The Barbados Cricket Association has moved with alacrity to fill its most important position.
SUNDAY SUN investigations have revealed that former veteran insurance executive David Deane will be appointed as the BCA’s interim chief executive officer (CEO) very soon.
Deane, a former Harrison College student who was also a Barbados youth cricket captain, is the retired CEO of Sagicor General and what was Barbados Fire and General Insurance Company.
A reliable BCA source told this newspaper that Deane’s appointment will be ratified at a BCA board meeting tomorrow.
“The decision to choose David Deane was a popular one. It was approved by the entire board,” our source said.
After tomorrow’s official ratification, Deane, the first CEO of Insurance Corporation of Barbados, and who retired as president and CEO of Sagicor General in 2013, is expected to take up duties with immediate effect.
“He will be in charge of the BCA’s day-to-day operations but will be working as a consultant. That is why he will be the interim CEO until further notice,” the source explained.
“The board felt very comfortable with choosing him, because of his long-time background as an administrator, and his association with the sport. The board felt great about his ability to get the job done,” the source added.
Along with his background in cricket as a youth player, Deane, a superb all-round athlete, also was a sprinter of some repute, representing Barbados in track and field.
He will take over during a tumultuous time for the BCA, which is still reeling from the circumstances surrounding the exit of the previous CEO, Jefferson Miller.
Miller, a Barbadian who had lived in the United States for 37 years and was a long-time cricket administrator in Florida, was sent packing by the BCA last month, after the parties agreed to an undisclosed financial package.
Miller had been appointed in September, but lost his job after it was revealed in the media that he was a convicted felon in the United States, and was actually on 12 years probation, stemming from a conviction for grand larceny.
The BCA’s 14-member board, during a heated debate at their Kensington Oval headquarters, recommended that Miller be fired.
Miller, as CEO, had earned in excess of $10 000 a month in salary, plus perks, and a sports utility vehicle provided by his employers.
A week after his conviction was revealed, the BCA’s attorney Patterson Cheltenham, QC and Miller’s lawyer Junior Allsopp brokered a settlement package, which saw Miller walk away with a large, but undisclosed sum.
His hiring and subsequent downfall left the BCA facing numerous questions regarding the due diligence, or lack thereof, involved in hiring him.
Since the separation, president of the BCA, former West Indies pacer, Joel ‘Big Bird’ Garner has come under severe pressure, with a petition reportedly being circulated in an effort to gain enough signatures to try to force the downfall of the current board.
The president, on a subsequent sports radio programme, bemoaned what he called tribalism in the country’s largest sporting body, and was extremely critical of Miller’s information being “leaked” to the press.
Unsuccessful efforts were made yesterday to reach Garner, to confirm Deane’s appointment as interim CEO.
