Trinidad Tourism gets an acting CEO

Trinidad Tourism Ltd (TTL) has an acting CEO, Heidi Alert, who has been appointed in the wake of the firing of CEO Camille Campbell.

Alert will be responsible for the daily operations of the state agency and still function in her current post as manager of destination development.

Her appointment was announced on Thursday by the TTL board which said she would report to chairman Janelle Commissiong-Chow, who fired Campbell after six months on the job, a decision which caused a rift among board members. Alert will act as CEO until a new chief executive is hired.

In a TTL release, Commissiong-Chow said there was a need to deliver several projects, including local and international campaigns, "currently in train.”

“The company must continue to remain steadfast in its commitment to the progression of Trinidad’s tourism.”

Campbell was a former TSTT marketing executive before she was hired as TTL CEO in January, but was fired on July 1 for non-performance.

She has since hired attorney Keith Scotland who issued a pre-action protocol letter to the board demanding an apology and for her dismissal to be rescinded.

Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell wrote to the board requesting information that led to the decision to terminate her contract. In previous correspondence he gave instructions that no action should be taken against any staff member.

In a letter to the minister on July 2, the chairman said the board received advice from industrial relations consultant and lawyer Lennox Marcelle before the majority of its members agreed, on June 28, to dismiss Campbell. However, five of 11 members voted in favour of the decision with two disagreeing, while five were absent.

Campbell joined TTL from TSTT at a reduced pay package of close to $10,000.

Commissiong-Chow over the weekend fell under scrutiny for comments in a TV6 interview that she and the board had received a two-year extension on their term from Finance Ministry officials during a prior annual general meeting. Mitchell, in a statement, disclosed Finance Minister Colm Imbert would probe the circumstances of the board's tenure.

Early this week, Imbert said the board was not reappointed for a further two years, at a meeting on February 19, but had been approved to to continue "without a fixed term."

Following his return from the Caricom summit in St Lucia on July 5, the Prime Minister said Government had to take ownership “of whatever is happening” at the board.