According to a Digicel press release, Mara is no stranger to Digicel, having spent 12 years with Digicel from 2005.

Starting as Commercial Director for Digicel El Salvador, according to the press release, Mara then moved to Digicel Panama in 2008 where she spent six years in senior leadership commercial, operations and marketing roles before being appointed in 2015 as CEO of Digicel Panama - a role she held until March 2017 when she decided to pursue opportunities outside Digicel.

Mara then spent 18 months as General Manager of Corporacion Automotriz MDS in Mexico where she successfully conceived and implemented a turnaround strategy for the business before joining Alton Redes, a wholesale telecommunications company deploying an LTE Network in Mexico as Mobile Services Director – a position she held for just over a year. She has also held senior marketing roles with Coca-Cola in Panama and Costa Rica.

According to Digicel, local Kevin C. Smith has decided to move on from the day-to-day operations of Digicel, but will remain as an advisor to the Digicel BVI board.

Kevin C. Smith to remain as advisor

According to Digicel, Mara takes over from Kevin C. Smith, who has decided to move on from the day-to-day operations of Digicel, but will remain as an advisor to the Digicel BVI board.

“Mara and Kevin will work closely together with the Digicel BVI management team to ensure a smooth handover,” the press release stated.

“In recent months, under Kevin’s leadership, the company has made moves to assist people through the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with free access to Government call centres and educational sites, discounted service to frontline healthcare workers and the provision of high-speed complimentary connectivity to the Althea Scatliffe Primary School and Ebenezer Thomas Primary School.”

Commenting on Mara’s appointment, Regional CEO, Sinead O Marcaigh said; “With strong commercial acumen, Mara leads with great energy, enthusiasm and insight taking care of her teams and always ensuring that we stayed connected to our customers and our communities. I am delighted to be welcoming Mara back to the Digicel family and would like to wish her every success.

She continued; “My sincere thanks also to Kevin for his contribution. I am looking forward to continuing the close working relationship with him in his new capacity as advisor to the Digicel BVI Board to expand the depth and breadth of the services we provide to customers across the BVI.”

Mara Samaniego is the new CEO of Digicel BVI.

An exciting time to be rejoining Digicel- New CEO

Incoming Digicel BVI CEO, Mara Samaniego, commented; “With our customers increasingly looking to power their lives using digital services and experiences, there’s so many opportunities for us to connect with them in new and meaningful ways. It’s an exciting time to be rejoining Digicel and I am looking forward to working with the teams to build on the great work they have in place and connect more BVIslanders with their digital future.”

According to Digicel, after entering the VI and completing a 14-day quarantine period, Mara is ready to lead the local operation.