A former journalist and communications expert, Linda Smith, was named yesterday as the One Bermuda Alliance candidate for Southampton West Central.

The party said that Ms Smith has had a varied and extensive career, which included working in utilities, insurance and business consultancy.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, she holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minored in political science.

When she returned to Bermuda, Ms Smith worked at the former ZFB as a radio and television news presenter.

Her position was later transferred to ZBM news, where she was the voice of early morning radio news and a television evening news anchor.

Ms Smith spent more than 20 years at Belco, and later the Ascendant Group, where she established its corporate communications department.

She eventually became the first woman senior manager as the company’s senior vice-president of corporate relations.

The OBA said that between 2006 and 2009, Ms Smith established and led the Belco Hardship Fund.

Ms Smith also ran her own business, where she led some of the island’s largest public relations and communication projects, including Bermuda’s participation in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC.

The OBA said: “Throughout her career, Linda has supported many local philanthropic causes both through her corporate work and personally.

“She served on several public and charitable boards. The most significant being 12 years on the Age Concern Board, six as chairwoman where she was instrumental in restructuring the long-serving charity to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

“Linda was born in Bermuda and her Bermudian family includes Manuel Soares De Figueiredo, her great-grandfather, who founded Soares Grocery.

“Linda lives in Southampton with her husband, two dogs and a parrot.”

At the 2020 General Election, Crystal Caesar, the Progressive Labour Party candidate for Southampton West Central, Constituency 31, defeated the OBA candidate, Ben Smith, 441 votes to 388.

Mr Smith went on to take the Smith’s South seat in a by-election last year, after the retirement from politics of the OBA’s Cole Simons.