The Bermuda Tourism Authority is set to announce its new chief executive imminently, it has been confirmed.

The post became vacant after the sudden departure of Charles Jeffers II in June 2022, for reasons that have never been disclosed.

Tracy Berkeley, the authority’s chief administration officer, was appointed interim CEO immediately after Mr Jeffers left, but, to date, a permanent replacement for Mr Jeffers has not been announced.

Wayne Caines, the chairman of the BTA board of directors, has now confirmed that the authority is close to making an appointment.

Mr Caines said: “The Bermuda Tourism Authority Board is in the process of finalising the appointment of the BTA CEO. We will make a formal announcement as soon as it is practicable”.

A BTA spokesman had previously stated that the authority would “seek to fill the role of CEO from within the organisation first”.

The spokesman added at the time: “If we do not find a candidate from within, the BTA will welcome external candidates to apply for the role via local advertising and international headhunting.”

Ms Berkeley has been described by the BTA as a “highly motivated, agile and focused C-suite professional, with 20-plus years of diverse, global, strategic human resources and operational experience in the (re) insurance, tourism, healthcare and international business sectors”.

She joined the BTA in January 2020 as its “director of people”, or head of human resources, having previously been head of talent and culture at the Rosewood Bermuda, in charge of the Bermuda HR division at Aspen Re and head of the Bermuda Hospitals Board’s human resources and operations team.