An insurance industry veteran has been appointed to chair the Island’s branch of The Institute of Directors (IoD), Europe’s largest membership organisation for business leaders.Roger Gillett, the chairman of the RIMS Committee of the Insurance Development Council (IDC) has been appointed to chairman of the IoD’s Bermuda branch. He succeeds Reginald Rawlins who has chaired the Bermuda branch for a number of years.Vernon George, director, regions and branches for the IoD stated: “The purpose of the IoD is to support, represent and set standards for directors. Roger joins us with a wealth of experience in International business and is active as a non-executive director on a number of company boards. He has recognised the need in Bermuda for an active branch of the IOD and we are looking forward to working closely with him and other members of the Bermuda Committee.”A survey of local members of the IoD is underway and will be used as the basis for the development plans for the immediate future.“As an important international financial centre, to compete, Bermuda must continue to raise the bar in all fields of endeavour,” added Mr Gillett. “We encourage and support our people in gaining broad technical knowledge and similarly we must expect this of ourselves. The role of directors, in a world which increasingly focuses on good corporate governance, has changed significantly. In assuming these responsibilities it is incumbent on all of us performing these roles to stay abreast of worldwide developments and best practices that may have a bearing on the companies we serve. I am excited about the resources the IoD can provide and about the opportunity to build a dynamic organisation in Bermuda.”According to Mr Gillett, growing the membership in Bermuda is an “immediate” priority and the group will be looking to contact as many directors as possible over the next few months.For more information on the Institute of Directors visit www.iod.com/ or call Mr Gillett at 337-7125.