Board of Directors

Anthony Isidore Smart graduated from the University of Toronto, Canada with a Bachelor of Arts Degree (General), majoring in Economics.

He is an Attorney-at-Law who has been in private practice for 48 years, for 30 of which he led the law firm of Gittens, Smart & Company. He was an elected member of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago from December 1986 to November 1991.

At various times between January 1987 and February 1989 he was the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Minister in the Office of the Attorney General, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, and Chief Whip in the House of Representatives. He was Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago from March 1989 to November 1991.

Mr. Smart was a tutor in Family Law at the Hugh Wooding Law School in the 1970s and was personally responsible for drafting the Code of Ethics for Ministers and Members of Parliament which was laid in the House of Representatives in 1988.

Mr. Smart was appointed as Chairman of the Board of First Citizens Bank Limited on June 17, 2014 and subsequently as Chairman of First Citizens Investment Services Limited, First Citizens Bank (Barbados) Limited, First Citizens Costa Rica S.A., First Citizens Holdings Limited and First Citizens Portfolio and Investment Management Services Limited.

He also served as Executive Chairman of First Citizens Bank Limited from December 4, 2014 to April 7, 2015. He was inducted into the Fatima College Hall of Achievement for Public Service in 2015.

Karen Darbasie is an accomplished senior executive with over three (3) decades of experience in the financial services and telecommunications industries with a progressive leadership style underscored by excellence and vision. Prior to her appointment at First Citizens in April 2015 as Group Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Darbasie held several senior positions at a global financial institution based in Trinidad and Tobago, including Managing Director of the Merchant Bank, Country Treasurer and Markets Head.

Her local and international qualifications, which include a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Electrical Engineering with First Class Honours from The University of the West Indies, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with distinction from the University of Warwick and a Master of Science (MSc) with distinction from the University of Essex, allow her to draw from an extensive academic background, bolstered by an innate technical business acumen. Ms. Darbasie serves as a Director on several Subsidiary Boards within the First Citizens Group. A former Director of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AMCHAM), Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited (LUCILEC), she currently serves as President of the Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago and Chairman of Trinidad Nitrogen Company Limited.

Idrees Omardeen became a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in 2004, five years after which, his expertise in the field granted him Fellow Membership status within the Association. With a keen eye for management, Mr. Omardeen operates the Omardeen School of Accountancy Limited, a family owned business.

At the school, Mr. Omardeen lectured all levels of accounting–from entry level to professional level. He also works in his family’s accounting practice and manages the property rentals as well as events and the family’s auditorium. Mr. Omardeen has recently started a new venture, or as he puts it – adventure, in the making of the finest blends of coffee for export and local consumption.

Mr. Omardeen was appointed as a Director of First Citizens Bank Limited on June 17, 2016 and subsequently as a Director on the Boards of First Citizens Investment Services Limited, First Citizens Depository Services Limited and First Citizens Brokerage and Advisory Services Limited.

Ryan Proudfoot holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (with Hons) in Accounting from the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK and a Masters of Business Administration in International Management from the University of Exeter, UK.

Mr. Proudfoot is the majority shareholder of Total Office, a Trinidad & Tobago headquartered group that helps Architects, Designers and Corporate Clients create great space’s throughout the English speaking Caribbean. From Jamaica in the north to Guyana in the south and another ten countries in between, the Total Office Group serves a population of six and a half million people.

Prior to this, Mr. Proudfoot had a highly successful career in banking, holding the positions of General Manager, BNB Finance & Trust Corporation and General Manager, BNB Treasury with Barbados National Bank Inc. (renamed Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited; and a subsidiary of Republic Bank Limited).
Mr. Proudfoot joined BNB after serving as Business Head and Vice President, Citicorp Merchant Bank Limited (Barbados Branch) where he was responsible for the re-establishment of Citibank in Barbados.
Mr. Proudfoot started his career at Citibank Trinidad as a Relationship Manager in Corporate Banking where he served for five years before moving to Barbados.

He was appointed to the Board of First Citizens Bank Limited on July 3, 2014 and subsequently as Chairman of the Board of First Citizens Investment Services (Barbados) Limited and First Citizens Brokerage and Advisory Services Limited, and a Director on the Boards of First Citizens Investment Services Limited, First Citizens Bank (Barbados) Limited and First Citizens Portfolio and Investment Management Services Limited.

Troy Garcia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Stetson University, Florida, USA.

With over 24 years of experience and success in the fields of business and entrepreneurship, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Parts World Limited, Managing Director of High Performance Coatings and Honorary Consul General of Finland for Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Garcia was appointed to the Board of First Citizens Bank Limited on June 16, 2016 and subsequently to the Boards of First Citizens Investment Services Limited and First Citizens Depository Services Limited

Jayselle McFarlane is a member of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) holds an MBA and has experience in various sectors such as financial services, construction, hospitality and manufacturing. Her career as a Consultant emanated from over 23 years of diverse experience; with her functioning in leading roles at various international/multinational companies. As a Chartered Accountant, she was able to hold the offices of Finance Analyst, Financial Controller and Corporate Secretary in these international/multinational companies.

Ms. McFarlane is currently pursuing the Forensic Certified Public Accountant Qualification at Caribbean Institute of Forensic Accounting [CFA].

She was appointed to the Board of First Citizens Bank Limited as a Director on June 16, 2016 and subsequently as Deputy Chairperson on the Board of First Citizens Depository Services Limited and as a Director on the Boards of First Citizens Holdings Limited and First Citizens Investment Services Limited

Mr. Colin Wharfe is a retired professional accountant; a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and a Certified Information Systems Auditor. He is the holder of a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London.

The majority of his career was spent at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where he was admitted to the firm’s Partnership in 1997. He held various senior, client facing and functional roles at PwC, including Lead Assurance Partner, Lead Technical (Audit and Financial Reporting) Partner and Lead Human Capital Partner. He was also responsible for the firm’s Energy Sector practice during the period of the sector’s aggressive growth. His experience as Lead Engagement Partner and/or Relationship Partner included a wide variety of large audit and advisory engagements, including listed entities, financial services, manufacturing, as well as major multinational and public sector clients. His areas of expertise include Accounting and Financial Reporting, Governance and Compliance.

He was the firm’s Territory Senior Partner, and served as a member of the Executive Leadership Team for the eight member firms in the Caribbean region. He retired in June 2016, after serving PwC for more than 30 years.

He is a Board Member and Audit Committee Chair of United Way Trinidad and Tobago. He is also a member of the Board, Group Audit and Group Digital and IT Committees of the VM Group Limited in Jamaica.

Mr. Wharfe was appointed to the Board of First Citizens Group Financial Holdings Limited as a Director on 28 September 2022 and subsequently as a Director of the Boards of First Citizens Bank Limited, First Citizens Investment Services Limited and First Citizens Trustee Services Limited.

Mr Devindra Ramnarine is a digital transformation consultant and senior engineer with post-graduate qualifications in Telecommunications and Engineering. Over the last 30 years, he has worked as an international public officer, a CIO, a corporate executive in state enterprises/private sector, a full-time digital technology consultant in Government, and a part-time university lecturer in ICT at the BSc/MSc/MBA levels. He was a Partner/Associate Partner with two consulting firms focusing on digital government and ICT-enabled transformation across the Caribbean and the World. He has led teams which developed the National ICT/Digital Strategic Plans for several countries and has managed complex high-risk ICT projects in the public sector.

Mr Ramnarine has won competitive academic scholarships, namely the British Commonwealth Scholarship for his post-graduate engineering degrees, a UWI Open Scholarship for his first degree, and a T&T National Scholarship in Mathematics (based on A’levels). He is the holder of a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education from the University of Greenwich, an MPhil Degree in Electrical Engineering Science from the University of Essex, an MSc in Telecommunications Systems (Distinction) from the University of Essex, and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from The University of the West Indies (First Class Honours). He is also a Certified Scrum Product Owner and has successfully completed a Harvard Leadership Programme from Harvard Business Publishing. He is a Member of The Institute of Engineering and Technology, United Kingdom.

Mr Ramnarine is currently the Digital Transformation Adviser (Innovation and Implementation) at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Trinidad and Tobago. As part of its Senior Advisory Council, he provides strategic advice, technical architectural support, and project management services to this Ministry. He is the lead digital advisor to the Ministry and a core negotiator with international agencies on their support and funding. He is also leading the development of several foundational and high-risk national digital transformation programmes including the National e-ID Programme, the Interoperability Programme, and the proposed Tier IV Data Centre at Phoenix Park.

He was responsible for developing the Developer’s Hub as one of the Ministry of Digital Transformation’s initiatives that is driven by the Ministry of Finance’s directive to increase the contribution of the ICT sector to national GDP. The programme is intended to develop and build the local software developer community which will eventually lead to the creation of a revenue earning software development export capability. This programme was the proud recipient of the IDB’s 2023 Pr.A.I.S.E. Award for Innovation in the Public Service, and is a recently awarded WSIS Prizes 2024 Champion Project, which is a testimony to its originality and performance to date.