The Chairman of the Board of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), Mr. Wayne Aranha, is pleased to announce that the Board has appointed Mrs. Kathleen Riviere-Smith as Director of Policy and Regulation at URCA, effective 17 January 2011.

This decision was made following the conclusion of a competitive and rigorous recruitment process that saw URCA receiving applications from the local market as well as regional and international candidates.

Mrs. Smith has over 15 years of professional experience including 10 years in utility regulation. Mrs. Smith is a Chartered Accountant and is a licensee of The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants. She joined the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the predecessor to URCA, in May 2000 as Financial Analyst. She has attended numerous regulatory courses, workshops and seminars and is currently enrolled in a long distance Diploma course in Economics for Competition Law at King’s College, London. She has previously worked in an audit firm and an offshore international conglomerate prior to working in utility regulation. Her academic achievements include a Bachelor of Business Administration from Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada.

During the past 18 months as Senior Case Officer, Mrs. Smith has ably supported URCA’s work on the transition, obligations on operators with Significant Market Power (SMP) and has lead the implementation of retail price rules and accounting separation. Additionally, she is Chairperson of URCA’s Industry Working Group on Codes of Practice for Content Regulation.

While at the PUC, Mrs. Smith worked on Universal Service Obligations and Funding, Price Control for the Dominant Service Provider, licence compliance and enforcement amongst many other projects. She also provided support to the PUC’s Accounts section and overall management of the organization.

Mrs. Smith’s appointment is testimony to the fact that URCA has been able to maintain and develop its human capital, as well as affording colleagues the opportunity to grow and develop by taking on new responsibilities.