About us > Our Board and Executive

Board Members and Executive


The Board members have been  appointment by the Minister for Justice in consultation with the Prime Minister. There are four Board Members as follows:-
•    Mr Ariff Ali - Chair
•    Ms Sarah-Jane Wild-Deputy Chair
•    Mr Ashok Patel - Member
•    Ms Bhavna Narayan - Member
    
 Mr Parvez Akbar is the Chief Executive Officer.

 Chair - Ariff Ali

Mr Ali joined the Reserve Bank in 1992 in the Research Department. He has worked in the Economics, Financial Markets and the Financial Institutions Groups and was Team Leader for the FIJICLEAR project. He rose to head the Financial Markets Group in 2009 and was the Chief Manager of the Economics Group from 2013. Prior to his appointment as Governor, he was the Deputy Governor since May 2014.
 
As Governor, Mr Ali is the Chairperson of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Fiji, Monetary Policy Committee, Macroeconomic Committee, Capital Markets Development Taskforce, National Financial Inclusion Taskforce and Secured Transactions Taskforce. He is also a member of the Council of the Fiji Institute of Bankers and the National Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Mr Ali is the Chairperson of the Government Tender Board, the Fiji Cane Growers Fund and the Accident Compensation Commission Fiji and a board member of the Fiji Sugar Corporation Limited.

Mr Ariff Ali obtained his Bachelor of Economics (Honours) Degree from the International Islamic University, Malaysia and a Master of Business Administration from the University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
 

  Deputy Chair - Sarah-Jane Wild

 
Ms Sarah-Jane is the Head of Pacific Operations for Tower Insurance.  Sarah-Jane originally came to Fiji  in 2015 as the General Manager of Tower Fiji.  Sarah-Jane has worked in the NZ insurance industry in a variety of leadership positions for the past 20 years.  Prior to her appointment as GM of Fiji, Sarah-Jane was the Head of Claims for TOWER NZ.
 
Sarah-Jane has a Diploma in Financial Studies with ANZIF.
 

 Member - Ashok Patel

  
Mr Patel is a well established businessman holding directorship in R. C. Manubhai, Manubhai Industries Ltd, CRP Industries Ltd, Roofing Profile (Fiji) Ltd, Glass & Mirror (Fiji) Ltd and AJAX Spurway Fasteners Ltd.
Mr Patel is also well known in the commercial arena with a wealth of experience in retail and manufacturing. Emphasising and continuously developing innovative customer centric solutions. A forward-thinking team building and leadership professional with extensive expertise in Business for over 25 years.
He has been serving as the Deputy Chairman for the Board of Land Transport Authority since year 2015.
 

Member -Bhavna Narayan

 
Ms Narayan is a State Solicitor at the Attorney-General’s Chambers. She is a legal practitioner by profession and was admitted to the Fiji Legal Practitioner’s Bar in 1998. Prior to joining the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Bhavna was a Partner at the law firm, Lateef & Lateef Lawyers of Suva. Besides being a full time legal practitioner, Bhavna has done part time tutoring in law at the University of the South Pacific and Central Queensland University. She has also previously held board memberships, including being a board member of the Fiji National Provident Fund.  She was also a Commissioner of the Public Service Commission.
 

 Chief Executive Officer - Parvez Akbar

  
Mr Akbar began his career in 1995 as a Barrister and Solicitor in Fiji where he worked as a lawyer in various areas of the law, at all levels, including personal injuries law. He initially worked for a firm and later established his own practice. From 2002 he worked in New Zealand, specialising in Employment Law, ACC and Health and Safety. He has successfully provided advice, support and representation at various levels in his specialist area, including Mediation, Employment Relations Authority, Employment Court and as assisting Counsel in the Court of Appeal.

He is admitted to the High Courts of New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. Mr Akbar was Senior Solicitor in the Employers & Manufacturers’ Association, NZ (EMA) Legal team until 2011 where he provided legal support to a diverse group of businesses ranging from small employers to larger national, trans-Tasman and global organisations.
 
After 7 years at EMA Legal he took up the opportunity to join Westpac New Zealand as Head of Employment Law, Employment Relations and Health, Safety & Wellbeing. In this role he provided strategic guidance to the business, legal advice and representation, health and safety and ACC advice, and oversaw a significant improvement in the organisation's safety performance.
 
He was later appointed Head of Employment Relations, and Safety & Wellbeing at NZ Post Group, providing legal and strategic advice, support and representation to the business on Employment Law, Employment/Industrial Relations, ACC and Health  Safety matters. Mr Akbar was successful in establishing a stable Employment Law environment and saw the safety performance and culture improve considerably during his watch.
 
Having successfully undertaken external and in-house roles, Mr Akbar established his own employment law practice where he provided advice, representation, coaching and training in his specialist areas of practice.
 
In January 2018 Mr Akbar commenced his role as the first Chief Executive Officer of the  Accident Compensation Commission, Fiji.