Former National Trust GM returns as exec director

(CNS): Frank Roulstone, a former general manager at the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, will be taking over from outgoing Executive Director Annick Jackman this month. Roulstone takes the helm as Cayman’s dwindling built heritage is under significant pressure and the Trust’s protected land is being squeezed from all sides by development. He will also have to deal with the issue of the East-West Arterial Road extension and its impact on the Trust’s land in the Central Mangrove Wetlands.

Roulstone is no stranger to the challenges facing the Trust, having become general manager just a few days before the arrival of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. He started from scratch, with no offices and only a receptionist employee, but by the end of his 4½-year tenure, the Trust was financially stable with a functioning staff of seven, a modern office, several new historic sites and hundreds of acres of newly protected environmental properties under the organisation’s name.

“I appreciate the opportunity to once again serve the National Trust for the Cayman Islands in the capacity of Executive Director,” he said. “My involvement in the Trust goes back many years and includes being an elected Trust Council member, volunteer, supporter, member, and employee. After a career in business management spanning over 30 years, I am ready to take on the unique challenges awaiting. The mission of the Trust is certainly as important now as when it was created back in 1987 under the National Trust Law.”

Roulstone, who is also a lifetime member of the Cayman Islands Orchid Society and a member of the Bloody Bay Pirates group, said he looked forward to and will welcome the cooperation and assistance of all stakeholders, especially the 71,000 Cayman Islands residents to continue the 35-year mission of protecting the local heritage for the benefit of present and future generations.

National Trust Vice Chairman Gregory McTaggart welcomed Roulstone, saying he had spent a lifetime preserving and advocating for the protection of the flora and fauna and the natural environment, as well as the built and cultural heritage of the Cayman Islands.

“Frank has decades of supervisory, high-level management and administrative experience,” McTaggart said. “A born Caymanian, Frank literally helped write the definitive tome on the plants of the country, The Flora Of The Cayman Islands, and discovered a unique, highly endangered plant that now bears his name, Scolosanthus Roulstonii.”

McTaggart said that the Trust would miss Jackman and her calm professionalism after she steered the Trust through the recent trying times of COVID-19. “We wish her well in her future endeavours as we welcome Frank as he now takes the reins from her steady hands,” he added.

Jackman said it had been a pleasure to serve, establish new partnerships and drive policy to benefit the islands in the long term.

“The staff and volunteers have been simply amazing to work with, given the challenges we faced during the pandemic,” she said. “The National Trust is in an exciting place to review and update the 5-year strategic plan that guides the organisation and I am excited that Frank will be leading the team. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience about the National Trust and this position. His passion and commitment for our mandate will help drive the organization forward.”