Leadership Team

Michelle I. Palmer was appointed Managing Director, Republic Bank (EC) Limited, in 2019. She is a marketing executive with considerable expertise in credit card business, specialising in Research Development and Financial Product Management, and has a wealth of experience in product development, operational management and strategic management.
As a senior member of the Republic Group for more than three decades, Michelle most recently served as the General Manager, Group Marketing and Communications and led the Bank’s digital and data transformation efforts to implement more diverse customer centric banking services. Most notably, this includes integrating business intelligence, analytics, and various social media platforms as contemporary means of better engaging and serving customers.
She holds an Advanced Diploma in Marketing Management from the Association of Business Executives and a Diploma in Management Studies from the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (UWI).
Ms. Palmer currently serves as a Board member of Vision on Mission, a nongovernmental organisation that helps rehabilitate and reintegrate ex-prisoners and socially displaced persons. She is a full member of the Association of Business Executives, from which she received the World Prize for Quantitative Methods and is a past president of the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurant and Tourism Association (THRTA).

Idris Fidela Haynes, General Manager, Corporate Services, brings to bear considerable experience in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Compliance having served as a Director, Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Program Officer, English-Speaking Caribbean, Bank of Nova Scotia. She has also served as Senior Manager, Monitoring, Advice, Testing and Training, Caribbean South, Bank of Nova Scotia (11 countries) and Senior Manager Compliance and Anti-Money Laundering, Caribbean East (nine countries).
Mrs. Haynes is a former Director/Regulator/Registrar of Companies, Trusts, Limited Partnerships, Foundations and Non-Governmental Organisations as well as Director General, St. Kitts and a former Financial Inspector, Financial Services Regulatory Commission, St. Kitts. Trained by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Forum as a financial examiner and assessor respectively, Mrs. Haynes has participated in conducting Mutual Evaluation Assessments of English speaking member territories to assess compliance with the Financial Action Task Force 40 plus 9 (now 40 revised) recommendations. She has served on the CFATF’s Expert Review Group (ERG) and has served as Head of delegation and prime contact for St. Kitts and Nevis to the CFATF.
Mrs. Haynes has participated in conducting Phase 1 and Phase 2 OECD Peer Reviews of two countries in the Middle East (Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates) to assess their regimes for the exchange of information for tax purposes and has contributed to various AML publications.

Gordon Julien, General Manager, Corporate Services, Republic Bank (EC) Limited is a retail and corporate sales leader with over two decades of experience in customer service and leading financial institutions in various markets across the Caribbean. Mr. Julien has previously served as Country Manager, Republic Bank (EC) St. Lucia, and as General Manager & Country Head, Scotiabank, St. Kitts & Nevis. Over the course of his career, Mr. Julien has amassed significant expertise in AML/CFT compliance, Customer Due Diligence (CDD) reviews, and Know Your Client/Risk Management practices. A former Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Project Manager, he has established AML/CFT compliance programmes throughout the Caribbean East, comprising nine countries across the Eastern Caribbean, St. Maarten and Barbados. Mr. Julien holds a BSc. Economics and Accounting (Hons.) from the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and an MSc. Financial Management from the Centre for Financial and Management Studies, University of London. He is a Chartered Director (C. Dir.) and Chartered Corporate Secretary Certified (C.C. Sec.), at the Caribbean Governance Training Institute.

Janelle Bernard, General Manager, Legal Services & Corporate Secretary, Republic Bank (EC) Limited is an experienced Attorney-at-Law and member of the Bar in Trinidad and Tobago (2002) and Barbados (2013). Ms. Bernard brings to bear considerable expertise in a wide range of fields including: Corporate Governance, Anti Money Laundering (AML) Advisory, Risk Management and Compliance, Litigation and Arbitration Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Corporate and Commercial Law. Prior to her most recent appointment, Ms. Bernard served as Group Chief Compliance Officer/Senior Manager, Republic Bank Limited with responsibility for all aspects of the Group’s Anti-Money Laundering/Countering Terrorist Financing (AML–CTF) Sanctions and Tax Information Exchange programmes and systems. She is currently regarded among the Financial Action Task Force’s primary private sector AML–CTF experts in Trinidad and Tobago, and has represented the Republic Group at various international and regional panels on global trends and standards in AML–CTF. Ms. Bernard has also served as in-house attorney at Republic Bank Limited and as Corporate Secretary to several subsidiaries of Republic Financial Holdings Limited.
She holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business (UWI); a Bachelor of Laws (Upper Second Class Honours) from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; and a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School. Ms. Bernard has international certifications in AML, Enterprise Risk Management, Corporate Governance, and Regulatory Compliance.

Gina Severin, Country Manager, Dominica, has successfully leveraged more than 25 years of experience built up across a diverse range of fields, including Human Resource and Performance Management, Branch Operations, Accounting, and Customer Service Delivery. Prior to her current position, Mrs. Severin has served as Manager, Service & Support, Money Laundering and Reporting Officer and Senior Operations Officer, Accounting. She has successfully completed a number of courses on Anti-Money Laundering, Risk Management, Workplace Safety and Inclusion, and Information and Cybersecurity Awareness and has delivered presentations on Performance Management and Financial Management and Budgeting.
Mrs. Severin holds a Master of Science in Human Resource Management and Training with Distinction from the University of Leicester and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management (Magna Cum Laude) from Columbus University. She also has a Letter of Accomplishment from the Institute of Canadian Bankers.