Regional airline LIAT on Monday announced the appointment of British national David Evans as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective April 22, 2014.
Evans is a results-driven executive with more than 35 years of experience in senior roles within the aviation industry, LIAT said.
He will replace Captain Ian Brunton who resigned as the airlines chief executive of the cash-strapped carrier last September, after less than a year on the job.
Between 1975 and 1997, Evans served as Airport Manager, Country Manager and Area Manager with British Airways in East Africa, Saudi Arabia, France, Philippines, China, Denmark and the United States.
In this latter role, he was responsible for the airline’s activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In 1997, he became Managing Director, British Airways Regional, a position held until 2001 when he became Managing Director, British Airways CitiExpress and BA Connect, serving in that capacity for six years.
He Joined the United Nations UNDP programme in 2007 and under their auspices served as Chief Operating Officer of Zambian Airways in 2007. In 2009 he joined Kuwait start-up airline Wataniya Airways as Chief Commercial Officer.
Since then he has provided strategic and commercial consultancy services to Egypt’s Nile Air and other organisations in the Middle East.
Evans, who speaks Spanish, French, German and Mandarin Chinese, holds an Master of Business Administration from Lancaster University and Combined Honours in Modern Languages from Wadham College, Oxford University.
He assumes the chief executive responsibilities from Julie Reifer-Jones, who has been acting CEO since the resignation of Brunton.
LIAT is owned by the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica.
Way the tail is this. Why are people in the caribbean so damn racist to there own people. You mean to tell me all the people who applied for this role in the region, we are so backwards down here that you have to send for a white man all the way from Europe. What the hell is wrong with caribbean people?
Old white man coming to enjoy Caribbean sea and sun. He done hear bout LIAT and know we aint serious here.
Its Gonsalves best choice.
Why is it racist to employ this man to run LIAT????? Here is a man who is highly qualified in his field and is a businessman, employed to finally run liat like a business instead of the governments personal toy! Look, I’m no liat fan, but if there were 200 people applying for the job and he was their best candidate and suitable for the job…..then who care what colour he is or what nationality he is?! If he gets the job done and improves liat’s life span then he was obviously the best man for the job! Hopefully he’ll be able to make his way through the fog of corruption and red tape to be able to run liat properly! If they had employed a Bajan or an Antiguan or a Vincentian, the rest of the region would complain and say they are favouring one island over the other! There’s no pleasing some people
Racist? Who is?
As his resume shows, Evans has been going downhill in his postings in recent years. What this means is that we have a dying horse hired to beat the dead horse, LIAT.
The horse is dead: dismount!
WHATEVER his career trajectory, newly-appointed LIAT Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Dan Evans has some bona fides not to be easily sneezed at. He has his work cut out for him and his LIAT team. For the sake of Eastern Caribbeans, particularly St. Vincentians, let us wish him all the best. His failure to make real head-way, here, may well spell the final demise of LIAT – – and “good-bye” to shareholder-nations’ tax-payers’ hard-earned cash.
WHAT is crucially important, now, is whether LIAT under Dan Evans’ oversight would be pro-actively targeting BREAK-EVEN POINT and SOLVENCY, and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, OPERATING SURPLUS AND PROFIT.
Even MORE NECESSARY for all of us in the CARICOM region, also, is that THE INEPT, UN-INITIATED, CORRUPT POLITRICKANS KEEP THEIR APPROPRIATE DISTANCE – – – and allow the professional LIAT STAFF to do their objective best in flying a profitable commercial airline.
LIAT + POLITICIANS = INSOLVENCY AND FAILURE. Caput Liat.
Let us eschew that sordid scenario.
The new CEO and management must, too, AVOID THE VULGAR CORRUPTION, VESTED INTERESTS, and CONFLICT OF INTERESTS which obtained in the previous LIAT administration. I give C.E.O. Evans the benefit of the doubt, to date.
I dearly hope that Mr. Evans and the LIAT professionals would TELL THE GREEDY, POWER-HUNGRRY POLITICIANS WHERE TO GET OFF.
I have campaigned for you long enough, LIAT.
Make me happy.
Let us all, soonest, shout:
LIAT – – – The Caribbean Airline !
Something does not sit right with me.
And I am seldom wrong when it comes to these issues. I hope that this is one of these times, but I dont think so.
Its not that the mans career appears to be in its winter of discontent, it is the time spent at the business and the nature of the business that he was employed. See below
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/david-evans/11/869/5b5
Anyway, lets give it 3 months and we will see.
The up side is, Liat cant get any worse.
Sorry to have to say this but selecting anther golden oldy will not suffice. According to Gonsalves there were over 200 to choose from. So why not a dynamic young person who would come in and sweep out all the old crap.
I suppose at this mans age he will be easier to control, he will not want to lose his last job so he will jump when told to, and the only question will be is “how high”.
A young man would never tolerate interferance by politicians that know nothing about running an airline, know nothing about running anything including in some instances their own lives and countries.