Remembering Audrey DeSilva, famend enterprise chief and girls’s advocate

Bermuda is remembering Audrey Ann DeSilva, a re/insurance coverage skilled and a trailblazing determine in its political spheres.

DeSilva handed away on January 1, 2024, on the age of 84, an obituary from The Royal Gazette confirms. DeSilva, acknowledged as the primary president of the Enterprise and Skilled Girls’s Affiliation of Bermuda and a notable member of the United Bermuda Occasion, was born on October 5, 1939.

DeSilva’s profession was marked by vital contributions to ladies’s advocacy and enterprise management. In 1976, she partnered with cricket legend Alma “Champ” Hunt because the United Bermuda Occasion’s candidates in Devonshire North, regardless of the constituency being a stronghold of the Progressive Labour Occasion. Though the marketing campaign was difficult, DeSilva and Hunt confirmed commendable effort.

Professionally, DeSilva was an accountant and had been on the helm of the Enterprise and Skilled Girls’s Affiliation of Bermuda since its inception in 1975. Lauren Hart-Bell, the archivist for BPW Bermuda, counseled DeSilva for her tenacity, professionalism, and management, acknowledging her as a pioneer for the group.

DeSilva was additionally concerned within the Worldwide Girls’s Yr in 1975, appointed by the premier to analyze the standing of ladies in Bermuda, which led to the founding of BPW Bermuda. Her efforts have been a part of a worldwide motion to empower ladies in enterprise {and professional} realms.

Reflecting on a reinsurance profession

Along with her advocacy work, DeSilva had a various profession trajectory, beginning with secretarial coaching and progressing by numerous roles, together with on the Financial institution of Butterfield and several other positions within the burgeoning insurance coverage and reinsurance business in Bermuda.

Her roles additionally encompassed positions within the re/insurance coverage business, together with Bellefonte Worldwide Insurance coverage, Transcon Insurance coverage, and American Worldwide Reinsurance, amongst others.

She remained actively concerned with BPW Bermuda till 1977, organizing talks and seminars on numerous matters and creating profiles of serious Bermudian ladies. DeSilva additionally maintained her political involvement with the United Bermuda Occasion into the Eighties and served on a number of governmental boards.

Within the mid-Eighties, DeSilva, alongside along with her second husband, Leonard, ventured into the sweetness business, increasing Shapers Hair and Magnificence Salon. She retired in 2007, forsaking a legacy of dedication and repair in each the skilled and political arenas.

DeSilva is survived by her youngsters Michael Benevides, Tammy, Geri, and stepson Leonard DeSilva II, marking the tip of a life devoted to advocacy, enterprise management, and public service.

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