consultancies when recruiting for C-suite positions? Utilizing external recruitment is not inherently problematic, but it must be paired with a genuine preference for qualified residents.
Let us be clear: if a thorough search reveals no qualified local candidates, looking internationally is a practical necessity. However, that should be the exception, not the default. Consider WINAIR, a government-owned company currently run by two European executives. Naturally, the European CEO asserted that industry-specific airline experience was a prerequisite for the role. I disagree. Advanced graduate degrees, such as an MBA, are not designed to train individuals for a single, narrow sector. Once professionals reach that tier of leadership, they are equipped to manage any industry.
This is particularly true for a Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Whether you are managing cash flow, drafting budgets, or steering strategic decisions for an agricultural cooperative, an IT firm, a hospital, or an airline, the core principles of corporate governance and financial leadership are fundamentally the same. While prior sector experience is certainly an asset, it should never be an absolute barrier to entry. If we continue to look exclusively outside our borders, how will our people ever gain the necessary executive-level experience? If we maintain this trajectory, local professionals will be locked out of top leadership roles indefinitely.
If a nation scours the entire globe for the "best" candidate under a microscope, it will inevitably find someone elsewhere. But let's reverse the premise: imagine if we were permitted to choose our politicians from anywhere in the world. How many of our current elected officials would retain their seats?
The reality is that in the recent past, local leaders successfully helmed these very institutions. We had locals steering our major entities: Mingo at the Airport, Dupersoy at TelEm, Lynch at Housing, Carty at SZV, a three-person management team at GEBE, and Gumbs, who is still leading at the Port. All of those companies weathered the storms of time and remain operational today. None of the local executives mentioned caused irreparable damage to those enterprises. We need only take a quick look at who is running those same companies today to evaluate the shift.
The government would do well to pay closer attention to who is steering our national assets. Going to the media with ambitious rhetoric about bringing locals back while systematically overlooking qualified professionals right here on the island sends a contradictory message. When campaign season arrives, politicians speak passionately of "my people"—yet those very same people continue to be sidelined when it counts the most. It is time for our actions to match our words.