Board of Directors
EDP Fiji has assembled a strong and respected Board of Directors with extensive experience in business, finance and the local real estate market. The Board supports an executive management team with a combined 50 years of business and property development experience.
EDP is well equipped to meet the challenges and opportunities of the Fijian investment and real estate markets. EDP offer investors the potential for high returns on funds invested, and consumer’s homes which excel in design, convenience, functionality, and value for money.
Kory Mears, Chairman.
Kory Mears, a Baptist Missionary, has been a resident of the Fiji Islands since 1995. During that time he has established Nausori Baptist Church which has spawned three other Baptist Churches, Nausori Baptist Christian Academy which caters for Kindergarten thru High School, a Ministry Training program for developing Pastors and School Teachers, The City of Refuge which works to rehabilitate homeless young men from the streets of Suva, and most recently worked on the founding of Nausori Baptist Orphanage.
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In addition to this he has helped to establish development programs such as the Fiji Kidney Support Group, the Fiji Autism Association and has been an active board member of the Kidney Foundation of Fiji which recently opened Fiji’s first haemodialysis center.
Kory Mears is also a co-founding director of Executive Development Properties Ltd. Being a Fiji resident over the last decade, Kory has been essential in giving guidance to the Company’s investment and development policies, taking into consideration the people and economy of Fiji.
Kaliopate Tavola
Independent, Non-Executive Director
Kaliopate Tavola is a Fijian economist, diplomat, and politician, who was Fiji’s Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2000 to 2006. He was also Minister for External Trade and Minister for Sugar. Kaliopate Tavola began his career in 1973 as an agricultural economist with the Fijian Ministry of Agriculture. In 1984 he was posted to London as a Counsellor with the Fijian High Commission; he concurrently represented the Fiji Sugar Marketing Company. He was transferred to Brussels and appointed Ambassador to Belgium in 1988, and was accredited to France, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, and Greece, as well as to UNESCO and the World Trade Organization. He remained in that position for ten years. Read more...
Fijian Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase appointed Kaliopate Tavola Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Interim Government that took office in July 2000, following a counter-coup which thwarted George Speight's putsch against the elected government of Mahendra Chaudhry. In the general election held to restore democracy in September 2001, Tavola was elected as a candidate of the United Fiji Party to represent the Lami Open Constituency, and retained his Cabinet position subsequently.
As Foreign Minister, Tavola had to defend Fiji's international image in the face of criticism from some countries of the government's perceived lenience towards perpetrators of the 2000 coup.
In an interview published on 2 February 2006 by Islands Business International, Tavola announced his decision not to contest forthcoming elections, due on 6-13 May, citing his age, health, and family commitments.
Following the victory of the ruling SDL in the general election, Prime Minister Qarase persuaded Tavola to reverse his decision to retire from the Cabinet. As Cabinet Ministers are required to be members of one of the two Houses of the Parliament, he accepted the Prime Minister's invitation to become a Senator as one of nine nominees of the Prime Minister.
The Fiji Live news service claimed on 4 February that Tavola was Fiji's most popular politician. Following the 2000 coup crisis, Tavola was reportedly the only ministerial candidate acceptable to both the Military and the rebels led by George Speight. Fiji Live also claims that he remained the only Cabinet Minister to retain the favour of the Military after relations between the government and the Military worsened from 2003 onwards. However, he still lost his post in the Cabinet, along with his fellow Ministers, in the military coup that deposed the government on 5 December 2006.
Vernicita Arreza-Slack,
Company Secretary.
Mrs. Arreza-Slack has amassed extensive experience in global strategic planning and supply chain management, with companies such as Aristocrat Gaming Technologies.
Mrs. Arreza-Slack holds a Bachelor of Science (in Commerce) and a Certificate in Food Service Technology. Additional Australasian Production & Inventory Control Society (APICS) studies have positioned Mrs. Arreza-Slack well in her profession.
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Mrs. Arreza-Slack brings to EDP the latest tools and techniques, and innovative professional ideas, to manufacturing and construction, thereby providing key support to our projects and company. Key strengths include the ability to understand and manage complex business systems, and motivate staff toward achievement of company critical goals, whilst working under pressure and to tight deadlines.
In today's business environment, where all functional areas of a company depend on one another, success can be a chain reaction. As a professional, Mrs. Arreza-Slack has learnt to think and plan across departmental and global lines, gain greater understanding of how the business interconnects, and deliver optimum results by streamlining the enterprise.
Neale Slack , Managing Director.
Neale Slack was appointed managing director in December 2006. He has acquired over 19 years of expertise in providing program management, mediation, business strategies, rebuilding, restructuring, re-creating diversified corporate processes and procedures. Neale has commercial relations in both domestic and international arenas, working to develop and define multi-leveled business paradigms. Read more...
Neale has generated strategic advantage for organizations such as Emerson Electric Co., Goodman Fielder Ltd., and Aristocrat Leisure Limited. He has lectured in business at Central Queensland University, Australia. His diverse qualifications include: Master of Business, Master of Educational Studies, Bachelor of Business, Diploma of Applied Science, Certificate IV in Workplace Assessment & Training, and the School of Tomorrow Training Certificate.
Neale has wide and varied experience, having successfully operated in a range of industries. Such diversity and such achievements are a testament to his ability to adapt and apply acquired knowledge and experience in complex business environments.
Memberships
Neale Slack holds the following memberships:
Justice of the Peace - NSW Justices Association
