Massy: Parisot-Potter wanted $100 million to exit company
(Trinidad Guardian) The “overwhelming majority” of allegations contained in the 13-page document submitted by its former executive vice president of business integrity and general counsel, Angelique Parisot-Potter, “have not been made out.”
That’s the conclusion of the three-month probe done by attorneys Kerwyn Garcia, SC, and Vishma Jaisingh.
Parisot-Potter did not participate in the investigation because she refused to sign a requested non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
However, apart from the 13-page letter, she did submit further written and audio evidence through her attorneys to the team.
Interestingly, despite wanting an NDA during the investigation, the Massy Board decided to publish Garcia’s two-page executive summary “in the interest of transparency” in newspaper advertisements today. Massy said it would also review its company’s governance systems, in particular the bonus system for its executives.
The report revealed that Massy was restructuring its operations and that ParisotPotter’s job as group counsel was made redundant last year. As a result, she was in negotiations to exit the company for 11.8 million pounds sterling ($100 million TT) as well as a seat on Massy’s Board.
It said that in 2019, Massy decided to re-organise its operations in accordance with the portfolio model, which resulted in “irreconcilable differences” between ParisotPotter and the company.
“Those differences were a major factor in the deterioration of the employment relationship between Massy and Mrs ParisotPotter. Following the emergence of those differences, Mrs Parisot-Potter voluntarily entered into negotiations on the terms of a separation package for her voluntary exit from the company. The parties agreed to enter mediation on the terms of a separation package,” the summary said.
“Mrs Parisot-Potter’s statement was submitted to facilitate consideration of that proposal,” it said.
The executive summary
said that Parisot-Potter’s letter to Massy Holdings was made on November 12, 2023.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Guardian published on January 7, Parisot-Potter claimed that no one had responded to her 13-page letter.
The chairman responded, saying, “I can tell you that your 13-page document is taken very seriously. We’re in the midst of review and in some investigations, as you are aware, and we have been communicating with, I think, recently (turns to look at Gervase) as a few days ago, with you about it. And we can continue to communicate, hopefully, resolve through inquiry, investigation, and change. I believe that as the chairman of this board, we are always open to hearing of issues, resolving those issues, and working through those issues.”
Parisot-Potter then responded, “This is not true nor accurate, as there has been no communication with me on any of the issues I outlined in the 13page document then.”
Garcia’s statement said that negotiations broke down on November 30, 2023, and that her allegations were made public) thereafter.
On December 18, 2023, at the company’s 100th annual general meeting, Parisot-Potter took to the floor during the questionand-answer period and made public her concerns about the conglomerate’s executive leadership consultant, the Florida-based Delphi.
Parisot-Potter claimed that Delphi engages in bizarre rituals for executives, that their leadership programme is a drain of scarce foreign exchange, and that the couple leading the programme appear to exert disproportionate influence over Massy’s executive team.
She told the company’s board of directors, chaired by Robert Riley, that she had written to former chief executive Gervase Warner but received no communication on the matter, so she was compelled to raise the matter at the AGM.
Garcia’s conclusions
Last week, Massy announced that it had completed the investigation, which began on January 14, 2024.
“The 456-page report treats separately with each of the more than 100 allegations contained in Mrs Parisot-Potter’s statement and is supported by more than 2,000 pages of testimony and related documents, all of which are currently being reviewed by Massy’s attorneys,” the statement said at the time.
Garcia’s conclusions on allegations:
1. Garcia said that Parisot-Potter was “verbally abused” by a Delphi executive during the first conference of the programme in 2022 and that she “justifiably felt humiliated by such abuse.”
2. The evidence does not establish that Mrs ParisotPotter was penalised for fulfilling her role as general counsel or for not supporting or for rejecting the
Delphi programme or its presenters.
3. The evidence does not establish that the Delphi programme, whether by its contents or by its presenters, poses any danger to the operations of Massy. It said Massy executives are free to select executive training of their choice. “Some Massy executives have felt the programme to be immensely helpful. Others, including Mrs Parisot-Potter, have not.”
4. Parisot-Potter did not have valid basis for expecting that she would have been employed with Massy after the age of 60 (and until age 68).
5. The evidence does not establish a conflict of interest between the chairman of Massy and a reputational management consultant engaged by Massy in June 2023.
6. The evidence does not establish a pattern of behaviour where there is poor governance and no due process, including in relation to the payment of dividends and consultancies such as McKinsey, Egon Zehnder, and Delphi.
7. The evidence establishes that Mrs ParisotPotter was listened to and encouraged to highlight issues.
8. The evidence does not establish that Mrs ParisotPotter was intimidated, was the subject of bullying by David O’Brien, was harassed, retaliated or discriminated against, or victimised.
Publication of the allegations
Following the publication of the allegations, Massy halted the executive leadership programme, hosted by Florida-based Delphi Sphere Consulting, at the centre of the controversy.
In the January 7 interview, Parisot-Potter claimed that its principals held a “disproportionate influence” over its executives.
She did the executive leadership training in 2022 and concluded it in 2023.
“I was told by the CEO (Gervase Warner) that, quote-unquote, I could not move forward with Massy unless I did Delphi,” she said.
Parisot-Potter is a Catholic and believes in God. However, that belief system did not constrain her from accepting the Delphi guidance, which she said focuses on energy training. Her issue, she told Guardian Media on January 7, was the credibility of the couple—Paul and Indira Dyal-Dominguez— running the programme and what she described as their “mumbo-jumbo” language of learning.
“I had to do the programme. I did not have a choice. I was clearly and repeatedly told that it was a condition for continued employment and opportunity for senior members of the executive management team: I cannot move forward with Massy without doing this programme.
“The Delphi experience was and is a serious matter in its violations of my religious beliefs and the beliefs of others, but Delphi in itself was not the problem. Delphi is symptomatic of the real issues,” she said.