continue to thrive. Bermuda is one of the top three reinsurance and
insurance centres, one of the top three in offshore funds, among the top
two in offshore trusts and private-client services, and number one in
offshore captive insurance. That’s an impressive record, and something
we continue to build on with the partnership of our colleagues.”
Since he hit the ground running last August, Webber has pushed that
collaborative message, teaming with government, regulators, and indus-
try focus groups created by the BDA to cover key sectors. He has held
scores of meetings with key executives,
along with frequent powwows with
the Bermuda Monetary Authority
(BMA) and industry associations such
as ABIR, ABIC and BIMA.
“We’ve made the BDA the most
collaborative iteration of this type of
agency this country’s ever seen,” he
says. “We keep our stakeholders in
the loop. That is very important to us
to make sure we are coordinated and
communicative and not working in a
silo.”
Webber has led numerous road-
shows to New York, London, New
Orleans, Toronto, Calgary and Silicon
Valley in the past several months, con-
necting with potential new business
and looking for ways to diversify the
island’s economy. “An area of possible growth for Bermuda is what we
term ‘international commerce,’” he explains. “Sectors such as technol-
ogy, biomed, life sciences, international arbitration, venture capital,
shipping and aircraft, cloud computing—these are all dynamic indus-
tries we’re actively looking at.”
He has built a committed team of a dozen Bermudian employees, fi-
nessing the BDA brand and billboarding its mission through its website
( www.bda.bm) and community and social media outreach, along with
an aggressive strategic plan for 2015–16 and beyond. One new initia-
tive called “BDA Abroad” connects Bermudians and past Bermuda
residents around the world—“our global corporate ambassadors,” says
Webber of the LinkedIn Group, which has close to 200 members from
Singapore to Switzerland.
“I encourage Bermudians both on the island and overseas to spread
the word and be positive about the jurisdiction,” he says. “Let people
know Bermuda is a very welcoming and vibrant society for business and
visitors in general. We, as an agency, are a resource to help; our goal is
to make setting up a Bermuda presence easy.” Notably, the BDA has
a dedicated business concierge service which partners with inquiring
companies, helping them through the setup process, as well as troubleshooting for already established entities.
Genuine business development can take time for fruition. “It is a
longtail process and the real issue is getting the right people in front
of the right people for a proper honest discussion,” Webber recognises.
“You plant a seed, you water it, you pay attention—and then you nur-
ture it. It is very rare to get immediate hits when you’re implementing a
jurisdictional marketing campaign.”
Yet, as his predecessor Jack Tucker must have experienced, pure
serendipity often plays a part. Webber cites the example of an asset
management firm that decided to explore relocation to Bermuda. “They
reached out to us after someone happened to see a press release we
issued about recent changes to Bermuda’s investment funds legislation,”
he says. “We followed it up, gave
them personal attention, and after a
while, they were advertising jobs in
the local paper, ready to start up.”
Counting a robust sense of
humour and sharp intuition among
his strong suits, Webber, a former
Bermuda national rugby fly-half,
is nothing if not passionate about
pretty much everything he sets his
mind to. His professional back-
ground is a natural match for his
challenges as CEO. Born on the
island, he moved to the UK at age
five with his teacher parents, return-
ing in 1994 with an English wife
and a bachelor of arts (honours)
degree in business studies from
Teesside University with a major in
marketing. He first worked at ACE and AIG as both an excess liability
underwriter and marketing executive, while also completing an MBA
in insurance and financial risk management from St. John’s University,
New York. He then spent a year at BDA’s forerunner, BIBA, before
joining Conyers as global head of marketing. In mid-2012, he took on
the senior civil-service post and oversaw a portfolio with divisions as
diverse as registrar of companies, business development unit, tourism,
education, energy, shipping, aircraft and telecommunications.
“I’m honest. When I speak, people know what my real thoughts are,”
he says. “I invite the same back. Part of that spirit is what’s helped us
become collaborative and communicative with our stakeholders and
industry partners. I’m candid. I believe that ultimately facilitates more
productive discussions. Everyone doesn’t always agree—but people
know debates, negotiations and arguments with me come from a place
of trying to move Bermuda to a better situation.”
Moving Bermuda forward is something he has a personal stake in, af-
ter all. Living “dahn Cut” (Cut Road, St. George’s) with his wife Sarah,
a teacher at Warwick Academy, and their two children, Alys, 14, and
Jack, 13, Webber—a devout Liverpool FC fan who is partial to trivia
quizzes, AC/DC and Nabokov novels in his rare free time—reckons he
has as much to lose or gain as every other islander.
“I am Bermudian. I have a mortgage. I have Bermudian children,” he
says simply, “and I want them to live in a prosperous, welcoming, thriv-
ing environment here. At the BDA, that’s what we’re all about.”
“
city limits
what makes Bermuda particularly
unique among jurisdictions is that we
offer world-class services across several separate sectors of our economy
including tourism, insurance,
asset management, and
trust and private-client
business. we have a strong
history, and proven track
record, in all those industries, with mature
markets that continue to thrive.
