Oranjestad, St. Eustatius – After 8 years of dedicated service, St. Eustatius Health Care Foundation (SEHCF) is bidding farewell to board members Mr. Devon Pandt, Mr. Gregory Pieters and Mr. Olton Berkel.

In line with the Governance Code for the healthcare sector, board members hold their position for a maximum of two 4-year periods during which they supervise, guide, and advise the management of SEHCF. The outgoing board members all started in June 2013 and will reach the end of their statutory term of office coming August 31, 2021. In the eight plus years of service they have guided the SEHCF with zeal. To fill in the vacant positions an elaborate recruitment process commenced in May this year. They are also pleased to welcome and introduce the three incoming board members who took office August 1, 2021. The handover of duties is currently being done.

As the supervisory board member with a long career in financial administration, Mr. Pandt contributed to the supervisory board by providing guidance and advice on topics such as audit reporting requirements and best practices in financial management and control. During the latter part of his tenure, he served as Vice-Chairman of the supervisory board and Chairman of the Audit Committee. Mr. Pandt is appreciated for his always frank and honest observations.

Mr. Pieters is a former manager in the oil and gas sector and long-time entrepreneur. He brought his business perspective and knowledge of the local community to the board. During his entire tenure he served as Second Vice-Chairman of the supervisory board. He is cited for his calm personality, good listening skills, good humor and known to seek harmonious ways to resolve issues.

Upon joining the supervisory board Mr. Olton Berkel immediately assumed the position of Chairman. With a background in Human Resource Management, Logistics and Emergency Response, and his broad experience in various leadership positions, he was keen on utilizing the strengths of all board members and worked towards fostering strategic alliances with stakeholders to advance the development of SEHCF and by extension that of the healthcare on Statia in general. Mr. Berkel stated: “Although I represented the board publicly as chairman, it was and is always important to me to do this with consensus of all members. We have had many lengthy discussions, debating important topics, and seeking the right path forward for SEHCF. As healthcare touches every citizen, we as a board were always fully aware of the very important responsibility that rested on our shoulders. We feel honored to have served our community.”

The recruitment process to find and select the right candidates to help steer SEHCF, considering the current and future developments, was done with the input of our key stakeholders the Sint Eustatius Auxiliary Home, the Public Entity of Sint Eustatius (OLE) and the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare & Sports (VWS). To ensure a diverse mix in background and experiences, the focus was set this time on candidates with a background in public and private sector, working experience on corporate management level, supplemented with a strategic administrative-, human resource management- or a strong financial profile.

From the tremendous amount of high caliber applications we received, we are very pleased to introduce three new incoming members: Ms. Francisca Gibbs, Mrs. Marion Schroen and Mr. Hyden Gittens. They have joined Dr. Vito Koeijers and Mr. Erik Heijdelberg who were appointed in January of this year to comprise the new Supervisory Board team of SEHCF:

Ms. Francisca Gibbs is a young Statian professional with a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and a decade plus of working experience in the public sector. Since September 2019, she holds the position of Unit Manager Internal Services at the Public Entity of St. Eustatius, responsible for HR, ICT, and Facility Management. She is driven to give back to her community by making her time and expertise available to serve on the Supervisory Board and contribute to strengthening its team.

Mrs. Marion Schroen was born in the Netherlands and was brought up on Curaçao. She is living on Statia since 2018 where she worked 2 years at the Public Entity of St. Eustatius as an Advisor to the Government Commissioners. In that capacity she supported them in the execution of several projects and in communication with the various Dutch ministries. She is an experienced project, program, and change manager with broad work experience on a strategic level in the public and private sectors. The focus areas of her extensive career both in the Netherlands and in the Dutch Caribbean span healthcare, good governance, environment, and social & welfare sectors. Specific to healthcare, she has completed tertiary education in Public Health management and policy advising, and she is a certified midwife. Her motto is “Getting things done” and by joining the Supervisory Board, she is motivated to contribute towards realizing the best and most efficient healthcare system possible on Statia.

Mr. Hyden Gittens is a born Statian residing on Curacao. He is a Certified Public Accountant and business leader in the certified accountancy profession for more than 30 years. He was the Island Governor of St. Eustatius from 2004 – 2010, a crucial period in the island’s development, particularly because it was the period of preparation for the constitutional reform of 10-10-10. Subsequently Mr. Gittens resumed his work in the accountancy and consultancy profession as Lead Partner of a regional firm he jointly established, which has a broad portfolio of customers in both the public and private sector. Mr. Gittens has also served as a member of the College of Financial Supervision (CFT). As such, he brings with him a wealth of experience and the accompanying network. Mr. Gittens always wants to serve his island in some form and sees membership of the Supervisory Board as an exciting opportunity to contribute his experience and competencies towards the further professional development of the governance and business operations of the SEHCF.

Mr. Berkel shared: “the coming period there are crucial matters on the agenda of SEHCF to further help cement a solid foundation for better care that our community deserves. As outgoing board, we feel confident to hand over the baton to these 5 motivated and competent members considering their caliber and background. We wish the new team, much wisdom and success in guiding the development of the foundation. We assure all that with this balanced team the stable continuation of proper supervision and governance of the SEHCF is guaranteed for the years to come”.

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