New Deputy Governor Gloria McField-Nixon said tackling talent shortages, preparing the next generation of public servants and maintaining a high-performing bureaucracy are among her top priorities as she begins her tenure as head of the civil service.
Speaking with Compass TV news anchor Shanda Gallego days after taking office, McField-Nixon said the transition from her swearing-in ceremony to the responsibilities of leading government had been immediate.
“The civil service has been my home for nearly 30 years, but I can say that the last three days have been quite different,” she said.
She described having her mother, husband and son present for the swearing-in ceremony as an “amazing experience”, before moving directly into her first Cabinet meeting and a Leadership Cayman discussion on the challenges facing government.
McField-Nixon became the Cayman Islands’ first female deputy governor and head of the civil service last week, succeeding Franz Manderson following his retirement after 14 years in the role and more than four decades in the public service.
While praising the strong foundation left by her predecessor, McField-Nixon said the civil service faces growing pressure as Cayman continues to grow.
“We face significant demands for a public service that’s fuelled really by the steep growth in our population that’s been sustained year after year,” she said.
Targeting ‘talent scarcity’
Among the most pressing issues, she said, is recruiting and retaining employees in critical frontline and specialist positions, including teachers, police officers and professionals to drive government modernisation.
“Talent scarcity is a real issue,” she said.
To address those challenges, McField-Nixon said government is strengthening collaboration with the education and Caymanian employment ministries to identify Caymanian students overseas and connect them with career opportunities before they return home.
She also highlighted this year’s internship programme, which will place more than 200 Caymanians in government departments.
“That starts the first line of that relationship that, for many of them, ends up in them entering into the civil service with very long careers,” she said.
Discussing the introduction of term limits for civil servants, she said government had approached the changes carefully, ensuring the legislation was not retroactive and allowing both employees and departments time to prepare.
Maintaining high employee engagement remained central to retaining staff, she said, adding that the civil service continues to focus on creating a workplace where employees want to stay and do their best.
Reflecting on becoming the first woman to hold the office of deputy governor, McField-Nixon said she hoped her appointment would encourage future generations of women to pursue leadership roles.
She recalled a young civil servant telling her the appointment demonstrated there was “no position within our civil service” that women could not aspire to hold.
McField-Nixon also paid tribute to pioneering Caymanian women, including National Hero Sybil McLaughlin, saying women have long played a vital role in shaping the Cayman Islands. Today, she noted, women make up 56% of the civil service workforce and continue to make significant contributions across government.
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