Ephraim Serrette has resigned from his position as President of the National Association of Athletics Administrations of Trinidad and Tobago (NAAATT) with effect from 2021 February 16.
In his letter to the General Secretary of the association Dexter Voisin, Serrette explained that the demands of a recent job appointment precluded his continuation in office. The formal announcement did not come as a surprise as he had signalled his intention to his fellow board members over two weeks ago.
Serrette, 63, has been on NAAATT’s board for over 15 years, 13 of which he has served as President.
Under the leadership of the former national 100 metres senior and junior sprint champion, the association made significant strides and has often been recognised as the best local sporting organisation.
Serrette, a member of the Phase II Pan Groove, lead the NAAATT which has been constantly awarded the Jeffrey Stollmeyer Award as the best performing national governing body (NGB) in terms of efficiency, sustainability, growth, accountability and similar factors. The organisation captured seven of the last ten presentation of the First Citizen Sports Foundation award.
"In the last 10 years, we would have won it about seven times. The key had to do with, the first thing, accountability. The whole governance structure, accountability and transparency. That was the key to that so that we would have managed in a particular way. If I should mention, when I came on board there weren't audited statements. That was one of the first things I wanted to change so that we had audited statements to present to the general council each year. Even with the sponsors, the sponsors need to see what they would have sponsored and if the funding they gave to the Association if it was used in a proper way. In some cases where funds may have been leftover from certain projects, we would have gone to the sponsor to seek permission to use it for something else," said Serrette, a former national team manager on Thursday.
While he was at the helm, Serrette, who won his first international medal, a silver, at the 1977 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics in the relay event before his national selection at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the NAAATT developed a new constitution, underwent a rebranding exercise and became incorporated resulting in a more businesslike approach to the administration of athletics in the country.
The term of the president and all directors on the current board was due to expire in 2020 November but given the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the membership approved a 1-year extension for all directors. As a consequence, NAAATT’s 1st Vice President, George Comissiong, will assume the duties of President until the next AGM which is due in 2021 November. Comissiong is no stranger to the sport, having served as Director and Vice-President for over 20 years.
Serrette, a resident of Morvant, represented T&T first as Carifta Games athlete in 1976, was present at NAAATT’s test event at Hasely Crawford Stadium over the past weekend and has pledged to continue to support the association wherever possible. The test event was designed to measure NAAATT’s preparedness to restart competitive athletics locally and from all reports, it was quite a success.
NAAATT wishes to thank it’s former President for the yeoman service provided to the association over the years and to extend best wishes for all success in his new appointment.