The Team

Office Team – here to help

Diane De Garis

Chamber President

Chamber’s President Diane de Garis was elected at the AGM in June 2022, taking over from Elaine Gray for a two year term.

Diane is a chartered accountant, running her own business, DNA, and has a degree in pure mathematics: ‘I absolutely love numbers.’ She sees Chamber as a pivotal part of the island community and its business sector. ‘There are so many aspects to Chamber that place it right at the heart of life here and I am passionate about Guernsey so that mixture is a perfect match.’

James Ede Golightly

Vice President

James Ede Golightly is executive chair at Oxehealth, ranked among the 150 most promising Digital Health start-ups globally, and cleantech materials company Oxeco. He is also a non-executive director at Nasdaq listed Silence Therapeutics.

James has over 20 years’ experience as an investor and director, initially as an investment analyst at Mercury Asset Management (now BlackRock), before co-founding Ora Capital Partners in 2006 to invest and partner with early stage growth companies.

Elaine Gray

Past President

Elaine Gray was President of the organisation from 2020-2022 – the first female president in the Chamber of Commerce’s 212-year history.

Elaine is a partner and head of the Carey Olsen Guernsey dispute resolution and litigation team where she advises both local and international clients on commercial litigation and employment, data protection, competition law and intellectual property (IP) matters. She is recognised as a leading lawyer in these fields and appears regularly in courts and tribunals at all levels in Guernsey.

She is past representative of the finance sector on the Population Employment Advisory Panel as representative of Guernsey’s financial service industry.

Laura McKerrell

Executive Director

Laura is the Director tasked with the day to day running of Chamber and its Business Development Centre. Recently returned to the island with her family, Laura’s background is in Publishing, having worked for 10 years in communications in London. As one of nine Chamber Executive Directors, Laura is the main point of contact for those visiting the Markets Inner Street premises and as the coordinator for lobbying, communications and engagement across the board.

Alexandera Rhiana Rowe

Communications and Events Executive

As an enduring member of a small and constantly evolving office team, Alex has taken on numerous duties during her time at Chamber, but is currently focussed on Chamber’s communications, social media strategy, and organisation of events. Within this capacity, Alex is the project manager, editorial writer, and auxiliary photographer for Chamber’s bi-annual publication, Contact Magazine; Alex also writes monthly on Chamber for Business Brief, and provides the majority of Chamber’s copy.

Alex has lived between France and England since leaving school, but the pandemic brought Alex back to Guernsey after attaining a degree in English Literature and French from Warwick University. After returning, she joined Chamber, initially on a temporary basis, before finding a second-home in the organisation.

Both within Chamber and independently, Alex is a copywriter and photographer, while outside of Chamber, she is also a creative writer, freelance journalist, content creator, and visual artist working predominately with photography.

If you have anything you would like to share on Chamber’s communication channels, get in touch with Alex at alex@guernseychamber.com

Vardah Haider

Membership Engagement Executive

Vardah Haider has recently joined Chamber as the Membership Engagement Executive after moving to Guernsey from Pakistan in 2021. Vardah is tasked with managing the personal relationships between Chamber and its members.

You can contact Vardah at vardah@guernseychamber.com