Monica Silvera

Remembering Monica Silvera

Monica Silvera was the Caribbean Shipping Association’s first female chief executive. Monica sadly died in 2002. Today, the CSA continues to celebrate her life and her contribution to the Association and a scholarship is named in her honor.

For those who knew her, Monica Silvera had a sunny and permanently cheery disposition and brought warmth and energy to the Secretariat at CSA conferences. She had a welcoming persona and an infectious laugh and she had the uncanny and impressive ability to remember everybody’s name. More than that, she knew where everyone was from. And if they had brought their family to a previous CSA conference, she would remember the name of their spouse and the names of their children. It was a rare and incredible gift.

At CSA conferences, when sometimes weary delegates arrived at the Secretariat, often after long and arduous journeys, Monica would be there to welcome each with a warm smile, address each effortlessly by name and was able to discuss their journey simply because she committed to memory how each delegate would be travelling to the conference. This was just one of the many aspects of her personality and she was widely admired and highly respected. For, not only did she make people feel special, she also helped to make them immediately feel part of the CSA.

As has been mentioned in previous issues of Caribbean Maritime, Monica gave CSA members a sense of belonging. She made those coming to a CSA event for the first time feel that they were one of the family. It certainly made her a very special person.

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