Board of Directors

Derwin M. Howell, Chairman, was appointed to the Board of Directors Republic Bank (Barbados) Limited in 2019. He also serves on the Board of Republic Bank (Suriname) N.V. and is an Executive Director of Republic Bank Limited. Mr. Howell holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (First Class Honours) and an Executive Master of Business Administration both from the University of the West Indies (UWI). He holds a Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems from the University of Essex and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP). He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (SMIEEE), a Member of the Engineering Council of the United Kingdom (Chartered Engineer) and a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET).

Mr. Howell is the Chairman of Habitat for Humanity Trinidad and Tobago and a Chancellor’s Representative on the UWI St. Augustine Campus Council.

Michelle Palmer-Keizer was appointed Managing Director, Republic Bank (EC) Limited, in 2019. She is a marketing executive with considerable expertise in credit card business, specialising in Research Development and Financial Product Management, and has a wealth of experience in product development, operational management and strategic management.
As a senior member of the Republic Group for more than three decades, Michelle most recently served as the General Manager, Group Marketing and Communications and led the Bank’s digital and data transformation efforts to implement more diverse customer centric banking services. Most notably, this includes integrating business intelligence, analytics, and various social media platforms as contemporary means of better engaging and serving customers.
She holds an Advanced Diploma in Marketing Management from the Association of Business Executives and a Diploma in Management Studies from the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (UWI).
Ms. Palmer-Keizer currently serves as a Board member of Vision on Mission, a nongovernmental organisation that helps rehabilitate and reintegrate ex-prisoners and socially displaced persons. She is a full member of the Association of Business Executives, from which she received the World Prize for Quantitative Methods and is a past president of the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurant and Tourism Association (THRTA).

Janelle Bernard, General Manager, Legal Services & Corporate Secretary, Republic Bank (EC) Limited is an experienced Attorney-at-Law and member of the Bar in Trinidad and Tobago (2002) and Barbados (2013). Ms. Bernard brings to bear considerable expertise in a wide range of fields including: Corporate Governance, Anti Money Laundering (AML) Advisory, Risk Management and Compliance, Litigation and Arbitration Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Corporate and Commercial Law. Prior to her most recent appointment, Ms. Bernard served as Group Chief Compliance Officer/Senior Manager, Republic Bank Limited with responsibility for all aspects of the Group’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Terrorist Financing (AML–CTF) Sanctions and Tax Information Exchange programmes and systems. She is currently regarded among the Financial Action Task Force’s primary private sector AML–CTF experts in Trinidad and Tobago, and has represented the Republic Group at various international and regional panels on global trends and standards in AML–CTF. Ms. Bernard has also served as in-house attorney at Republic Bank Limited and as Corporate Secretary to several subsidiaries of Republic Financial Holdings Limited. She holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (UWI); a Bachelor of Laws (Upper Second Class Honours) from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; and a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School. Ms. Bernard has international certifications in AML, Enterprise Risk Management, Corporate Governance, and Regulatory Compliance.

Kimberly Erriah-Ali, Group General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Republic Bank Limited and Republic Financial Holdings Limited, is an Attorney-at-Law with 20 years of experience; having received her Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the University of the West Indies, and her Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School, Trinidad. Mrs. Erriah-Ali was admitted to practice as an Attorney-at-Law in the Supreme Court of Trinidad and Tobago in 1998. She has served as Corporate Secretary to Republic Bank subsidiaries: Republic Bank (Grenada) Limited, Republic Bank (Suriname) Limited, Republic Finance and Merchant Bank Limited and London Street Project Company Limited. She also established the Group’s Compliance Department. She is currently a Director on the Board of Republic Securities Limited, Republic Wealth Management Limited and other offshore subsidiaries of Republic Bank and also holds an external Directorship on the Board of a Telecommunications provider in Trinidad and Tobago. Mrs. Erriah-Ali holds an Master of Business Administration from the Heriot-Watt University, with electives in Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Governance, is certified under the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), and is a Certified Practitioner in Anti-Money Laundering from the Florida Institute of Bankers Association via Florida International University. She brings to bear a wide range of expertise in Corporate and Commercial Law, Conveyancing, Trusts, Landlord and Tenant Law, Intellectual Property, Estates, and Litigation.