Kern Dass, chairman of majority state-owned Telecommunications Services of T&T (TSTT) has been officially appointed chairman of the board of directors of NEL, effective March 25.
Dass’ appointment to chair NEL, a state-controlled investment holding company, was announced by a notice on the T&T Stock Exchange, which stated, “Pursuant to Section 64(1)(b) of the Securities Act 2012, National Enterprises Ltd (NEL) hereby advises its shareholders that, Mr Kern Dass has been appointed chairman of the Board of Directors of NEL, effective March 25, 2026.”
At its annual meeting held on March 13, NEL’S new board comprised Dass, Dr Rampersad Motilal, a director of the National Gas Company, Ray Klien, Rajesh Rajkumarsingh, chairman of National Flour Mills (NFM) Hamlyn Jailal, Judy Kallo, Emerson Cheddie, Wayne Balchan and former ministers Christlyn Moore and Joseph Toney.
During the meeting concerns over the leadership and limited payout to shareholders by TSTT were brought to the fore.
An exclusive report in the Sunday Guardian in March had led to questions over the invoice submitted to the telecommunications company for a recently held retreat for company executives.
While the company has stated that newspaper report inflated the actual cost incurred by the company for the retreat, the matter was in the minds of NEL shareholders.
NEL owns 51 per cent of TSTT, one of seven companies in which the investment holdings company owns shares.
However NEL general manager Charles Maynard explained that a probe into TSTT could not be sanctioned by the NEL board.
Shareholders had also raised concerns about the absence of board members, including some based in foreign countries.
During the meeting, Maynard recapped NEL’s financial performance for 2025, stating it had reported a net profit of $15.3 million, which represented a reversal from the unrealised net loss of $348.7 million recorded in 2024.
At its previous AGM in September last year then-chair Ingrid Lashley retired, alongside directors Ross Alexander and Nicole De Freitas.
