Tony Brown
For Tony Brown, the Isle of Man’s chief minister, the events of the past few weeks have posed the toughest challenge since he took the top job in Manx politics in 2006. The collapse of Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander (Isle of Man) in October threatens to undermine the island’s reputation as one of the world’s best-regulated offshore financial centres. How he and Allan Bell, Treasury minister since 2001, deal with the crisis over the coming months will come under close scrutiny worldwide. In a recent speech to the Manx Chamber of Commerce, Mr Brown spoke of the importance of maintaining the island’s competitive edge and being recognised as a good place to do business. He urged islanders not to fear change, but to manage it with care. Mr Brown, who has represented his Castletown constituency since 1981, has held many of the top jobs in Manx politics, including ministerial portfolios such as health, tourism and local government. He has also served the island as Speaker of the House of Keys, the directly-elected lower branch of Tynwald, the parliament, and deputy president of Tynwald.
Tim Craine
In Manx government circles Tim Craine could be said to have boldly gone where nobody had gone before. He holds the recently-created post as the Manx Treasury’s director of space commerce, and has the task of developing the island’s growing involvement in the space industry. Mr Craine played a significant role in the establishment in September of the International Institute of Space Commerce – a joint venture between the Manx Government and the International Space University in Strasbourg – at the Isle of Man Business School. The island was chosen ahead of illustrious locations such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, Toronto and Paris. Spearheading new government initiatives is nothing new to Mr Craine. He is also the island’s so-called e-business “czar” and has been responsible for promoting the Isle of Man as a centre for e-business for the past eight years. Born and educated in the island at King William’s College, Mr Craine holds an honours degree in geography from Durham University. He is a fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.
