Kevin Keen to be chairman of Visit Jersey

Friday 11 March 2016

The board of directors of Visit Jersey Limited, the company which promotes the Island as a destination, has appointed Kevin Keen as their next chairman.

Mr Keen is presently a director of the company and heads the audit committee prior to which he supported the board as transition director before the appointment of permanent CEO Keith Beecham at the beginning of 2015.

He was appointed following an open process overseen by the Appointments Commission. Mr. Keen will take up the position in May on the retirement of founding chairman John Henwood.

Welcoming the appointment Mr Henwood said: “I’m delighted to be handing over the reins to Kevin in the knowledge of his resolute commitment to Jersey and its tourism industry. His record as a business leader is almost unparalleled and he has the full confidence of the board and the entire team at Visit Jersey.”

Jersey-born and educated, Mr Keen has over 40 years’ experience of working in the Island including with Le Riche Group, as Managing Director of Jersey Dairy, Chief Executive of Jersey Post and Chairman of Jersey Water.

He is presently serving Durrell as interim chief executive. A Chartered Management Accountant by profession, Mr Keen is also a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. He was awarded his MBA by the University of Stirling.

Commenting of his appointment Mr Keen said: “I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to lead the Board of Visit Jersey Limited towards our objective of 1 million visitors by 2030. Thanks to the work of the Tourism Shadow Board and more recently the Visit Jersey board, we now have the right structure, a fantastic management team led by Keith Beecham and great staff. Working together with the many stakeholders concerned with the visitor economy in Jersey, I really believe we can get the Island to fall in love with tourism again.”