Nigel Romano has climbed many mountains. He served as Chief Financial Officer for Citibank Trinidad and Tobago. He has climbed Kilimanjaro. He has been Regional Director of Quality and Business Processes for the Asia Pacific region, and Head of Citigroup Business Services for 19 countries. He has scaled Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. He has held leadership roles at ANSA McAL, JMMB, the Caribbean Development Bank, and served on a series of boards across the business world. He has hiked Machu Pichu.
Working and walking, walking and working. But one thing remains the same: throughout his four- decade career, Romano has never stopped moving. From Trinidad and Tobago, to Indonesia, to Hong Kong, to Singapore, to Barbados, and back again.
“You never stayed in one spot too long,” I say.
“True!” he replies with a laugh. “I suppose I have a hunger for learning and growth.”
His philosophy is to be a “learn-it-all, not know-it-all”, as he says during his speech at The UWI St Augustine’s 2025 Graduation ceremony where he was conferred with the Doctor of Laws (LLD).
Throughout his impressive career, he has found himself around the world. Now, though he has technically been retired since 2019, Romano is still on the move. He does advisory work as Senior Director of Business Consultancy Services for Moore Trinidad and Tobago. He served as Chairman of the UWI Development and Endowment Fund (UWIDEF) until 2020, and Chairman of National Flour Mills Limited until 2024. He chairs the Caribbean Corporate Governance Institute and the Commercial Committee of the Electrical Industries Group, and serves on the boards of ANSA Merchant Bank Limited, and Genesis Insurance Brokers and Benefits Consultants Limited. It seems that a bustling life is where he feels most at home.
Perhaps the bustle reminds him of growing up in the heart of hilly San Fernando.
“I always walked or rode to school,” says Romano. “School was walking distance, 10-15 minutes away.”
Living on a hillside overlooking Port-of-Spain now, walking is still a central part of his life. This is where the balance is kept. When he walks, the bustle goes quiet. “I don’t have anything to disturb me. A lot of thoughts and ideas come [when I walk].”
Wherever he travelled, he found somewhere to walk. And even better if there were hills. “I love hills. I walk, but I want hills.”
With a career of high intensity jobs, this outlet has kept him grounded through the chaos.
“I want to always continue learning and growing,” he says. “It has been a very exciting journey, from where I stand.”
And the journey must continue.
