Simpson Bay, St. Maarten – The Princess Juliana International Airport Operating Company (PJIAE NV), has appointed Mr. Ravi Daryanani as its first Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Daryanani who was until then Head of Finance in the island government, took office on November 6, 2017.
Prior to his six-year term at the Ministry of Finance, he had also spent some 20 years in the private sector during which he served as Finance Director at DHL and Digicel among other important posts.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Directors, Mr. Gary Matser said PJIAE N.V. was very happy to welcome the new CFO on board.
“As part of our efforts to further position the company to meet the challenges of the future, we are all excited to have Mr. Daryanani join the management team and look forward to his professional contribution in his capacity as CFO,” Matser said. Also welcoming Daryanani to “Team SXM Airport” was Michel Hyman, COO and acting CEO who pointed to the wealth of experience the new CFO brings to the table.
“This will only make us stronger as a team and put us in pole position to achieve our goals,” Hyman said.
For his part, Daryanani said: “I wanted to come back to the private sector. I was quite interested in the airport as a whole, being that the airport is one of the economic pillars of this island.”
Daryanani, who holds an MBA from USF, California, said his new job is “more in line with my education and with my past experience.”
He explained that he had already accepted the CFO position at the airport before Hurricane Irma struck. “Irma did not sway my decision in one way or the other. I knew what I wanted to do.”
Daryanani said one of the main challenges he faces in his new job is “to make sure we get revenues back to where they were before the hurricanes and trying to get the airport back on its feet to where you have an airport that is profitable as it was pre-Irma as quickly as possible.”
He further clarified that all of this would depend on how quickly the insurance claim could be settled. “It’s a long process, but we’re clear on what we expect and I think the ball is in the court of the insurance company right now,” he said.
Regarding getting back to pre-Irma levels in terms of the airport’s revenues, the CFO explained that this is based on what the island is offering.
“It depends on who’s coming here, how many hotels are open, are the stores back open, is St. Maarten being marketed as a place to come back to… it’s all tied together. Our revenue is driven by the economy of the island, by everything.”
As part of the management team, Daryanani praised Mr. Michel Hyman, COO and acting CEO whom he described as “very supportive.”
“I think we work well together. He obviously has years of experience and he knows what he’s doing.
We can only complement each other.”
