For the last 40 years, I have been a local hospitality leader, running the Hotel de France. While we have adapted to meet the changing needs of our community, our government has not. Now, too many people on our island are being left behind as we face serious economic challenges. That is why I am running to be your Deputy in St Saviour.
I believe the Island needs a credible strategy built on action, not endless consultancy reports that deliver false hope and frustrate those of us working on the ground. We must collaborate to grow a more balanced economy, lower personal taxes, and reduce the cost of living.
After school, I studied accountancy and joined Coopers & Lybrand. I then worked at Gulf + Western before moving to Paramount Pictures International, auditing productions including Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Winds of War in Italy. This experience gave me a thorough grounding in financial oversight and operational scrutiny.
I returned to Jersey and, at 28, became Managing Director of the Hotel de France. From installing some of the very first computers on the island all those years ago, to the major redevelopments I have led since, I have constantly adapted to changing times. That is why the hotel became the most successful conference venue in the Channel Islands and one of the leading venues in the UK, making a genuine contribution to Jersey’s reputation and economy.
When the early-2000s financial crisis reduced conference demand, we adapted. We redeveloped the Lido into today’s Medical Centre, launched Healthhaus, and reduced the hotel’s footprint. That period reinforced a critical lesson: responding to economic change, rather than resisting it, is essential in both business and government.
Throughout my career, I have served Jersey in wider roles: Senior Vice-President and Treasurer of the Jersey Hotel and Guest House Association, first Chairman of the industry-run Jersey Conference Bureau, and a member of the Tourism Board, Airport Advisory Board, and Public Accounts Committee. These roles gave me direct insight into how policy decisions affect the industries and businesses that underpin our economy.
I am an early supporter of Value Jersey because I am genuinely concerned about the direction the Island is taking. If we do not address our core economic challenges, we face real uncertainty, made worse by government strategies that too often fail to engage with the practical realities facing businesses and families here.
I am a strong supporter of small businesses and acutely aware of the pressures on our hospitality industry. We need to restore value for money to Jersey and review States decisions that are inadvertently undermining the competitiveness of our industries.
That is why I am standing.
Names of Proposers and Seconders
- Malcolm Neal Lewis
- John Gasston
- Anita Brown
- Sophie Reid
- Denise Hampshire
- Jessica Langtree-Marsh
- Cameron Kevin Monro
- Julia Heidi Lecrivain
- Andrew Hubert Parker
- Victoria Susan Jean Fisher