THE QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER OF BAHAMAS FIRST HOLDINGS LIMITED VOL 11 ISSUE 3 SEPTEMBER 2014

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

♦ Training & Development

♦ Corporate Values

♦ Future Leaders Dev. Programme

♦ Motivational Quotes

♦ Staff News & New Staff

♦ 3’Ls—Life Long Learning Series

♦ COB Fair

♦ Elizabeth Ewstates Home

♦ Birthdays and Anniversaries

♦ Toastmasters Column

♦ Customer Service

♦ Diversity: Sexual Orientation

♦ Health & Wellness

♦ Cayman First

♦ Laws of Attraction

♦ Leadership Tidbits

♦ HR News & Views

♦ Editor’s message

“For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.” Psalm 96:4

Bahamas First Group

CORPORATE VALUES

**Integrity

**Accountability

**Transparency

**Excellence

**Employee Development

**Financial Stability

**Good Corporate

Citizenship

33 person including

two presenters from

Aon Benfield along

with Bahamas First

Group Managers

from Nassau and

Cayman convened in

Freeport in Septem-

ber at Port Lucaya

under the theme “Fit

for the Fight.” They

took time to unwind

after the event which

put the finishing

touches on a great

Retreat! Thanks

CEO and all!!!

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

On arrival - This selfie isn’t

working for me! The trip to

Switzerland was a great

experience to attend the

Reinsurance Course hosted

by Partner Re.

Two highlights were net-

working with other insur-

ance professionals and act-

ing as if we were real bro-

kers in the pricing module

where we had to underwrite

and price risks.

Simone Henfield, Account Executive, NUA and Charles V. Sands III, Un-

derwriting Manager attended a three-day Swiss Re Insurance Manage-

ment Simulation programme in Florida in September. They both com-

mented favourably and said it was a stimulating eye-opening experience.

Playing CEO for the day and loving it...hmmmm

The Group HR & Training Manager and the HR Officer

attended HR Training Tools Seminar in August with Justice

Keith Thompson and Ms. Pandora Butler, NIB at Colina’s

Training Centre. The seminar highlighted the Employment

Act, Industrial Tribunal Act, Employee Handbooks and Ba-

hamas Laws online. It covered Grievance Procedure, Pro-

gressive Discipline and the role of Managers and HR.

Gina Sands

temporary Manager,

First Response

Limited &

MITASA Team

Bonnie Nguyen Nicole Leary

FIRST INSIGHT 2

FUTURE LEADERS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME - Cycle 3

Qualities

in a leader

Gabrielle and

Jeannine:

Humility, Leading

by example

Honesty about

your own limita-

tions.

WHY ARE YOU VEX?

I’m vex because I suffer from non-stop constant back pain, I don’t have a vehicle and be-cause the Bahamas did not win a single gold medal at the IAAF games. Let me briefly explain why these three things bring me to the state of vexation.” Arianne Braynen

“The political “Clique” culture and the national debt.”

Rashanna Thompson

“The Public Service of the Ba-hamas and the attitudes of some young Bahamians who have no regard for the quality of life and their education. They settle and they become stuck.”

Valya Gray

WHY ARE YOU HAPPY?

“I have a job to support my new-born babies and supportive fami-ly, friends and coworkers; I just passed both IF1 and IF 2 insur-ance exams; for life and look for-

ward to fulfilling my purpose.” Arianne Braynen “Two factors that generate a love of my country include the National Regattas and the freedom of Reli-

gion.” Rashanna Thompson

Life above all makes me happy. My existence in this world is of great importance not only to me but those that I interact with on a daily basis; and being a mother.”

Valya Gray

Congratulations

Blair & Ben Bain

Sept. 26, 2014

Marcia Johnson:

Creativeness - As a

leader you should

be able to create

new ideas, visions

and goals to sustain

you business.

Perseverance- Fall

down seven times

and get up eight.

Passion- The driv-

ing factor and the

foundation on which

dreams and enter-

prises are built.

Chanelle Clare and

Devon Bethel:

Having a positive

attitude.

Determination to

complete everything

I do.

Being helpful to fel-

low employees when

able.

Having a good sense

of humor.

Creativity.

My intuition to react

when under pressure.

What sets your managers

apart ?

They are friendly, down to

earth, approachable, mentor

well, good managers, great

organizers, level of profes-

sionalism, expert knowledge

of insurance field, excellent

client relationships, perfec-

tionist, good personality, tech-

nical ability, motivational

leadership, technologically

savvy; humble, trustworthy

and encourage teamwork.

Rashanna Thomp-

son and Simone

Henfield:

Honesty, humility,

good humor, opti-

mism, enthusiasm

and dedication.

Lia Munroe,

Arianne

Braynen and

Deron

Adderley:

Honesty

Approach-

ability

Admiration.

STAFF MOTIVATIONAL QUOTES

FIRST INSIGHT 3

Submitted by Bonnie Nguyen

KID HUMOR Jesus' Dad's Name A Sunday school teacher asked her class, "What was Jesus' mother's name?" One child answered, "Mary." The teacher then asked, "Who knows what Jesus' fa-ther's name was?" A little kid said, "Virgil." Confused, the teacher asked, "Where did you get that?" The kid said, "Well, you know, they are always talking about Virg’ n' Mary.'' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the christening of his baby brother in church, Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, "That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I wanted to stay with you guys." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I had been teaching my three-year old daughter, Caitlin, the Lord's Prayer for several evenings at bedtime. She would repeat after me the lines from the prayer. Finally, she decided to go solo. I listened with pride as she carefully enunciated each word, right up to the end of the prayer: "Lead us not into temptation," she prayed, "but deliver us from E-mail. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, "Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife an-swered. The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to din-ner?" Submitted by Lyndell Hanna, Claims

Submitted

by Linda

Thompson,

FRL

Submit-

ted by

Karen

Marcel,

NUA

Submitted by Shaneka Sturrup, NUA

STAFF NEWS

FIRST INSIGHT

Bahamas First Holdings Ltd.

Bahamas First Centre

32 Collins Avenue

P. O. Box SS-6238

Nassau, Bahamas

4

FIRST INSIGHT

Gabrielle and Bonnie

at a Women’s Retreat

at St. Frances

Church—awesome!.

Woman of Faith, Hope

and the Eucharist. How

inspiring!

Fav. Food: BAHAMIAN

Fav. Author: PAOLO COELHO

Fav. Music: ALL SORTS –

SMOOTH

JAZZ, R&B, REGGAE ETC.

Fav. Colour RED

Religion: CHRISTIAN

Married/Children: YES, HANNAH

and DAVID – WIFE YVETTE

NEW STAFF!!!! NEW STAFF!!

Charles V Sands III

Underwriting Manager

3 L’s Life-Long Series—Session on September 11

Participants listen to Mr. Warren Rolle, Managing Director,

NUA as he presents on NUA and role of intermediaries. Mrs.

Patrice Moxey, Group Claims, Administration and Support

Services Manager, also spoke on the role of the Claims/First

Response Units.

COB Fair in

September

at BIA’s

combined

booth. Thanks She-

via, Criselle,

Drew, and

Nicole for

organizing

and attend-

ing!

CCC Coffee Forum in Au-

gust

Erin Green, Human

Rights Activist, pre-

sented on Sexual Ori-

entation with a view

to making us more

sensitive to the LBGT

community and being

mindful that it’s all

human rights issues.

HAPPY 41st 41st 41st INDEPENDENCE

BAHAMAS

Elizabeth Estates

Home was chosen by

CCC to host a Back to

School Drive in August.

Staff and the Company

contributed. Above, Gina

Sands CCC Chairman,

Nicole Leary & Home

Administrator.

Erin

Greene

FIRST INSIGHT

S T A F F N E W S

5

ANNIVERSARIES

Criselle King 6yrs Jul 7th

Deborah McKinney 19yrs Jul 11th

Patrice Clarke 6yrs Jul 14th

Terell Shearer 2yrs Jul 16th

Caron Moss 2yrs Jul 16th

Tanya Mortimer-Miller 2yrs Jul 16th

Gina Sands 8yrs Jul 17th

Nicola Major 7yrs Jul 30th

Marvin Bain 16yrs Aug 1st

Harvey Braithwaite 15yrs Aug 1st

Gordon Major 16yrs Aug 1st

Ida Stuart 2yrs Aug 1st

Kezia Saunders 3yrs Aug 1st

Jennymae Gaitor 2yrs Aug 1st

Theresa Culmer 2yrs Aug 1st

Bonnie Nguyen 7yrs Aug 7th

Simone Henfield 8yrs Aug 8th

Jamal Davis 7yrs Aug 13th

Alexis Moss 4yrs Aug 16th

Lyndell Hanna 8yrs Aug 21st

Anishka Collie 2yrs Aug 27th

Nicolas Darville 1yr Sep 2nd

Marika Williams 1yr Sep 2nd

Lakeisha Pennerman 1yr Sep 2nd

Lashan Rahming 1yr Sep 2nd

Rashad Storr 7yrs Sep 3rd

Chandrice Ferguson 4yrs Sep 6th

Marilyn Butler 10yrs Sep 6th

Kentington Sands 6yrs Sep 8th

Delores Joseph 45yrs Sep 8th

Annette McPhee 14yrs Sep 11th

Daphne Rolle 45yrs Sep 17th

Shannon Darville 8yrs Sep 18th

Margarita Newbold 4yrs Sep 20th

Shekera Sears 4yrs Sep 20th

Area Wilson-Pratt 4yrs Sep 20th

Alfred Spence 9yrs Sep 26th

Shakaria Hopkins 10yrs Sept 27th

TOASTMASTERS Club 1095 on the move. Meets at Police

Training College Tues-days 6:30 p.m. Speak as a Leader

Always have a powerful introduc-

tory script of yourself to connect

with people., to be used at network-

ing dinners or when you are trying

to build credibility for a longer

speech. Try the How I got here

approach icebreaker, 3 critical

decision moments that led you

here, where, the job you have or

why you are practicing speaking at

the moment. “Hello, I am …”

CUSTOMER SERVICE

BIRTHDAYS

News from Freeport

Throw-back Thursday

Linardo and Lakara Dawkins

Back to school—all the

way from Eleuthera

NUA’s team recently cele-

brated The Back To School

Season by donning the uni-

forms of their alma maters. Linardo

involved

with

COBUS,

COB

Criselle King Jul 6th Kiesha Davis Jul 7th

Annette McSweeney Jul 15th

Jennymae Gaitor Jul 15th

Terell Shearer Jul 18th

Valya Gray Jul 20th

Glen Ritchie Jul 21st

Devon Bethel Jul 26th

Rozalia Bowe Jul 30th

Shannon Darville Jul 31st

Barbara Sawyer Aug 3rd

Caron Moss Aug 4th

Frances McKenzie-Oliver Aug 6th

Stanford Charlton Aug 6th

Marika Williams Aug 6th

Valarie Clarke Aug 7th

Kevin Hudson Aug 8th

Richard Darville Aug 14th

Telcine Saunders Aug 16th

Gabrielle McKenzie Aug 18th

Stevanna Sands Aug 18th

Abagale Butler-Brown Aug 22nd

Tracy Bronczek Aug 24th

Chaunte’ Toote Sep 2nd

Nicola Major Sep 2nd

Kentington Sands Sep 5th

Irvin Weech Sep 6th

Patrice Moxey Sep 7th

Sylvia Rolle Sep 9th

Dennis Lockhart Sep 13th

Gina Sands Sep 13th

Alexis Moss Sep 14th

Lorraine Dawkins Sep 14th

Valarie Wilson Sep 23rd

Warren Rolle Sep 24th

Deborah McKinney Sep 29th

Bebie Farrington Sep 30th

FIRST INSIGHT

6

STAFF NEWS—Health and Wellness

CPR and First Aid Training (Health &

Safety Committee) coming up on October

14—16 as well as Diversity Training:

Gender Issues Forum—Oct. 22.(CCC) )

FIRST INSIGHT 7

CAYMAN FIRST

Office Etiquette Training—A very

special thanks to Frances

Campbell for spearheading and

to Priscilla and Sarah for acting

as or “props” pink wig and all!

Richard Uriasz, Manager at

Bahamas’ Broking Unit and

NUA Service Centre, Har-

bour, has been seconded to

Cayman First for six months—

September 2014—February

2015 as Technical Manager

with a business development

and training focus. All the best!

AUTO LOAN BONANZA

Welcome all new staff: and con-

gratulations on all exam successes!

Allison McDonald joined the GIS

Operations Department as an Eligi-

bility Assistant; Drew transferred to

the GIS Underwriting Department

as a Junior Underwriter and Sherie

Jackson, clerical assistant in

Claims. Rochiene Sonlin was trans-

ferred to the Accounts Assistant

position and Treasha Bodden to the

CSR in P and C.

First name Last name Birthday Anniversary Years

Drew Osborne 5-Aug 8-Jul-13 1

Vanessa Bodden-Conolly 13-Sep 24-Jul-04 10

Grace Webb 24-Sep 2-Aug-10 4

Rochiene Sonlin 18-Jul 6-Aug-12 2

Treasha Bodden 22-Mar 6-Aug-12 2

Sarah Bushea 1-Jan 9-Aug-04 10

David Hawkins 1-Jun 13-Aug-01 13

Seeta Paltoo 7-Apr 1-Sep-00 14

Kahlill Strachan 6-Oct 3-Sep-12 2

Caroline Ebanks-Lewis 15-Nov 5-Sep-05 9

Trisha Hennings-Jackson 28-Apr 9-Sep-02 12

Judy Campbell 11-Nov 17-Sep-84 30

Tania Ramsaran 29-Apr 18-Sep-89 25

Cassandra Ebanks 27-Nov 23-Sep-13 1

Jermaine Maize has been

promoted to CSR, P&C

department; Suedeane

Vernon joined the Ac-

counts Department as an

Accounts Assistant.

Cindy Whit-

taker—Lighthouse

student fin-ished her

internship

Manning the Booth

Leadership Tidbits

FIRST INSIGHT

Bahamas First Holdings Ltd.

Bahamas First Centre

32 Collins Avenue

P. O. Box SS-6238

Submit articles to:

bonnien@bahamasfirst.com Bonnie Nguyen—Editor/Producer

Annette McSweeney, CPS, BSc.—Co-producer

FIRST INSIGHT 8

CONTRIBUTORS: Charles Sands, Future Leaders, 3rd cycle,

Lyndell Hanna, Shaneka Sturrup, Karen Marcel, Linda

Thompson Bonnie Nguyen, Gina Sands, Simone Henfield,

Annette McSweeney, Frances McKenzie-Oliver, Nicole Leary,

Lorraine Hawkins, and Elisa Brown.

Sept 22 marked 100 days left to the end of the

year. According to Gary Ryan Blair, “In the

midst of our strength there are areas of weak-

ness and vulnerability. You have strengths tat

make you who you are. You also have weak-

nesses that could potentially lead to your

downfall. So what is your Achilles’ heel? Is it

moral failure, prideful ego, wanting excess.

Take the time to think about areas that could

lead to your downfall. BEHAVIOUR NEVER

LIES.”

HR NEWS & Views - DID YOU

KNOW….

Accidents occurring on the job

The Company’s position, procedures and

guidelines for the handling of accidents

occurring on the premises, or in the exe-

cution of job functions will follow the Na-

tional Insurance Board policies on Indus-

trial Accidents.

The supervisor/manager should investi-

gate the incident, write a report, get a re-

port from any witnesses and submit the

information to HR so that the B44 form

can be completed.

Not filling out the form causes problems

late on when the employee tries to seek

medical attention.

Laws of Attraction

You attract what you think. Put into

practice

3 - 7 habits for success.

Manage your time and your self.

Have a desire for learning and reading.

Practice self-discipline.

Follow through and complete what you

start.

Be of service, keep your word.

Do the right thing.

Cultivate enthusiasm and joy.

You will begin to attract those kind of

people.

Editor’s Message Bonnie Nguyen Group HR/Training Manager

Leadership Challenges

Leading and working effec-

tively with difficult people

can prove to be a never-

ending challenge. There are

times when it seems al-

most impossible to work with

them, but it is not. You must

have the skills, ability and

willingness to deal with these

situations with the utmost

professionalism.

There are also times when we

must have crucial conversa-

tions with those we work or

live with. These conversa-

tions can be most uncomfort-

able because of the emotions,

high risk and range of opin-

ions involved. Know your objective when

entering into crucial conver-

sations.

Reason for conversation

Motive

Possible outcome.

Submitted by:

Annette McSweeney