CROSQ has announced the newly appointed chair of its’ Council of Directors is Antigua and Barbuda, represented by Mrs. Solange Baptiste, Acting Director of the Antigua and Barbuda Bureau of Standards (ABBS).

She takes over from outgoing chairman, Mr. Ezra Ledger of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Bureau of Standards. Mrs. Baptiste officially took up the reigns of the CROSQ Chairmanship on January 1, 2026.

The Bahamas is now Vice Chair of the Council, represented by Director of the Bahamas Bureau of Standards and Quality, Dr. Renae Ferguson-Bufford.

Both countries will hold the regional chair and vice chair positions for a term of one year before the chairmanship rotates.

Mrs. Baptiste said it was an honour to be appointed to the position, and she was looking forward to progressing the work of regional QI through the CROSQ Secretariat and network of national standards bodies during her tenure.

“I’m truly excited about serving as chair of the CROSQ Council for 2026. I thank God indeed for this invaluable opportunity and I am grateful to my leaders for their support. This is an opportunity to interact in a more purposeful way with fellow directors of the CARICOM standards bodies, and to facilitate Antigua and Barbuda’s contribution to the coordination of the CARICOM agenda for quality infrastructure development within the region,” said the ABBS acting director, who assumed the leadership of the Antigua-based standards body in November 2024.

CEO of the CROSQ Secretariat, Dr. Sharonmae Smith Walker welcomed the new chair, noting that the regional QI agenda is an ambitious one which benefits tremendously from the contributions of member states.

“At CROSQ we welcome the appointment of each new chair from within our network and always look forward to what they add to the direction and the strategic vision of our regional quality infrastructure development. This time is no different with Antigua and Barbuda, whom we know is anxious to progress the forward trajectory of our work as a CARICOM organisation.”