Newly appointed Manager of DOMLEC, Bertilia Leblanc-Mckenzie, is confident that she has the qualities and qualifications to move the company forward.
Leblanc-Mckenzie, who held the Human Resource position at DOMLEC, has replaced Collin Cover, who resigned from the company earlier this year.
“I am the first woman to be the CEO of DOMLEC and I don’t think that I have any added responsibilities as a result of my gender,” she said. “I believe that given the fact that we are in a male dominated society, more will be expected of me and so I believe that I have the competencies, I have the qualities, I have the qualifications to head DOMLEC. I believe that I will do a good job.”
Leblanc-McKenzie, whose new position was made public on Monday, was addressing a press conference held at the company’s main office on Tuesday.
According to the new manager, one of her main focus is to inform customers on what is happening in the company “and let the customers know why things are happening and to see what is happening inside of DOMLEC that can be bettered so that the service to the customers can be stepped up.”
She noted that DOMLEC has organizational objectives which must be met.
“Among these objectives are first and for most to improve the quality of supply, the reliability of supply and to ensure that our customers, our employees, our contractors operate in a safe environment when providing that service to our customers,” she stated.
Leblanc-McKenzie said she would like to see customers accept DOMLEC’s service based on its quality.
“For me, what I would really like to see as head of DOMLEC is that our customers would accept our service, not because they had no choice, but because the quality of the service is at the level that they would like to stay with DOMLEC,” she stated.
Congratulations and may you allow the Lord to lead you daily into doing a goo job
Congratulations . All the best from our past; 5 years at CHS together…God Bless.
She seems qualified to manage and if her Chairman other board members support her, she will do well. If they work against and undermine her, it will be painful for her, no matter how qualified she is.
Congratulations Mrs. Leblanc McKenzie! however I don’t think we ‘bury our head in the sand with having to do with geothermal’ , we are talking of environmental issues here.. hope you did not get speaking notes from the comrades.
Leblanc-Mckenzie does not need
speaking notes from ‘your’ comrades.
She is quite capable of composing hers.
Do not insult her intelligence.
Support her and wish her well.
You all sat idle by while the foreign
managers depleted our resources and grossly
mismanaged Domlec.
God put her there and he will take care of her.
He will go before her and make all crooked places straight.
Merina Mckenzie
So you want to MOVE the company FORWARD. And you are going to inform the customer of what is happening and why it’s happening. Then please explain why in this day and age the company has just taken a BIG step backwards. No credit card transactions, only CASH. ???? Will be interested to read the reason behind this. Like T R says, the queue in the payment office will awful. And direct debit is a must for a forward thinking company.
Congratulations again! While I congratulate her, she only mentioned reliability and quality of supply, and we know Domlec’s track record over the years. She has a tough task ahead because Dominicans have no confidence in that company whose high rates are an obstacle in the way of foreign direct investment, and that in itself is crippling Dominica’s economy. It deprives it’s people of having any significant savings to spend in other aspects of the economy.
The one thing that Dominica has in it’s favor here is the fact that she has interest in driving the exorbitant rates down, for two reasons; her home and family, and her husbands entrepreneurial endeavor that is seeing it’s profits eaten up by Domlec in some of the highest electricity rates the Caribbean has ever seen. I hope ‘the company’ let’s her BRING DOWN THE RATES by whatever means necessary, for her sake and her people’s sake. Good luck achieving that.
GOD bless you do you best at your new job one day we DOM-IN-CANS will know what we want but keep GOD and your familys and good friends that wants to see you do well have a bless day go do your work the people that put you at the new job know well you can do it so don’t worry take it one day at a time
Congratulations and God Bless
Go Berti..
All the best..
Maddame, congratulations to you….. but if there was another cheap and reliable Electricity Service, DOMLEC would have been coolay and their shop would have closed long ago.
What qualifications does she have? …a lot of words about first women as CEO etc but no words about her qualifications?
But bondieu, why can’t we be happy for our people in this country????We always try to take cheap shots at our own people.(That must be racism in another form)Congratulations Mrs McKenzie, with the the good Lord on your side,you will achieve your goals.I am proud of you as a Dominican woman.
Why does it seem that Mrs. McKenzie is attempting to convince herself that she is “capable” of the job?
Mrs. Mckenzie does not need to convince anyone
especially you of her capability to run Domlec
she has been doing so for a long time.
She does not need an engineering degree.
Her job is to “manage”- keeping, adding
and implementing the structure in place to ensure
efficiency-good customer service and social responsibility.
Merina Mckenzie
There is no need to attempt to convince Dominicans and especially you, of her capability.
She is capable.
The Lord placed her there and enlarge her steps,
she shall not fail.
Jeremiah 29:11-
“I know the plan I have for you,
one of prosperity, love, hope and a bright future”.
Support her and wish her well.
You all sat idle by while the foreign managers depleted our resources and gave bad service and never complained
Give a her a chance.
She does not need your endorsement of competence,
and she does need to question her capability.
She is capable.
The Lord placed her there, and he has broaden her steps,
she will not fall.
Jeremiah 29:11-“I know the plan I have for you,
one of prosperity, love, hope and a bright future”.
You and other as like you are so consume with ‘jealousy’
you all can’t sleep at night.
EXCELLENT OBSERVATION Peeping Tom.
How can this article fail to list her qualifications for the readers to judge? Absolutely ridiculous. A halfway decent article would list her qualifications. A well done article would further compare her with the qualifications of previous or neighbouring island electricity heads.
I am so glad a woman is the CEO of this company. This men think they can do everything. Have nothing against men but women do better jobs than men. Caribbean men are to dominant. They like to be in control. Way to go boss lady. Stand firm and strong please don’t listen to the coward men they will let u lose your position. RESPECT!!!!! Men think they can control everythin and everyone. No hard feelings against men but give women their chances.
Way to go Mrs. Mac. I’m sure you will do well.
Congrtulations to you madam, proud of you.Please review the fluel surcharge for the customers. We are feeling the pinch, things are tough. Thank you and God bless.
We must also remember that we are last in Foreign Direct Investment. The cost of electricity/energy to operate businesses is a major reason why we are unable to attract new businesses in Dominica.
This in turn means a smaller tax base and hence smaller tax revenue for government. It also means that unemployment numbers remain high. DOMLEC plays a critical role in Dominica’s overall growth and development.
I would like to know what plans Ms. Leblanc McKenzie has to address these areas.
I am happy to see her at the helm, nonetheless. Always smart, kind and ambitious from her days as a teacher at the Dominica Grammar School.
I think that its early to ask her” what plans she has to address the areas of unemployment, critical role in Dominica’s overall growth and development. We have to give her a chance to see what she is capable of, her feet are still wet.
I do hope that she will be able to address the high electricity bills as we in Dominica are paying the most for electricity consumsion as compared to the other Caribbean islands
Let the woman come up for air nuh man she eh even sit in the chair a good week.Oh boy !
What degree of …………………………..lack of it.
m surprised at U thought U had some sense .I guess I took U at face value. I was not wearing my glasses when I read ur first set of posts in the past.
You have only3 cents/sense lol
You on same page with ur leader lol critical with no control.
U know ur leader or pick hahahahahahah
Man Anthony Ismael You surprise me. I thought U had some sense it look like u only have 5 cents. U like the leaders and Goobles on Kairi who lectures on everything Dr. Connait toutes barguy,.
Or Even Portsmouth Bob the ex-man of the cloth who discovered the sweet thing late. The one who suggested drones in DAlol! and the other one
Congratulation!!!! CHS alumni!!!
congratulation to Mrs Leblanc-Mckenzie i have no doubt that you have to capabilities and the tenacity to move domlec forward you have always been a go getter
Excellent identification of the real issues and concerns and confidence in ones ability to deal with them and deliver !Congratulations ,madam!!Godspeed!
JNJ
I never questioned your qualities or qualifications until now. First we do not live in a male dominated society, we live in an equal opportunity society which has a slight tilt to the advantage of women. The top management of most large companies in Dominica are dominated by women. so the fact that u think we live in a male dominated society clearly shows u are out of touch. Second, there is no way we can accept DOMLEC service based on quality because u know very well we have no other choice. So please speak like a grown up and do not think we the consumers are children in your fantasy land.
u could not have said it any beta…………
Overall, the world is still male dominated when it comes to power. DA has some women heading big money operations and in key positions, however, it is still male dominated. Now turn the govt. over to a woman and maybe you can start talking. There has never really been equal opportunity, women don’t get key positions handed to them unless they are in the in-crowd. They have to plan and work hard, usually harder than a male counterpart. If you are talking about family business’ on the island, which is what I think that you are referring to, then, yes, there is a lot of influence by the women family members.
Legion very good point. Is not like we can go to Dowasco for electricity, right. So what is she talking about,” qualities so the consumer would like to stay with domlec” really.
You created your “fantasy land”,
by the nonsense you post.
In life there are always choices.
Over the years when Domlec was managed by foreigners
and the company was in disarray, you shot your
mouth. Why didn’t you rally with concern citizens and try to bring about change.
Support and give her a chance.
Her job is to manage by maintaining,
adding or getting rid of the structure in place that does not work-by giving good service and
social responsibility.
Wow … Congratulations Miss Mckenzie I know u will do a good job.. Well deserved…..
Former DOMLEC employee
I have no doubt that Ms. Leblanc-Mckenzie will do an admirable job in her new role as Manager of Domlec.
However, there are certain structural impediments that will not change the model of electricity delivery and reliability for the Dominican consumer:
1.A fossil fuel based company that is subjected to price increases without warning, based on the price of petroleum on the open market.
2. A captive Dominican Market with no competition.
3. Guaranteed profit margins over the life of the current contract/ownership of Domlec
4. Constant load-shedding dating back to the 70s, not to mention our terrain and the havoc of constant severe weather during the hurricane season.
Given these unchanging dynamics, Domlec will be the same company with a more than capable, qualified and experienced leader at its helm.
The Dominican public desires two unwavering expectations from Domlec: Cheap and reliable electricity. These expectations will not be met anytime soon.
Mrs Mc Kenzie congratulations on your accomplishment. You are intelligent, ambitious and most assuredly a no nonsense woman. I know that you will do a great job in taking the company forward.
With that said, customers are with DOMLEC because we have no choice/no other alternative First of all the cost of electricity is astronomical and secondly DOMLEC is always right. Regardless of the problem,ranging from an unexplained high light bill to damage of electrical appliance. Furthermore, that guaranteed profit that DOMLEC must realize at the at the end of every financial is just unfair. Sah parka wok piese. Hope we can see a change during your tenure. All the best Miss Mc Kenzie.
congratulations Mrs. McKenzie. You’ve broken a glass ceiling
I guess some folks believe that the CEO should be an electrical engineer. But I would argue that this is recessional thinking. And to back this up I would add that Mckenzie was given the position of GM, not Engineering Manager. Her new role is to lead the team, not turn the turbine. Any good manager can manage an enterprise! While studying in the US, I did an internship at the US DOL. On a visit to the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, I met the Director who once served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Grandbay in Dominica. He supervised over 90 lawyers, but he was not a lawyer. His role was not to play lawyer, it was to lead the team.
So, I believe the new Domlec CEO when she says she has what it takes to lead the company. If an engineering question is posed to her, she simply calls one of her engineers to answer, the same way Mr. Cover would call one of his Accountants to answer an Accounting question.
This is the most intelligent comment I’ve read all year!! I am so in agreement!! My sentiments exactly!
Congrats my girl…i know you will do your best and weep them into shape!
We have every confident in your ability to lead and deliver quality service at DOMLEC!. CONGRATULATIONS Mrs Leblanc-McKenzie. Woman Power!!!!!
What I would like to see from Domlec is that they accept debit/credit cards again,,, Or even better start using Direct Debits. This will save those awful queues in there Roseau office!!!!
Go Girl go! Show them you can be independent and a force to be reckoned with. You take care of our lights Sav the primitive ones in office he will give em what they need up their rear. lol No more newspaper stones etc no more outside latrines Kalinago show em too.
Only you can create a gender barrier as there are other female professionals thriving in this environment. Knowing what to expect from Domlec in the future is the best vision for success. Right now we are getting cut on a Friday with no way to pay until Monday when our refrigerators may have salvageable goods. Also we would love an outside drop-off box for check payments during closing hours.
Good start.. I pray God’s guidance as you take up this responsibility