AT the age of 32, Marc Telemaque is well-positioned to become one of Bermuda's premier civil servants.

Poised to take over the $124,000-a-year post of Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Transport next month, the graduate of Paget Primary and the Berkeley Insititute said he was looking forward to the new role and the challenges it would present.

It's an attitude that has served him well, leading him to success in his previous career choices - first as a lawyer and more recently in his role as a Bermuda Regiment captain, through which he served as aide-de-camp to two Governors.

"I'd describe the two years I've spent as aide-de-camp as an incredible experience," he said. "The Regiment is probably the most, at least I've found it to be, excellent vehicle through which people can serve their country.

"Through the Regiment, you meet people from all walks of life who bring together different experiences and who are united in one cause - service to Bermuda. It is an excellent opportunity. Serving as aide-de-camp has been a wonderful experience and I hope to continue in part-time service in the Regiment but I am relishing a new challenge."

AFTER graduating from the Berkeley Institute, Mr. Telemaque entered the Rotary International exchange programme, through which he spent a year studying in Sao Luis, Brazil. He continued his education at Grenville Christian College in Canada before transferring to Buckingham, England and pursued a law degree at the University of Buckingham. He furthered his law studies, on completion of his degree, at the Inns of Court School of Law in London.

"I qualified as a lawyer in 1992," he said, "and did my pupillage at (local law firm) Appleby, Spurling and Kempe practising litigation, mainly, and criminal law. In November of 1993, I was called to the bar in Bermuda."

Mr. Telemaque moved to Hall & Associates for a brief period and in March 1995 - at the age of 25 - started his own firm, Telemaque and Associates. It was soon after he returned to the island from the United Kingdom, he said, that he was first afforded the opportunity to offer his services to the Bermuda Regiment.

"I started my service in the Bermuda Regiment in October of 1992 and did various part-time jobs including two junior non-commissioned officer cadres and was commissioned in May of 1994. Through my Regiment career, between 1994 and the current day, I have done courses within the training company and the rifle company in Jamaica, the UK and Canada.

"I think (through the Regiment) people learn different things depending on their own strengths and weaknesses and depending on what they want to achieve in the time they spend there. But I believe it builds the spirit of camaraderie and a respect for one another."

In 2000, Mr. Telemaque accepted the post of aide-de-camp, serving under then-Governor Thorold Masefield until the appointment of the present Governor, Sir John Vereker.

"I decided to put my law career on hold for almost two years," he said. "It's possible I might return to it one day. Anything's possible. But I have been doing it for ten years and I like new challenges."

His advice for the next aide-de-camp?

"A love of Bermuda is essential. And a dedication to duty, an unstinting loyalty, and a desire to ensure that Bermuda is well represented on all occasions and that we as a community try to consistently have high standards and put our best foot forward at all times."