In a first for the Caribbean, Cayman Islands Postal Service Deputy Postmaster General, Operations and Human Resources, Ms Melissa Martinez-Ebanks was elected to the Express Mail Service (EMS) Cooperative Board at its General Assembly in Berne, Switzerland.
At the meeting last month, which was also attended by Cayman Islands Postmaster General Ms Sheena Glasgow, Ms Martinez-Ebanks became the first person from the Caribbean who has been elected to the EMS Cooperative Board in its 21-year history. The Board comprises nine elected ad personam (on an individual basis) members.
EMS is the courier product of the postal industry for documents and merchandise.
The EMS Cooperative was set up at the 22nd Congress of the Universal Postal Union in Beijing, China in September 1999 to promote enhanced support among members.
With182 designated operators worldwide, EMS transports eight million packages every week, according to the EMS website www.ems.post.
Responding to her accomplishment, Ms Martinez-Ebanks said, “The opportunity to contribute at this level and to represent the perspective of a small-island Post is a tremendous privilege! I am excited by the challenge and the opportunities it offers my team as we continue on our journey to a World Class Postal Service.”
She added: “I view the accomplishment as a team effort and am very proud to belong to such a hard-working and diligent team that makes up the Cayman Islands Postal Service.”
CI Postmaster General Glasgow added that she was deeply proud of Ms. Martinez-Ebanks’ latest accomplishment. “Over the past several years, Ms Martinez-Ebanks has been instrumental in driving the CIPS’ improvement in its mail operations performance and delivery standards.
“She has also assisted regional posts with implementation of electronic advance data, a challenge for all postal operators in the industry’s current environment. I’m sure that she will continue to be an excellent representative for the Cayman Islands at international levels of the postal industry.”
After the EMS General Assembly, Ms Martinez-Ebanks and Ms Glasgow remained for the Postal Operations Council meeting that followed. These were the final meetings of both bodies prior to the 27th Congress of the Universal Postal Union scheduled for August 2020 in Abidjan, Cote d’Iviore.
(GIS)