7 News Belize

Embarrassment for BTB – Director Marketing Resigns In Controversy
posted (December 17, 2014)

Right now, the Belize Tourism Board is reeling from a developing scandal: one of their senior executives has resigned in the wake of reports that he lied on his resume and job letter.

As we told you 2 nights ago, Alyssa Carnegie vacated her post as BTB's Director of Marketing and Industry Relations to become the communication's Director for Oceana Belize. The announcement that she joined the conservation organization came in the same day as the announcement from BTB that she was being replaced by Clive Myers.

In the release from two days ago, BTB's Director of Tourism, Karen Bevans, was quoted as saying, "We are very excited to have Clive as the BTB's Director of Marketing & Industry Relations. I am confident that with his familiarity of the industry, coupled with his drive and passion for the development of tourism and Belize, we will build on our successes and continue to push our mandate forward."

That's a glowing endorsement from the most senior official at BTB, but tonight it is seriously tarnished.

This afternoon, reports emerged that Myers made a misrepresentation on his resume when he said that he completed a Masters Degree at Drexel University in the US. There were also reports that he had also studied at Ashford University Online. Well, checks were done and the results came back that the Universities did not have any record of Clive Myers attending, much less completing a degree at their Universities.

That landed on the desks of the senior execs at BTB and by 4 p.m. today, he had resigned the post, and the report we've received says that he has left the BTB.

That was followed by a very sheepish and terse release by BTB which said, quote, "The Belize Tourism Board (BTB) hereby announces that the Ag. Director of Marketing & Industry Relations, Mr. Clive Myers, has tendered his resignation with the As a result, Ms. Karen Pike, Director of Information Management, will be holding over the responsibilities of the Marketing and Industry Relations department, in the interim." End Quote.

No doubt, there is a major question that is currently unanswered. What happened to the background check, which was to have been done before Myers was hired? Well, BTB isn't addressing that issue at this time.

This scandal as left the organization in a lurch with the PR Department scrambling to try to find good news coming out of BTB to gloss over the embarrassment. But, what about the man in the middle of all of this, what's he saying? Well, we spoke with Clive Myers via phone today and while he declined comment, he promised us an interview before the end of the week. We've learned anecdotally, that he's informed other reporters that he is in consultation with his lawyer about what will happen next.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize