Embattled BTA chief executive stood down after culture review
The under-fire chief executive of the Bermuda Tourism Authority is on administrative leave and an interim appointment to the role has been made.
A statement from the BTA board confirmed yesterday that two executive members of staff were on administrative leave.
It did not name the two, but The Royal Gazette understands that one is Tracy Berkeley, who was said by a source to have cleared her desk on Friday.
A source familiar with the matter said that Ms Berkeley had been put on “indefinite paid leave”.
The BTA board said: “Erin Wright serves as the acting CEO during this time.
“As this is an internal personnel matter, no further comment will be made at this time.”
The move makes Ms Wright the sixth person with responsibility for the top job since the BTA was established in 2014.
Its first chief executive, Bill Hanbury, left in December 2016, followed by the appointment of Kevin Dallas in January 2017.
Mr Dallas was followed by Glenn Jones in an interim capacity between March 2020 and March 2021.
Charles H. Jeffers II took the job between April 2021 and June 2022, followed by Ms Berkeley.
The BTA was asked whether Ms Berkeley’s terms of leave included receiving pay, which was not answered in the statement from the board.
News of the decision comes after the remaining BTA leadership team and its board met this morning to discuss the crisis at the organisation, after multiple staff resignations and a highly critical review that found a culture of mistrust and domineering behaviour from senior management.
Former board chairman Wayne Caines resigned in February, ahead of the report being made public.
William Griffith, a former tourism director for the Government, was made acting chairman on March 3. He said the culture review provided “quantitative evidence that demands and guides decisive corrective action”.
The board expressed in a statement its “deep concern” with the review, stating that it acknowledged and accepted the “disappointing failing grade” it gave the BTA.
The Bermuda Tourism Authority is seeking a vice-president of human resources after an exodus of staff and a dire review of its workplace culture.
A lengthy advertisement for the “leadership team position“ appears in today’s edition of The Royal Gazette, with a closing date of next Monday for applications. The advert does not provide salary details.
It seeks an experienced and qualified professional to lead and manage the authority’s Bermuda and New York offices, reporting directly to the CEO “with a dotted line to the human resources sub-committee chair of the BTA board”.
The BTA has had 30 employees leave in little more than 2½ years, including 23 staff members who resigned or left through mutual separation between June 1, 2022 and January 8 this year.
An external assessment, published this month, reported that the “key role” of human resources and administration manager had been vacant since September 2024.
The authors of the review wrote that though the vice-president of operations had oversight of human resources, a “dedicated HR leader with clear ownership and responsibility should be recruited”.
They added: “Consideration should be given to escalating the role to a VP level and hiring a seasoned and experienced professional that can assist with and drive initiatives … aimed [at] improving the BTA culture and provide for centralisation.”
The staff exodus has occurred largely under the tenure of Tracy Berkeley, who became interim chief executive in June 2022, before being appointed permanently to the top job, which pays more than $300,000 a year, in March 2023.
Ms Berkeley’s background was in HR, having joined the authority in January 2020 as its head of human resources.
She was previously head of talent and culture at the Rosewood Bermuda, in charge of the Bermuda HR division at Aspen Re, and head of the Bermuda Hospitals Board’s human resources and operations team.
• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on a story that we deem may inflame sensitivities. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers
