Lorna Smith, OBE, is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LGS & Associates. Lorna has several decades of experience at the highest levels of the public service in the British Virgin Islands and has spent the last decade supporting Caribbean Governments, corporations and individuals in various commercial ventures. She spent the last two and a half years establishing BVI Finance, a public private partnership devoted to business development and promotion of the financial services industry. She is currently Vice Chairman of Bank of Asia.

Over the course of her senior-level public service, Lorna has developed extensive relationships with leaders from the business community, international NGO’s and government leaders from around the world. She has been one of the key ‘engineers’ behind the BVI’s rise from relative obscurity to its present position as a top-flight tourist destination and one of the premier centres for global finance. Her unique experience and expertise serving as a facilitator between the public, private and non-profit worlds both within the BVI and between different nations gives her special insights into the challenges and opportunities facing organizations seeking to operate in the BVI and across the Caribbean.

In 2002, Lorna took the helm of the BVI International Finance Centre, which is charged with promoting the BVI’s Financial Services. She worked in close collaboration with the private sector, mounting promotional events in London, New York, Miami, Zurich, Geneva, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

In 2016, Lorna returned as the interim leader of BVI Finance due to a confluence of events, perhaps most pressingly the release of the Panama Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which would place the BVI’s financial services in severe jeopardy. At the same time, BVI Finance was transforming from a Government department to a Public/Private Partnership. Her interim post lasted two and a half years.

Lorna was also pivotal to getting the financial services industry restored in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma & Maria through her leadership and communications skills. She also played a vital role within Government especially on the interim Recovery Board as well as through the Rotary Club of Tortola where she raised significant sums to aid the recovery and to help the needy.

Lorna was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her contribution to Public Service in the British Virgin Islands and is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow for her contributions to Rotary.