BDA adds technology expert to its board

Fiona Beck, a telecommunication and technology expert, has joined the Board of the Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA). New Zealander Beck, a 15-year resident of the island, is an experienced non-executive director and currently serves on the boards of several telecommunication and technology companies in Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Mauritius. She is deputy chair of KeyTech and chair for the telecommunication group of the America's Cup Bermuda - delivering key telecom requirements for the 2017 regatta.  Beck has extensive links into the Bermuda telecommunication network and the global submarine fibre-optic industry. As a BDA Board member, she will act as a liaison for the telecommunication and technology industry.  "I am delighted Fiona has agreed to join our Board as she brings a very different experience than most of our other current Board members who are primarily from a financial services specialism," said Caroline Foulger, BDA board chair. "Fiona's career has been focused on technology and telecommunication and we believe these areas may hold good potential for Bermuda in the medium term as a diversifier for our economy. With her involvement in the America's Cup, she also brings an important synergy between the two operations over the key next two years."  Beck added: "I am delighted to have been invited to join the BDA Board-it's an exciting opportunity to help Bermuda develop as a base for fintech, ICT and technology. “The island is strategically very well positioned to be the Atlantic hub for submarine cable corridors, allowing cable systems to capitalise on Bermuda's unique location, infrastructure and commercial benefits."  Beck said that cutting-edge areas of potential economic development include cloud computing, data centres, fintech, information management, application development and R&D-all sectors in which global tech companies are rapidly investing.  "These companies need stable jurisdictions to locate in that also have an outstanding commercial value proposition, and Bermuda fits that bill," she added.  "Among its many other advantages, Bermuda offers a wealth of talent in fintech, ICT and technology. We can tap into that talent to diversify the international business sector and capture this new generation of thinking, while providing opportunities for Bermudians to grow in the IT and STEM [science, technology, engineering and maths] space."