Vishnu Dhanpaul
Permanent Secretary
Mr. Vishnu Dhanpaul returned in January 2017 as head Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance – a place where he has spent most of his public service life. Outside of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Dhanpaul has diligently served as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Energy Affairs and the Ministry of Public Utilities. Mr. Dhanpaul is also a former member staff of the Executive Directors’ Offices of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in Washington DC.
He is currently a director on the Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) board and former President of TIDCO and the Tourism Development Company (TDC). He formerly served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chaguaramas Development Authority, a member of the Board of Management of the Trinidad and Tobago Revenue Authority and a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He is a former Chairman of the Agricultural Development Bank and former Vice Chairman of CAL.
Mr. Dhanpaul possesses a BSc. Honours Degree in Economics; post graduate qualifications in Economics and International Relations and a Masters in Business Administration.
Suzette Lee Chee
Suzette Taylor-Lee Chee
Permanent Secretary
Mrs. Suzette Taylor-Lee Chee has been appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. Mrs Taylor-Lee Chee begun her career at the Ministry of Finance in September 1992 as Economist I assigned to the Monetary Fiscal and Trade Division.
She was subsequently appointed to the posts of Economist II and Senior Economist in the Coordinating and Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Finance. Mrs Taylor-Lee Chee was assigned to the Venture Capital Incentive Programme between 1996 and 1998. Successively she was appointed Assistant Director, Economic Management Division (EMD); with responsibility for the Macro Fiscal Unit of the EMD.
Between 2009 and 2010 she was assigned to the World Bank in Washington DC, as the Government of Trinidad and Tobago’s representative to the World Bank; situated in the office of the Executive Director with responsibility for Brazil, Columbia, the Philippines, Suriname, Haiti, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago. Upon her return from Washington DC, Mrs. Taylor- Lee Chee was once again assigned to the EMD, but this time as Assistant Director in charge of the Debt Management Unit.
Mrs Taylor-Lee Chee was promoted to the position of Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance and the Economy in March 2014; a position she held until her acting appointment as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance.
Mrs Taylor-Lee Chee possesses a B.Sc. degree in Economics from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine (1991) and a Masters of Business Administration, Heriot Watt University (2007). She has also benefited from numerous training programmes and seminars on various topics of relevance to the Ministry of Finance including Fiscal Policy, Financial Programming and Debt Management.
Michelle Durham-Kissoon
Michelle Durham-Kissoon
Permanent Secretary (Ag.)
Mrs. Michelle Durham-Kissoon has been appointed Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance (Ag.) with effect from Wednesday 2nd November, 2016. Mrs. Durham-Kissoon has over twenty-three years’ experience in mobilising external project financing and managing Trinidad and Tobago’s engagements with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Her external financing experience began in the early 1990’s in the Ministry of Planning and Development with the mobilisation of European Development Fund (EDF) grant resources for Social Infrastructure
under the Lome IV Convention. She also played a significant role in mobilising millions of dollars in Inter-American Development Bank loan and grant resources for the financing of various projects and programs across sectors of the economy at both Ministry of Planning and Development and Ministry of Finance.
In addition, Mrs. Durham-Kissoon has spent the past seven years defining policy positions for articulation by the Minister of Finance in his capacity as Governor for Trinidad and Tobago for both the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund. Her responsibilities in this area culminated in her assignment for the past two years, when Mrs. Durham-Kissoon was nominated by the Government as Advisor for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago at the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group. There, she championed issues such as advocacy against the loss of correspondent banking relationships arising from the de-risking activities of international banks as well as for the development of unique financial instruments to cater for the special needs of Small States.
Jennifer Lutchman
Ms. Jennifer Lutchman
Deputy Permanent Secretary
Mrs. Jennifer Lutchman joined the Ministry of Finance on 12th July, 2017 after spending most of her working career in the Auditor General’s Department. She has been a Member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants since 2002 and a Fellow of the Association since 2007.
She has been involved in the planning, execution and review of financial audits of Statutory Boards and Similar Bodies as well as Value for Money Audits where public funds have been used. Trained by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, as a Quality Assurance Reviewer and ISSAI Facilitator she had assisted in the strengthening of policies and procedures in the Auditor General’s Department and has facilitated the re-engineering of its processes to ensure that international standards have been met.
Mrs. Lutchman also worked for two years as a Senior Audit Analyst at the Central Audit Committee, Investments Division in the Ministry of Finance.
Savitree Seepersad
Ms. Savitree Seepersad
Deputy Permanent Secretary (Ag.)
Mrs. Savitree Seepersad has been appointed to act Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance with effect from November 2, 2015. Her portfolio includes responsibility for the Public Private Partnership Unit, Double Tax Treaty Unit, Insolvency Unit, Procurement Reform, Public Financial Management Reform and the Central Audit Committee.
Mrs Seepersad’s career spans 31 years. On qualifying ACCA in 2002, she was promoted Treasury Accountant and worked on projects including the Government Payment System and IGP/IhRIS. In 2009 she was assigned to Public Debt with responsibility for monitoring, servicing and reporting on the Public Debt.
In 2011, she was assigned Treasury Director and worked in Pensions administration until 2014. One of the initiatives she was involved in was the decentralisation of the Life Certificate exercise for Government pensioners. In April 2014, she was assigned to Treasury Management with responsibility for the preparation of the Treasury Financial Statements.
In these positions she also provided advice on financial, accounting and pension matters in the public service and was actively involved in reform initiatives in these areas.
Mrs Seepersad is a Fellow Chartered and Certified Accountant who has benefited from training programmes and seminars on various topics which include accounting, auditing, pension administration and debt management.
Yvonne Neemacharan
Ms. Yvonne Neemacharan
Deputy Permanent Secretary (Ag.)
Ms. Yvonne Neemacharan has been appointed to act Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance effective 2nd, May 2016. Ms. Neemacharan began her career in the Public Service in November 1988 as a Temporary Clerk 1 within the Treasury Division.
She remained dedicated and continued to serve in the Treasury Division for twenty-seven (27) years where she held numerous job positions. Her last position with the Division was Treasury Director, Pensions Management Branch.
In November 2015, Ms. Neemacharan was appointed to act Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services. A position she held until her appointment with the Ministry of Finance.
Ms. Neemacharan was involved in several projects within her tenure at the Treasury Division and as Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary in Ministry of Social Development.
