Nine candidates are vying for the Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund (CINSF) members’ representative position on the Board for the next three-year term.

Superfund members can now vote for their representative online. The voting portal opened officially on Wednesday of this week and closes on Tuesday, August 27, at 3pm. The successful candidate will be announced on August 31.

CINSF chief executive officer Damien Beddoes confirmed that nine candidates submitted their expressions of interest following the initial advertising for nominations earlier this month.

The candidates are Ben Marshall, Tim Meyer, Elizabeth Hosking, Jezebel Tamasese, Anna Koteka, Ashleigh Steele, Derek Johnson, Chiavanni Le’Mon and Olivia Heather.

The nominees’ backgrounds vary from lawyer, business, labour relations, financial management and policy advisor.

“The CINSF now stands at over $270 million and the Board has significant responsibilities for the governance of the Fund, we therefore strongly encourage members to register to vote for the person to represent them on the Board of the CINSF,” Beddoes said.

The board members play a critical role in overseeing the management and strategic direction of the Fund, which directly impacts the retirement savings and financial security for all members.

The current member representative, Anna Koteka, who served in the role for the last three years, has reapplied and is among the nine nominees vying for the position.

Koteka has been the financial accountant at Capital Security Bank Ltd (CSB) for over 20 years.

Having reapplied for the position, Koteka wants to stay connected with her community and be able to give back through this role.

“When I came on board the fund stood at $31.5m. It is currently approximately $265m. This is a lot of responsibility for members of the Board, and always at the forefront of my mind, is that this is not our money. These are people’s hard-earned contributions and we must take care of them,” Koteka stated on her voting profile.

“I am also proud of what has been achieved by CINSF. In the years since the Privy Council handed down its decision, the Board has been busy focusing on the way forward for the fund which is now considered by many as the most open and transparent organisation in the Cook Islands.

“We have looked at the makeup of the investment portfolios and implemented a new reference portfolio that achieves a market return at the lowest cost to members. We have also localised the administration of the Fund creating skilled employment whilst achieving cost reductions.”

To cast your votes, and to view the profiles of all the nominees, visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BZV952Q.

CINSF members are required to confirm their membership by entering their NSF number. Each member can only cast one vote. If a member submits more than one vote, both votes will be removed and not counted.

The current board of directors are Tatiana Burn, Garth Henderson, Anna Koteka, Heinz Matysik, Alan Taylor and John Tini.

Meanwhile the Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund has been holding public consultations relating to proposed changes to the CINS Act.

Beddoes says one of the changes to strengthen the Board’s governance is to replace the four representative roles with two representative roles and five specialist Board roles.

The superfund is also proposing to “introduce requirements for new Board members to meet a fit and proper person test, hold qualifications and experience, along with a transparent appointment process, longer appointment term, Board performance requirements and a Board removal for non-performance”.

Each of the other representatives on the CINSF board are also being nominated by their entities Chamber of Commerce, Cook Islands Workers Association, and the non-Chamber employers representing those who are not a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

Beddoes confirmed there was only one applicant for the representative role of the non-Chamber employers.

“At present there is only one additional Board Member who is Alan Taylor. His tenure expiry will be the decision of the new board.”

These consultations are being held to review the Fund’s Act following two independent reviews that highlighted significant risks due to an imbalance of decision-making power, prompting the need for improved checks and balances.

The reviews indicated that the current structure grants excessive decision-making authority to one role, posing increased risks to the Fund.

• Melina Etches/Talaia Mika