Shelly-Ann Mohammed

Head of ACCA, Caribbean at ACCA

Speaker

Shelly-Ann Mohammed, head of ACCA Caribbean

Shelly-Ann Nisha Mohammed is the head of ACCA Caribbean responsible for the development and implementation of strategy for the Caribbean. Her role includes seeking opportunities, risk management and development of stakeholder relationships.

She works closely with local government, professional accounting organisations, Ministers of Finance, Auditor Generals’ offices, Ministers of Education, employers and other stakeholders to develop forward looking strategies aimed at helping finance professionals in the region adapt to the future drivers of change; among them regulatory, new technologies and increasing expectations; as well as building the competencies needed to help organisations sustain economic growth and compete nationally and internationally.

Shelly-Ann has her MBA and Masters in Global Business Studies, specialising in emerging markets at Oxford University, Said Business School where she was a Merit scholar. She graduated from the University of Western Ontario, Canada with her B.A. (Hons. Philosophy), the University of Exeter, School of Law, with her Bachelor of Laws (Hons.), and from the University of Connecticut, School of Law with her Masters in Law, specializing in US Corporate and Securities Law, where she was a Dean’s Scholar. She was also one of three recipients of a U.K. national scholarship to study Comparative Law in Europe at the University of Paris.

Shelly has over 10 years of global legal experience and worked for three major AmLaw 250 firms in New York and Connecticut. She is a member of the Bar Association of Connecticut and Trinidad and Tobago. On her return to Trinidad, she was appointed the Group Chief Legal officer for one of the largest privately held conglomerates in the Caribbean to work on the largest out-of-court restructuring in the Caribbean. The company encompassed over 65 companies in 32 countries worldwide and had assets standing at roughly US$100 billion. During a nine-month period, she reduced liabilities for the Group by over $150 Million USD. She was the Group corporate secretary for all major subsidiaries, including companies in Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica, United States, Canada, England, Scotland and France. She was also the vice president of the largest drinks manufacturer in the Caribbean doing business in over 60 countries worldwide. Shelly has participated on more than 30 public and private boards as the corporate secretary and legal officer where her role was to advise directors on managing external and internal risk. She was also a director on the board of Big Sisters (Connecticut Chapter).

She was the president and founder of the Association of Caribbean Corporate Counsel Limited which promoted the professional and business interests of corporate and in-house counsel in the Caribbean. In this role, she was instrumental in leveraging institutional knowledge to help in-house counsel reduce risk for the companies in which they work.