Bank of Bermuda CEO, Philip Butterfield, will mastermind the overhaul of the under-fire public education system.

Premier Dr. Ewart Brown announced that Mr Butterfield would be the chairman of the Interim Executive Board, which will oversee the recommendations outlined in the the recent education review.

And already the new Chairman is promising to deliver the much-needed changes, something he said he could not do as Chairman of Education Board.

Last night he said he plans to make more appointments to the board after meeting with the Premier and Education Minister Randolph Horton today.

He added: “This new Board will come together in a matter of days, not weeks.

“I’ll be ready to mobilise the rest of the group and tackle the key issues.

“By the time the new school years begins in September we should have, what I hope everyone agrees, are some appropriate steps to make a more viable education system.”

The interim board was recommended by world-renowned Professor David Hopkins, the man who spearheaded a comprehensive report on the education system.

Prof. Hopkins and the team of educators made ten recommendations to bring about a “”rapid raising of standards”.

The team stressed that there needed to be a dramatic improvement in the quality of teaching, more leadership from principals and cuts at several layers of the Ministry of Education.

The team also said several of the recommendations needed to be acted on immediately, something Mr. Butterfield said he was wholeheartedly behind.

This is not the first time Mr. Butterfield has dealt with education. He was previously the Chairman of the Board of Education, but stepped down because he was not satisfied with the pace and content of change. Mr. Butterfield has been chief executive of the Bank of Bermuda since February 2004. He returned to the Island in 2000 after a 28-year career in the US working with some of the world’s biggest banking group. Speaking of his new position he said: “It wasn’t much of an arm twist. Ever since returning to Bermuda in 2000, I have always been committed to public education.

“I have long realised that whatever degree of success I have derived in life has to do with what I learned in the public school system when I was a child growing up in Bermuda.”

Speaking of the report’s findings and recommendations he said: “I think this is a workable way forward. What’s most important now is to get everybody who is concerned with the state of public education onboard and moving in a positive direction.”

In his first day on the job Mr. Butterfield will meet with the Premier and Minister, the three men will outline the objectives of the Interim Executive Board

Last night Dr. Brown said: “We promised comprehensive education reform and an improved public education system. That promise will not be broken. “The appointment of Philip Butterfield as Chairman is another step toward a completed promise to Bermuda’s children and their parents.”