ROAD TOWN, Tortola — A familiar name from the BVI’s public-board landscape is set to return to one of the Territory’s most important statutory bodies.
Cabinet has approved the recommendation of the Minister for Health and Social Development to appoint Bevis Sylvester as a member and chairperson of the Board of the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA), subject to approval by the House of Assembly.
The appointment is for three years, from September 7, 2026 to September 6, 2029.
As chairperson, Sylvester will receive $1,000 per month, or $36,000 over the three-year term.
The appointment must now go before the House of Assembly for approval, as required under section 5(5) of the BVI Health Services Authority Act. Government also says the appointment will be published in the Virgin Islands Official Gazette and at least twice in a local newspaper.
But the appointment comes with a history that reaches well beyond healthcare.
Sylvester has previously occupied senior positions on several government and statutory boards, including during the administration of former Premier Andrew Fahie. He was appointed chairman of the BVI Airports Authority in May 2019, shortly after the Fahie-led Virgin Islands Party Government took office.
He subsequently became a prominent figure in the Government’s airport policy during the Fahie administration.
Government records show Sylvester chaired the Airports Authority Board while the administration pursued airport-related projects, including the proposed expansion and rehabilitation of the Territory’s airports.
In 2020, Fahie publicly congratulated Sylvester and the Airports Authority team during the reopening of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport following the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Government also identified Sylvester as chairman when Cabinet decisions affecting the airports were announced.
His tenure as Airports Authority chairman ended in 2022. Cabinet later noted the expiration of his appointment, along with those of several other board members.
But the Airports Authority was not his only connection to government boards during that period.
A recurring name on the boards
Government’s own statutory-board review provides another piece of the picture.
A review of statutory boards listed Sylvester as a commissioner of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), having been appointed in February 2020 for a two-year term.
The same government review subsequently listed Bevis Sylvester among the TRC appointees who should not be reappointed. The review described him as a business manager with an accounting degree and assessed him as “minimally qualified” for the TRC role.
That recommendation, however, must be understood in context. The review was an assessment of statutory-board appointments and qualifications; it was not itself a finding that Sylvester had committed misconduct.
There was also involvement in the BVI Ports Authority during the same period. Commission of Inquiry evidence identified Sylvester as an ex-officio member of the Ports Authority Board. He became involved in questions surrounding a proposed lease of Pasea Place, a property connected to another member of the board.
According to evidence reported from the Commission of Inquiry, Sylvester asked whether requested due-diligence documents had been supplied. When told they had not, he moved a motion that the Ports Authority proceed with the lease subject to the documents being provided by a later date.
The Ports Authority board itself was subsequently described by its then-managing director as unusually “hands-on,” with major operational decisions being made at board level rather than being delegated to management.
That history matters because it illustrates the breadth of Sylvester’s involvement in public boards during the period.
Then came the Commission of Inquiry
Sylvester’s public-sector history became considerably more scrutinised when he appeared before the British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry in May 2021.
He was summoned to appear before Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom on May 13, 2021.
The Commission’s own ruling records that requests for documents and information had been sent to Sylvester on April 6 and 7, 2021, both in his capacity as chairman of the BVI Airports Authority and personally.
The ruling states that neither request had received a response before the summons was issued.
Sylvester subsequently appeared before the Commission, represented by attorney Nelcia St Jean. The Commissioner declined an application for Sylvester to receive formal participant status, while permitting him to have legal representation while giving evidence as a witness.
The episode generated considerable public attention.
During questioning, Commission counsel asked Sylvester why he had initially failed to respond to the Commission’s request.
According to reporting on the testimony, Sylvester said he did not understand exactly what was being requested and found the request for contracts confusing. He ultimately responded on May 10, shortly before his scheduled appearance after being summoned.
The Commission also questioned him about his career and his earlier departure from the public service.
A conviction that predates the Fahie administration
The COI hearing also brought back into public view an episode dating to the early 2000s.
Sylvester had previously worked as a budget coordinator in the Ministry of Finance.
He subsequently left the Public Service following his conviction in connection with a government contract associated with the development of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.
Court records show that Sylvester pleaded guilty to obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and neglect of duty and received a six-month prison sentence.
The case involved an airport telecommunications contract.
The Commission heard that investigators had alleged Sylvester used his government position as budget coordinator in connection with awarding a telecommunications contract to a company that lacked telecommunications experience and had been formed for the contract.
It is important to distinguish that historical conviction from the later Commission of Inquiry.
The conviction was a court matter arising from events in the early 2000s. The COI, decades later, was examining a much wider range of issues concerning governance, procurement, public administration and decision-making in the Territory.
The airport—and the Crown lands
Sylvester’s COI appearance also touched on the Airports Authority’s role in matters involving Crown land.
The Commission’s supporting documents record that, in 2019, the Airports Authority was granted the transfer of Crown land by Cabinet at a price of $1 per parcel, plus a $200 statutory survey fee.
The document specifically identifies Sylvester as chairman of the Airports Authority at the time.
Importantly, the Commission document also makes clear that the approval was granted to the BVI Airports Authority, not to Sylvester personally.
That distinction is important when reporting the matter.
The COI also questioned Sylvester about whether he knew of anyone purchasing land on Beef Island who could potentially benefit from a future runway expansion.
According to the published reporting of his evidence, he said he had no such knowledge.
Now, five years later, the return
The appointment to the BVI Health Services Authority represents a significant return to public-board leadership.
The BVIHSA is responsible for one of the most important public institutions in the Territory—the delivery and administration of public healthcare.
The chairman will therefore occupy a position with significant governance responsibilities, including oversight of the Authority’s management, finances, strategic direction and accountability.
Cabinet’s decision makes clear that the appointment is not yet final: the House of Assembly must approve Sylvester’s appointment as chairperson.
That gives elected members an opportunity to examine the appointment publicly.
The relevant questions need not be about personalities.
They are questions of governance.
What criteria were used to identify Sylvester for the position?
Was his previous board experience a factor?
Was his experience specifically assessed against the needs of the Health Services Authority?
What consideration was given to the statutory-board review that previously recommended that he not be reappointed to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission?
And, given his appearance before the Commission of Inquiry, was his history—including the 2004 conviction arising from his former public-service role—considered as part of the due-diligence process?
None of those questions necessarily determines the answer to whether he should serve.
But they are legitimate questions whenever government proposes to place an individual in charge of another major statutory authority.
The bigger issue: how Government chooses its board members
There is also a broader governance question here.
The BVI has repeatedly been told that reform of public boards is necessary.
The Commission of Inquiry examined appointments, conflicts, accountability, procurement and the functioning of statutory bodies in considerable detail.
The issue is therefore not simply whether Bevis Sylvester has experience.
The issue is what kind of experience Government is looking for—and how that experience is weighed against a candidate’s complete public record.
A person who has served on boards understands government structures, statutory authorities and the responsibilities of directors.
But board experience by itself does not answer every question about suitability.
That is precisely why transparent appointment criteria matter.
If Government has conducted a thorough due-diligence exercise before recommending Sylvester, the public should be able to understand what was considered.
If the House is being asked to approve the appointment, elected members should have the opportunity to examine that record.
And if the appointment is approved, the public should expect the same thing it should expect from every statutory authority:
accountability, transparency and performance.
The BVI Health Services Authority is too important for anything less.
One appointment. A long public record.
Bevis Sylvester’s proposed appointment to the BVIHSA Board is not occurring in a vacuum.
His record includes senior private-sector experience, a previous conviction arising from his public-service career, multiple appointments to statutory boards, chairmanship of the Airports Authority during the Fahie administration, service on the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, involvement with the Ports Authority, and testimony before the Commission of Inquiry.
Those are all matters that can be documented.
The public does not need political spin to understand why they are relevant.
It simply needs the record—and the opportunity to ask questions.
The House of Assembly will now have that opportunity when Sylvester’s appointment comes before it.
The question is not whether he has served on government boards before. He clearly has. The question is what lessons Government and the House have taken from that history—and how those lessons will inform the governance of the BVI Health Services Authority for the next three years.