OBA Candidates Geoffrey Faiella & Tia Smith
The One Bermuda Alliance announced Geoffrey Faiella as its “adopted candidate for Constituency 11 Devonshire East,” and Tia Smith as the “approved candidate for Constituency 1 St George’s North.”
Devonshire East is currently represented by the PLP’s Chris Famous, while the PLP’s Renee Ming is the elected representative for St George’s North.
A spokesperson said, “The One Bermuda Alliance is excited to announce Geoffrey Faiella as its adopted candidate for Constituency 11, Devonshire East.
“Geoffrey’s unwavering commitment to service and integrity is fundamental to his belief in putting the needs of the community first and ensuring that every voice is heard. A passionate leader and a proud Bermudian, he is thrilled to rejoin life in public service as a member of the Devonshire East community.
“Geoffrey brings to the team more than a decade of experience in the legal profession, rooted in a strong sense of fairness, justice and empathy. Born and raised in Southampton, Geoffrey attended Port Royal School and Saltus Grammar School before finishing high school in the USA at Westminster School in Connecticut. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English, Speech and Theatre from St. Lawrence University in update New York.
“Following his undergraduate studies, Geoffrey returned to Bermuda where he volunteered in the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade and explored a potential career in hospitality, before studying law at the University of Bristol in England. He returned to the island soon after, and following a period of training in the Attorney-General’s chambers he was admitted to the Bermuda Bar.
“Geoffrey entered public service as a Crown Counsel in the Department of Public Prosecutions, followed by a posting in the Ministry of Legal Affairs advising on public policy and acting on behalf of the Crown to collect debts to the public purse. Among the many highlights of Geoffrey’s early period of public service, he is particularly proud of drafting legislation to enhance the protection of local wildlife, and his role in enhancing Bermuda’s Proceeds of Crime framework.
“Following his time in public service, Geoffrey has built his career in Bermuda’s financial services sector, and for the past five years has served as the Head of Legal and Regulatory Compliance for a local banking institution. During this time, he has enjoyed working and collaborating with the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee [NAMLC], the Financial Intelligence Agency, the Bermuda Deposit Insurance Corporation, and other public agencies to strengthen Bermuda’s financial safety net and better protect consumers.
“Geoffrey’s upbringing emphasized community service and helping others, a family tradition he has carried on through his work with local charities including Meals on Wheels and the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society and other individual projects. He has served on the board of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society and the Centre Against Abuse.
“Geoffrey moved to the Poinciana Road, Devonshire area with his wife, Sarah, in 2017 where they raise their two young children and attend St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. A life-long learner, Geoffrey enjoys spending time with his family, trying new recipes on friends and neighbors and occasionally treading the boards at Daylesford Theatre as a member of the Bermuda Musical and Drama Society. Geoffrey is excited to be a part of the OBA team, and committed to delivering a brighter, more prosperous future to Bermudians.
“Tia Smith is the approved candidate for constituency 1, St George’s North.
“She is a Hamilton parish resident, raised in St. David’s and Smith’s parish. Her family history is based in St. David’s and St. George’s and many of her family and friends remain there to this day. Whilst she currently lives slightly outside of constituency 1, she is and will always be an East End girl, especially during Cup Match.
“She attended St David’s Primary, Warwick Academy, Saltus PGY and then majored in English Literature at Acadia University.
“She worked for several years at Telcom [now Digicel] and was a store manager for a year before deciding to branch into another career. She worked at AIG for 12 years, in Financial Lines Underwriting, Axis Capital and is now an Assistant Vice President, Financial Lines Underwriter at Liberty Specialty Markets.
“She holds her Registered Professional Liability Underwriter [RPLU] and Associate in Underwriting [AU] designations as well as, most recently, received the Cyber Professional Liability Practitioner [CPLP] designation.
“She served on the Board of Directors for the Bermuda Zoological Society for 10 years and the Board of the Bermuda Education Network for two years.
“Passionate about young people experiencing a robust and enriching education, Tia served as the PTA President at Prospect Primary for two years and the PTA President at East End Primary for a year. She regularly volunteers at the Aquarium and for a feeding programme. Her hobbies include reading, crocheting and diamond painting.
“Above all of this, spending time with her family is one of the most rewarding and important things that she does.
“In 2012, she married Tim Smith and have the joy of three kids in their lives whom they are particularly proud of. Willow [16] was the Head Girl at East End Primary, Rowan [11] was the Head Boy at East End Primary and Bryony [5], they suspect, will take over the world someday.”
A thankless task but you need to be commended for stepping up. You will read 100 pages on an issue only to listen to radio callers and constituents who have not but know it all. Give them access to the report they rarely read them or change their views but say politicians do not listen to them. Best wishes and thanks for at least trying but it is a thankless task.
These two sound like well educated, hard workers. Not sure the electorate will go for that.
If they are so well educated they would’ve join the PLP instead of chasing a party that changed its name to run from its racist past mistakes. Until someone starts a 3rd party that’s honest and has blacks and whites working together equally the OBA aka UBP will lose every election.
………the current PLP machine does not embrace, accept or want well educated high performance candidates from the private sector, ask Curtis Dickinson and the long list of other capable Bermudians ignored by the current leader and his consultant workforce party executive
Bought and paid for you have to be if you want to be a PLP candidate
Labour is now dead
How was Curtis Dickinson ignored? He was appointed to Cabinet by the current Leader.
And he resigned when he was ignored.
The OBA is dead and anyone who believes anything different is a zombie wasting their time running as a candidate.
So is the PLP lmfao….been lost the fire
Keep spreading the lie. It’s all you have.
Whoa, these are a couple of quality candidates! If the OBA can turn out a field like this, we might have ourselves an challenge! Good to see you getting in the mix Tia!
Constituency 11 needs an MP who can stay awake and look after local interests, not those of St Kitts.
He’s anybody but the PLP. I will not disclose my age, but let’s just say that I’m not a spring chicken. I will admit that I have voted, UBP, PLP and OBA in the past. I have done this because I always vote for the candidate not the party. I do realize that that is not what most people do you in Bermuda and I do believe that this is part of the problem.
I don’t think there’s one person over the age of 40 would disagree that the current state of our country has never been worse. I am grateful that we have two persons that are people educated and seem to have some drive and passion stop putting their names forward to make a change.
Our debt has never been worse, the conditions of our school and education system has never been worse, crime has never been worse, unemployment I don’t believe has ever been worse and the condition of our roads has never been worse. Our public transportation (if you can call it that) especially the buses, has never been worse, The ferry service is much better. The PLP chased many IB companies away with their 7 year max and go home policy. Now they are trying to increase the workforce by 25%. Tourism is struggling and we can’t get more air traffic because there aren’t enough hotel rooms to house the tourists. The only new hotel projects (St Regis and Azura) and were announced and started in the 4 years the OBA took over. The Fire Department and Police service are understaffed, meanwhile many other government departments are overstaffed with some inefficient and ineffective staff that were gifted with jobs. Sorry but it is the truth and we all know it. How many millions wasted on Casino Gaming Commission over last 8 years and no casino. No surprise considering we had an Emissions department that never tested and failed a single car or truck for excessive emission. There was hope when Curtis Dickinson challenged the Premiere but when he was dismissed, well I think we all knew we were in more trouble.
Good luck to these two. I wish you and all of us in Bermuda hope
Well said.
You nailed it.
And what exactly would the OBA have done that would have been remarkably better? From 2017-2019 things were going very well and we know that Covid hit in early 2020. It’s easy to criticize the government but what would an OBA government have done differently that would have us in a much better position? It’s easy to make a Burt the villain but who else would have led through those challenges? Who in the OBA could have done so?
The ONLY uptick in the economy after 2009 (approx) happened after the OBA was elected. One month after the PLP were voted in in 2017 the confidence in Bermuda and the economy began to tank again. Long before covid and while the US economy was strengthening.
Explanations welcomed .
Famous has c11 on lock because he canvasses nonstop and the people know he is there for them.
Renee will win c1 easily. Tia has no chance.
These two, if really highly regarded would have been placed in actual winnable seats.
They should canvass for Jet Gates seat and allow the residents to decide.
Which one? The PLPs or the OBA’s Jetgate?
Thankfully the PLP’s real Jetgate who demanded rides on private jets and gave a waste of money contract to a friend that cost us taxpayers $16 million isn’t running anymore .
But it’s the other one who ‘resigned in disgrace’ that never cost us anything that is always somehow invoked !
Political selective amnesia at its best .
Be real canvassing is all good but what has Famous really done for the residents of that area? Talking is always good but I need cold hard results….oh wait there are none!
I’ve seen Famous with younger members out painting and cutting grass with and for the constituents. I am also fairly sure he is actively engaged in the community events.
Tell me what exactly you believe the role if the MP is?
He’s just another foreigner…like patricia. LMFAO
Appreciate the responses but most of those things you listed he SHOULD be at especially as an MP. But what results has he given C11 and don’t say cutting grass anyone can do that. We have a government department for that. All good to give back but that’s just a photo op for a couple days. Good to be involved in community events as well but how has he made C11 better?
My view of an MP encompasses community events and giving back to the community on top of various other things. I’d like for MP’s not to fall in line with the party sometimes and use your own minds/thoughts and opinions regardless of it clashes with Burt.
Asking you again but what has HE given to C11?
Caricom Chris spends most of his time asleep on the job or dreaming of St Kitts, not sure why he is considered a shoo-in for the seat?