by Marie FranklynTaking Over the Power toEngland
by Marie Franklyn
In an exclusive interview conducted at her home in GreaterVictoria, Canada - a very personal side of this high profile professionallady - who is the first Caymanian to hold a post which is equivalentto 'Ambassador' - is revealed.
The Cayman Islands will be subjected to a considerable amountof attention by Mother England ... and the world ... over thenext few years. Chosen from a wide field of respectable amountof candidates to be the administrator and spokesperson - the firstimpression - of our islands based in London - is Jennifer Dilbert,one who knows the halls of power, having held senior posts bothin the Public and Private Sectors of the Cayman's burgeoning FinancialIndustry.
Jennifer Dilbert is a happy woman. Talking from her Victoria,BC home surrounded by spring flowers, and bright sunshine I wonderedwhat attracted her to accepting the job as the Cayman IslandsGovernment representative in London, England.
Jennifer, her husband Leonard and two teenage daughters movedto Canada late last summer. Here they bought a house and havequickly assimilated in the Saanich community of Greater Victoria.
The day I talked to her, as a Saanich Community Volunteer, shewas going off to drive an elderly individual to an appointmentat a local eye clinic, a commitment she has made for several hoursper week. Easter Sunday found her, as every Sunday does, worshippingwith her family at the First Metropolitan United Church whereshe finds the service very similar to her home church, John GrayMemorial in West Bay. "Some Sundays I know we are singingthe same hymns" remarks Jennifer, who loves to sing, andhas taken the opportunity to take voice lessons in her new placeof abode.
Victoria, BC is often referred to as the "retirement capital"of Canada, and as such senior citizens from all over the countryhave established themselves here. This makes for excellent facilities,and high taxes, but it not the setting I would have thought attractivefor Jennifer Dilbert and her family.
I asked her, why does someone at 42 pick up their family and moveto another country and a totally different life-style. "Idon't think anybody really understood why we decided to move toCanada", she muses. "We had been to Vancouver severaltimes on holiday, and we were looking to buy a house there. Welooked at places in Victoria on a whim, the fact that it is anisland appealed to us,and we have enjoyed it very much.
I suppose we did it partly for the girls, but having worked fortwenty years, the last three in an executive position of an internationalbank, I thought I deserved a sabbatical, and this was the nicestplace I could think of to have one."
We have moved our interview to the Commonwealth Community Centre,a stone's throw from the house. Being an island girl at heart,Jennifer confirmed that she has got to be close to water. TheCentre was built as part of the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and hasan Olympic-sized swimming pool and an unbelievable array of amenities,including a library.
"We try to come here every day," Jennifer says, "afterour walk." I think that she is extremely fortunate to havea husband who shares her interests and activities, and who iscentered enough in his own pursuits to support her fully in hers.
Leonard's official status is "student" he tells me,as he is enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts Programme at VermontCollege.
He is following his own dream, to write, in surroundings and amongcolleagues of his own choosing. We discuss his professors, andhow the course is structured, and I see that like this sabbatical,nothing the Dilberts have done so far is a random act.
I am enjoying the interview, but now I am really confused. Whywould Jennifer want to leave Victoria for the drizzle and grayskies of London, even if she is Cayman's ambassador to the UnitedKingdom? She laughs. "Well, I would have preferred startingnext year, because we had intended to stay at least two years,but I do have to work and the London Office will be a challenge,"she says.
During the eighteen years of its existence, the Cayman IslandsLondon Office has been headed by Mr Thomas Russell, a former Governor,who at 80 has finally convinced the Cayman government he is readyto retire. Jennifer is the first Caymanian, and the first womanto be appointed to the post.
I asked her what made her apply for the position. "I thinkthis job suits my experience, my qualification and my personality",she says. "We have lived in London before, (1986/87) butthe girls were little, and therefore they don't remember muchabout it. London is the world's most cosmopolitan city, Rita andJuliette will enjoy it, and we are happy to be able to give themthat experience. Juliette will be going to an American schoolnear our house, and Rita will attend Richmond University. Leonardfortunately, can take his work and his study with him as his programmeis very low-residency and he has to go to Vermont only a coupleof times each year."
A former Miss Cayman Islands (1979) Jennifer turns serious now." Everything I have done in my professional life, financialsupervision, marketing, keeping abreast of developing internationalfinancial initiatives and representing Cayman world-wide are thingsthat I enjoy doing and all seem to be pointing towards this job."As an accomplished public speaker, Jennifer is often called onto address conferences on the regulation of the internationalfinancial industry. "The nature of Cayman's London Officeis changing, and will change as a result of the OECD and G7 initiativesand HMG's White Paper "Partnership for Peace and Prosperity"."I hope that I will be able to ensure that the views andthe wishes of the Government and the people of Cayman are keptbefore the Foreign Office, and that the London Office is viewedas an authentic and authoritative channel for these views."
However, she says," I want the people of Cayman, and especiallythe young people who might be attending school and university,to know that this is their office, and we will do everything wecan to help and support them. We are online so get in touch, ordrop in and see us at 6 Arlington Street, opposite the Ritz Hotel.You will always be able to get news from home, and find someoneto talk to."
I am fascinated by what motivates this authoritative, attractive,confident woman, and impressed by her calm assurance that howshe lives her life is right for her. I ask her what makes herdifferent from the other bright, attractive, and well-educatedCaymanian women I know. "Home is a place you carry in yourheart", she says,"and Cayman will always be home. Ihope I have brought some of what is unique about the Cayman Islandsto my friends in Victoria, and I will carry it London.
Because we live on an island we can become insular, and thinkwe have nothing to learn from the outside world because we havethe best of everything. Our challenge and our responsibility isto learn all we can, and do all we can, and be all we can beIthink this is what being away from Cayman is about, for Leonardand myself and certainly for our girls."
We have been talking for a long time, and I want to see the Cityof Victoria. I have heard that there is a Cayman flag displayedon the quayside. Jennifer explains that it is one of several dozenflags of Commonwealth countries who took part in the 1994 Games.I smile at this. I could almost believe they were flying it forJennifer Dilbert.
The next time I go by the Ritz Hotel in London I will look closelyat their flag poles.
Jennifer Dilbert takes up her position as the Cayman Islands GovernmentRepresentative in London on 1 August, 2000.