Vintage Magazine - April 2013 - Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago

On Thursday January 31 2013 the Bank bid a fond
farewell to Dr. Shelton Nicholls at a ceremony held
in his honour. Many of us who are now retirees have
had the privilege of working closely with Dr. Nicholls
during his ten years as Deputy Governor and can
testify to his dedication and professionalism. We
remember as well the passion and intensity with
which he approached even such lighter pursuits as
performing in the choir or participating in sporting
events. Dr. Nicholls was indeed a man of many parts
and Vintage would like to take this opportunity
to salute his sterling contribution to the Central
Bank. We can find no better way of doing so than
through the words of Deputy Governor Joan John
whose reminiscences and sentiments expressed at Dr.
Nicholls’ farewell function so eloquently echoed our
own thoughts and feelings:
Firstly, Shelton, we want to
acknowledge your tremendous
contribution to the Bank and
to each of us. While your direct
responsibilities have spanned
Research, Library, Records and
Archives, ITS, Risk and Security,
your broader participation on
bank-wide committees and
involvement in so many of the
Bank’s publications have led to a far broader span of your
influence. Those of us who work in these other areas of
the Bank - whether it be in the Reserve Management
Department where we had your regular input at the
ROC Meeting, or in FISD, where we had the benefit of
your understanding of macro-prudential issues in the
regular publication of the Financial Stability Report, or
whether it was with regard to more ad-hoc exercises such
as the upgrade of the Bank’s website - we all have gained
a tremendous amount from your willingness to share the
breadth of your knowledge and your excellent command of
the English language.
However, your contribution in the area of the Bank’s
Research and Policy is particularly outstanding as you would
have been at the centre of many of the new developments
over the past years - whether it was with regard to the
building of a macro-econometric model of Trinidad and
Tobago, formulation of monetary policy, the development
of new data sets, the preparation of research papers,
establishing new indicators, preparing speeches on a variety
of subjects, and more recently on the development of the
new mortgage market guideline for Trinidad and Tobago.
We all know that Shelton loves economics and cares
deeply about the Bank’s Research Department. I thought
therefore that I would garner some views from the Research
Department about what would be their lasting memories.
Here are some:
1. The high regard in which you hold the Bank and the
important role that you saw the Bank playing in the
country’s development. You were often heard to say:
If the Bank fails the country fails.
2. The personal responsibility you felt for ensuring that
the quality of work emanating from the Research
Department met the highest professional standards.
4 VINTAGE