Board of Directors
Get Involved
Any reputable person, firm, partnership, estate, association or corporation conducting business on Abaco may apply for membership in the Abaco Chamber of Commerce. Membership levels and fees are detailed below. Please note that all new memberships must be approved by the Board of Directors.
Abaco Strong! Abaco Rebuild!
Meet the Board of Directors
President
Daphne DeGregory Mailous
-
Graduated Head Girl, SAC Nassau, Bahamas 1971
-
City Associated Trained in perfume and cosmetology in Paris, France
-
Owned & Operated Cafe' De Vidi in Venice, Italy 1975-1981
-
Owned & Operated London Pacesetter & Gone Bananas clothing boutiques on GBI for over 20 years
-
Nassau Cruises Purchasing Manager, Nassau, Bahamas
-
Trained & Licensed Sivananda Yoga Instructor, P. I. Nassau
-
Licensed real estate sales agent for Dunmore Reality Limited Currently:
-
Sales, Marketing, Product Development & Distribution Abaco Neem Ltd.
-
Deputy Abaco Chamber of Commerce
-
Life Practitioner, Care Giver, Humanitarian
-
And according to my husband, a wonderful wife!
Ruth Saunders is a Director of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce where she also serves on the Education Committee/ Publications & Communications.
Mrs. Saunders has been involved in many areas of Abaco’s activities for the past 19 years. She has been the Coordinator for Regatta Time in Abaco for most of those years, is on the Finance Committee of Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire and Rescue, is the Secretary of MH/SC local government sub-committee, is a committee member of the All Abaco Agri-Expo and assists with the annual fund-raising Pink Rose Bowl Ball Committee and Chairman of the Marsh Harbour Public Library.
She has owned the Abaco Print Shop for more that 16 years and is the publisher of the Destination Abaco magazine that promotes Abaco.
She recently acquired the Abaco Signs and Embroidery business. She began as a graphic artist and also has a teaching degree. She taught in Nassau for 11 years before moving to Abaco. She is dedicated to make Abaco a better place.
After Dorian, she assisted many NGO's to help with the reconstruction of Abaco.
Currently working as a Logistic Specialist with Talcove Construction.
Along with my her daughter Blair Turnquest, reopened Abaco Signs, Print and Embroidery.
Vice President
Ruth Saunders
Director
Ken Hutton
Chantelle M. Sands was born in Nassau but had the opportunity to work and live in Abaco for six years and Grand Bahama for three years, which has grown her love for the islands’ beauty, development and its people. She is a former PTA President of St Francis de Sales Catholic Primary School in Abaco and is currently a first year Director and Secretary on the Abaco Chamber of Commerce Board and President of the St Anne’s Anglican High School Class of 1990.
As Head of Small & Medium Enterprise & Family Island Innovations at Cable Bahamas Business Solutions, she has been very instrumental in several partnerships with Family Island Chambers of Commerce and other island initiatives. She assists business owners and entrepreneurs digitize their operations with technology that include fixed, wireless and mobile services, inclusive of disaster recovery and business continuity solutions.
Prior to joining The Cable Bahamas Group in 2019, she worked at a leading - retail, wholesale, production - international company for over twenty years in various senior management roles in Operations, Retail, Wholesale, Logistics, Sales & Marketing, in both Nassau and the Family Islands.
Chantelle is passionate about commerce and working with businesses today to stay connected while discovering new technologies and sales and marketing programs to stimulate growth in their establishments. She is a proud mother of an amazing daughter, Danielle Annamarie, a 2021 high school graduate.
Secretary
Chantelle Sands
Treasurer of ACOC
Brenda Jenoure
Since moving from the capital and making Abaco her home in 2009, Brenda has a yearning to see the community of Abaco grow and prosper. She has held the position of Director of Finance at The Abaco Club on Winding Bay for some 5 years, and is currently the Director of Finance for both Schooner Bay Ventures and Talcove Construction. Her finance career has span the banking industry with Barclays Bank and ship management with Navios Ship Management, before moving into the country's #1 industry - hospitality, with the Atlantis and One and Only Ocean Club, both on Paradise Island. Her financial expertise include hotels, condo-hotels, timeshare, condominium, home owner and property owner associations, and construction.
A graduate of Saint Augustine's College Nassau, she holds an Associate Degree from the College of the Bahamas, (now University of the Bahamas) and a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with a Finance major, from Nova Southeastern University, Florida and a Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive (C.H.A.E.) designation from the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (H.F.T.P.)
Brenda also has a passion for credit union movements, and has served on the board of directors for the Bahama Islands Resort and Casinos Cooperative Credit Union (BIRCCCU) for over 10 years.
Kenneth (Ken) Hutton is a Bahamas-based business consultant with years of experience leading and advising some of the country’s leading businesses. He has extensive experience over a wide range of industries including construction and building materials, wholesale and retail, logistics and distribution, shipping and maritime services along with import and export expertise spanning the globe.
Mr. Hutton’s primary role has been in SME reorganizations and mergers and acquisitions having acquired or led the acquisition of over twenty companies since 1996. Mr. Hutton has travelled globally for his companies including throughout North, Central and South America, the Caribbean Basin, Europe, Russia and multiple times into China as far as Mongolia.
Mr. Hutton has deep ties to the local community having served as a director of The Bahamas Chamber of Commerce four different times and as President of the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce for two consecutive terms. He also served as the first Chairman of the Grand Bahama License Advisory Committee. He is current a director of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Hutton has been active rugby player serving as Head Coach of the Bahamas National Rugby Team in addition to serving as President of the Freeport Rugby Football Club and as a Director of the Bahamas Rugby Union for two years.
Mr. Hutton is member of the Caribbean Institute of Certified Management Consultants and is a director and Treasurer of the Bahamas sub-chapter.
Director
Ken Hutton
David Ralph began his years in The Bahamas when he went to Grand Bahama in 1957 as a young man working for the lumber operation at North Riding Point. He began his Abaco experiences in 1959 when the lumber operation moved to Snake Cay.
After Owens Illinois left Abaco, Mr. Ralph purchased a small marina in Hope Town. During his 12 years there he gained valuable insights into the fledgling but growing tourism industry as he managed second home properties, some of which were rented to guests.
Remarks made by a government official directed at Abaco’s second homeowners caused Mr. Ralph put together a four-page report on the positive impact these properties have had on the Abaco economy and its growth. Elements of this report are often quoted by government officials in encouraging similar investments elsewhere in The Bahamas.
The Ralphs moved to Marsh Harbour where they began The Abaconian newspaper and published it for 18 years providing it free to all settlements on Abaco.
Mr. Ralph and his wife have been associated with the popular summer Regatta Time in Abaco race series since the mid-1970s, and he is currently the event’s commodore. The Ministry of Tourism awarded the Ralph’s its coveted Cacique award as a tourism leader. He is currently a member of the Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire Department having served since 1987.
Mr. Ralph has always been community-minded. He was part of the initial efforts of a Chamber in the mid 1970s and is . He is presently a Director of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce.
Director
Dave Ralph
David Ralph began his years in The Bahamas when he went to Grand Bahama in 1957 as a young man working for the lumber operation at North Riding Point. He began his Abaco experiences in 1959 when the lumber operation moved to Snake Cay.
After Owens Illinois left Abaco, Mr. Ralph purchased a small marina in Hope Town. During his 12 years there he gained valuable insights into the fledgling but growing tourism industry as he managed second home properties, some of which were rented to guests.
Remarks made by a government official directed at Abaco’s second homeowners caused Mr. Ralph put together a four-page report on the positive impact these properties have had on the Abaco economy and its growth. Elements of this report are often quoted by government officials in encouraging similar investments elsewhere in The Bahamas.
The Ralphs moved to Marsh Harbour where they began The Abaconian newspaper and published it for 18 years providing it free to all settlements on Abaco.
Mr. Ralph and his wife have been associated with the popular summer Regatta Time in Abaco race series since the mid-1970s, and he is currently the event’s commodore. The Ministry of Tourism awarded the Ralph’s its coveted Cacique award as a tourism leader. He is currently a member of the Marsh Harbour Volunteer Fire Department having served since 1987.
Mr. Ralph has always been community-minded. He was part of the initial efforts of a Chamber in the mid 1970s and is . He is presently a Director of the Abaco Chamber of Commerce.
Director
Krista Albury
Director
Heather Prosa
Heather Forde-Prosa, a real estate agent with Bahamas Realty, was born and raised in Nassau and educated in Ontario, Canada, where she received a B.A. from Carleton University in Ottawa. Heather settled in Elbow Cay, Abaco in 2016, to open the Hope Town Coffee House after working abroad in the U.S.A. as the director of brand communications for Kerzner International Resorts (the owner/operator of Atlantis, Paradise Island).
Heather is community minded. As the director of development of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society NPO, she is one of five women entrusted by the Bahamian Government to caretake the world-renown, Elbow Reef Lighthouse, the last non-automated navigational aid of its kind in the world. In addition, she is one of three founders and working members of the Elbow Reef Foundation, a U.S. 501 (c)(3) dedicated to helping Elbow Cay rebuild and protect the island’s heritage. Therefore, she remains highly active in and knowledgeable about the Abaco area where she and her husband, Andrew, live with their two favorite little people, Luke and Fina.
Director
Blair Turnquest
Director
Lauren Riviere
An educator by training, Miss Lauren Riviere, left the classroom but not teaching, to join the family business of
Riviere & Associates Limited – Registered Land Surveyors.
Currently, she serves as the company’s Managing Director.
With a decade of teaching experience in mathematics, Miss Riviere delights in
tutoring students after school in the subjects of mathematics or science.
She is also a proud member of The Abaco Horticultural Society, The Abaco Cancer
Society, The Abaco Botanical Society, The Bahamas Red Cross, High Banks
Volunteer Fire Service and the Abaco Tennis Association.
She can be found helping each organization with their fundraising efforts.