Former advertising executive Nancy Volesky has been named Director of E-Commerce for the Ministry of Telecommunications and E-Commerce.

The native of Montreal, Canada, spent the past five years in Bermuda at AAC, Saatchi and Saatchi as senior account director interactive media and e-business.

That job involved designing solutions in the communications technology area and providing a range of interactive media tools such as CD-Roms, product demos and e-commerce enabled sites.

Minister of Telecommunications and E-Commerce Michael Scott said of the appointment: ?She comes with passion and enthusiasm for the job.

?She comes with an understanding of the e-commerce community, e-business and excellence in business within this community.

?I?m sure we?re going to be well-served by her direction and leadership.?

Ms Volesky is the past chairman of the Business Technology Division at the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce and was also Chairman of the ?Wired Wednesday? events ? the local business technology forum.

She has worked with the Ministry of Telecommunications and E-Commerce since 2002 when she was appointed a member of ECAB, the e-commerce advisory board. She has also acted as Trade Show Chairman and E-Commerce Conference organising committee member for the international eCC Bermuda event and is also a devoted member of the BTEC initiative.

She holds a Master?s degree in Public Administration from Queen?s University, Kingston; a Master of Arts from Concordia University, Montreal; and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, Montreal. She has also taken courses in On-Line Learning Applications and Internet Marketing.

Prior to moving to Bermuda, she worked as Ombudsman and Outreach Officer at the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages in Toronto and as an account executive at National Public Relations in Quebec, Canada. As a consultant, she also headed an international project team responsible for the translation/adaptation of South Africa?s bid book for the 2004 Olympic Games that was presented to the IOC.

She said her new mandate is to ensure that Bermuda continues to be globally recognised as a world class environment for business technology. As such, her department will continue develop a legislative framework and foster a landscape that supports e-business growth, technology education and access.

The Electronic Transactions Act, which set out regulation for e-business on the Island in 1999, is among the issues the new director plans to tackle. She said that it needs to be amended to take into account access to information, child protection and data protection legislation.

?It is a good time to review whether that legislation has stood the test of time because the e-market has evolved,? she said, adding that the Ministry will also be reviewing and tweaking its e-Business Green Paper of May 2003 as some initiates have been enacted and others indicate methods of delivery that are no longer relevant.?

She added that internal and external partnerships will remain important as it will help the Ministry develop initiatives that are practical and purposeful and realistic.

?The whole concept of e-business is not about the e-commerce, e-business. It is really about developing a culture here of business excellence because technology is part of business,? she said.