By LINDSAY THOMPSON,Bahamas Information Services

There is a new Registrar General and her ambition is to make the Registrar

General's Department "the flag ship," of the 20,000 employee-strong Public

Service. Attorney Elizabeth Thompson officially took office August 3,

following the retirement of former Registrar General Sterling Quant, who

returned to his law practice.

Ms. Thompson says she looks forward to the challenge and is focused on the

vision outlined by Minister of Financial Services and Investments the Hon.

Allyson Maynard-Gibson to "change the perception of the Registrar General's

Department in a real sense."

"I have actually told my staff that I would like this to be the flag ship of

the Public Service, to the point where they or anybody else can look back on

my tenure here and see a positive change," said Ms. Thompson.

The various sections within the Registrar General Department include Births

and Registration, Births and Deaths, Copyright Registry, Marriages, Deeds

and Documents, Industrial Property Office, Business Names, Companies,

Company Name Reservation, and Accounts.

Ms Thompson was admitted to the English Bar in November 1994, and to the

Bahamas Bar in December of that year. She earned an LL.B. with Honours from

the University of Buckingham, England. She specializes in Contract, Tort,

Trust, Criminal Law, Law of International Trade, Sale of Goods, and Consumer

Credit, Law of Evidence, Civil and Criminal Procedures, having studied at

Holborn College, London, England. She received her high school education at

St Andrew's School in New Providence.

At the relatively young age of 38, Ms. Thompson has garnered a wealth of

experience locally, having worked in the Office of the Attorney-General as

prosecutor, Assistant Registrar at the Registrar General Department, legal

counsel at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Compliance Manager and

Money Laundering Reporting Officer at Ansbacher (Bahamas) Limited, and

Compliance Manager at Cardinal International Group.

She also worked as administrative assistant at The Bahamas High Commission

in London, England, a receptionist/typist at The Bahamas High Commission,

Ottawa, Canada; and taught English as a second language in Madrid, Spain.

Ms. Thompson also served as part-time lecturer in Spanish at

Sojourner-Douglass College, Nassau.

She has represented The Bahamas at various high-level international

conferences on anti-money laundering initiatives and related areas in

Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, New York and Washington, D.C. in the United

States, England, and Peru, The Netherlands, the Cayman Islands and Aruba.

Ms. Thompson is affiliated with the American Academy of Financial Management

and is a past member of the Bahamas Association of Compliance Officers, and

member of The Bahamas Bar Association and Lincoln's Inn.

The role of the Registrar General is to oversee the entire Registry, where

record keeping is the primary function of the department. "This is the hub

of the country in terms of record keeping and we have to do a better job at

keeping records," says Ms Thompson.

Her duties also include detecting criminal activity; ensuring persons are

not using vehicles other than for the purpose for which they are intended.

"But obviously, my training in prosecution and intelligence gives me that

edge. I begin to think as soon as I look at an issue," she says.

Ms Thompson says her skills also assist her during interviews for marriage

licenses to determine whether it is a marriage of convenience between a

Bahamian and a foreigner. She notes that strides have been made in making

the department more efficient in keeping with the Government's plans to

create an electronic data base network system. She says the aim is to make

records more accessible to the public, including the use of microfilm.

Phase II is underway to digitise the Companies, Deeds and Documents

sections. Phase III will digitise the civil registry consisting of

Marriages, Births and Deaths. Ms Thompson says that plans are underway for

the training of staff to ensure their talents are utilised.

She believes her stint in the Financial Intelligence Unit prepared her for

her new post, a position held mostly by men. Growing up with three older

brothers including attorney Fayne Thompson - Ms Thompson knows what it is to

compete in a man's world.

Ms Thompson says women have shown themselves capable in every profession and

area of employment in The Bahamas. "I don't think Bahamian women believe

they are hindered by the fact that they are women. I think if we see a

challenge we take it on and we excel in it. It really comes to discipline

and commitment. It does not take anything away from men, men can do the same

thing," she says.

Ms. Thompson says she is grateful to God for the opportunity to become

Registrar General. "Obviously, the Government has the confidence that I can

excel at this position," she says.

Ms Thompson adds: "I would really try to foster a team effort and a team

mentality but in order to do that, we must change the culture and changing

culture does not change overnight. I would like to see more efficiency at

the Registrar General's Department. "The staff needs to be made aware that

we need to treat the public as clients. They are bringing revenue in for the

Government; we have a stake in this."

Her "smallest peeve" is insufficient time to deal with the legal aspects of

the job, but she realizes that she's new on the job and will need time to

"get her feet wet." In her spare time, Ms Thompson, a mother of four boys,

enjoys singing (two years ago she performed with Ira Storr and the Spank

Band under the stage name Savannah), swimming, travelling, cycling, aerobics

and squash.