( L - R ) CLARKE AND ZACCA

The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), which likes to conduct its business with quiet decorum and choose its leaders by consensus, appears headed for an open fight for its presidency between Bill Clarke, the boss of the island's largest bank, and Chris Zacca, the protégé of hotel mogul, Gordon 'Butch' Stewart.

"I'm very interested in running and I think that I can unite the private sector, and that the time is right for someone like me," Zacca, the deputy chairman of Stewart's ATL/Sandals group, said yesterday.

"But I'd rather make a pitch to the organisation and lay out my thoughts in a structured manner before I make a public campaign," he added.

Clarke, the managing director of Scotiabank Jamaica was unavailable for comment yesterday. His office said he was in meetings.

However, private sector sources said that Clarke has declared his intention to maintain his candidacy despite the emerging challenge and vocal opposition, in some quarters, to his proposed reform agenda, aimed not only at bringing new faces to the fore in the PSOJ, but radically overhauling the way that business has, up to now, been done in the organisation.

"Bill has said that some people who are initially supportive of his candidacy, as well as others have spoken to him, urging that he stay in the race," one senior private sector official, who asked not be identified, said yesterday. "So, apparently he will go forward."

In fact, no one wanted to be quoted by name on what they believe to be a sensitive issue.

If there is a contest, it will take place some time after December 13, by which time the PSOJ would have held its annual general meeting where it selects its 50-member council.

It is the council which chooses the president, who then, in theory, has a free hand to name three vice presidents, the secretary, and the treasurer.

Yesterday, Beverly Lopez, the businesswoman who his winding up a two-year stint as president of the umbrella private sector body, conceded that the emerging contest for her successor was not quite the norm for the organisation.

Even as she declined to discuss the issues, Lopez said: "There is more than one contestant, which is a little unusual for the PSOJ ... We live in interesting times."

According to Financial Gleaner sources, Clarke, who has headed Scotiabank Jamaica for a decade and through a period of phenomenal profitability, was, as is the norm in the PSOJ, sought out to be the consensus candidate for the organisation's top job.

Abrasive and arrogant

Clarke's critics often brand him as abrasive and arrogant, but they just as often concede his competence citing the fact that the bank he heads prospered even during the financial sector collapse of the mid to late 1980s.

"Some people are of the view that BNS (Bank of Nova Scotia) had insulation from the systemic problems in the financial sector during the meltdown," a Clarke admirer said yesterday.

"But when companies do badly, bosses take the stick. When companies perform they have to have the credit. Whether you love or hate Bill Clarke, and many people don't like him, Scotiabank has done well under his watch."

Apparently, it is Clarke's perceived arrogance and notorious ego, that is, in part, behind the fall-out in the PSOJ, Financial Gleaner sources say.

As condition precedent for taking the presidency, these sources say he insisted on a completely free hand in choosing his VPs - no gentlemanly horse trading in the backrooms.

In fact, the sources say, Clarke bluntly told several business leaders who called about marked candidates for the VP positions that he would have none of it.

But it is ideas for the structure of the overall executive of the PSOJ which, it seems, have generated most heat.

The council, from which the executive is derived, comprises of 25 of the organisation's corporate members, 20 representing the constituent associations and five of the organisation's independent or individual members.

The executive, which shapes policy and runs the day-to-day operations, is made up of the officers as well as seven others representing constituent associations such as the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, the Jamaica Exporters' Association and the Jamaica Manufacturers Association and the Jamaica Bankers' Association, of which Clarke is the current president.

Umbrella body

"Remember that the PSOJ is a umbrella body that deals with macro issues and a lot of people believe that this structure provides balance," one source explained.

While the rationale for Clarke's call for reform was not immediately clear due to his unavailability yesterday, Financial Gleaner sources say that he has proposed a shift in the constitution that increase the corporate membership of the executive to 12, and a reduction of those representing the constituent associations from seven to five.

Overall, the size of the executive would move from 14 to 17, the sources say.

Outgoing president Lopez declined to comment on the issue, but according to Financial Gleaner sources, she felt the proposals were so fundamental that Clarke should put them to the critical members of the organisation ahead of the December AGM.

At a breakfast meeting last month at which Clarke outlined his vision, tempers apparently flared and Zacca, who had a long stint as CEO of Air Jamaica during its period of privatisation, clashed verbally with Clarke. "Mr Zacca decided to throw his hat in the ring."

But Zacca too has his critics. "This is the hand of Jacob and the voice of Esau," one of those critics told the Financial Gleaner. In other words, there are those in the PSOJ who believe that if Zacca gets the job, the influence of his boss, Stewart, will not be far behind. Both men worked closely during Stewart's control of Air Jamaica and that relationship has grown closer since the Government retook control of the airline at the end of 2004, these sources say.

Position

While Zacca has said he wants to take his position to the PSOJ membership ahead of a public campaign, the evidence, those who oppose his candidacy say, has been to the contrary. They point, for instance, to a laudatory article a fortnight ago in Stewart's Jamaica Observer newspaper, promoting Zacca's candidacy.

That article made no mention of Clarke's candidacy, but highlighted Zacca's education and achievements in Stewart's organisation and quoted a bevy of young businessmen endorsing him as the kind of leader required by the PSOJ.

"... I think there are many people who would like to see a bright younger person head the PSOJ, someone who can bring a fresher dynamic to that position," Chris Berry, the managing director of the brokerage house, Mayberry Investments, was quoted as saying.

Zacca's boss, Stewart, also waded in with hefty support.

"Chris Zacca would make an excellent president of the PSOJ, no question about it," Stewart was quoted as saying. " I can personally attest to his incredible business brain, discipline and staying power."

Yesterday, people in the private sector expected that Clarke would fire back and that a robust campaign is about to be joined.

"All sides are very, very active, doing what they felt they have to do," said a source close to the developments.

business@gleanerjm.com