03/17/2023

With the need to feed showing no signs of slowing, the Bahamas Feeding Network (BFN) today announced two appointments to its international board, both directors with Bahamian roots and global reach.

“We are extremely pleased to announce that Anthony Woodside and Bernard Gay, two men who trace their roots and their childhood through The Bahamas but went on to earn global accolades in their professions, have been appointed to the Bahamas Feeding Network International board,” said Felix Stubbs, Chairman, BFN. “Each will bring a unique perspective and help spread the message that disparities exist in this land of sunshine, glamour and glitz and we must work together, hand-in-hand with those who can eradicate the consequences of those disparities.”

The international board, a 501C3, is a vehicle that incentivizes donations by American taxpayers by granting tax deductions for charitable gifts. Acquiring the tax-deductible gift status is a reflection of the feeding network’s status, credibility, transparency and accounting compliance. BFN received its international fund-raising status in late 2022.

“The timing is really critical for us,” explained BFN Executive Director James Palacious. “We’ve provided more than one million meals in the past two years and although the tourism numbers are up, the economy is still not back to pre-Covid levels, partly because of supply chain issues. So the demand for assistance remains as strong as ever.”

Mr. Woodside, who has more than 16 years in global financial services, is Head of US Fixed Income Strategy at LGIM America, a Chicago-based investments firm with $201 billion in assets at December 2022. Mr. Woodside’s role includes responsibility for coordinating the US macroeconomic strategy process, guiling the buildout of the firm’s quantitative credit initiatives alongside the CIO, spearheading the design and gestation of new products to position LGIM America for growth, raising the company’s profile through media and playing a role in pitches. Mr. Woodside started his career at Lehman Brothers in 2006 and spent 14 years at Neuberger Berman, leaving there as Senior Vice President for the Global Fixed Income team. A frequent TV business and money talk show guest across various channels, the Bahamian-born CFA holds a bachelor of science degree from the Wharton School of Finance (University of Pennsylvania) and an MBA (Honors) from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Mr. Gay brings more than 25 years practical experience, including extensive work with healthcare and aerospace industries, sometimes managing as many as 180 contractors and hundreds of full-time employees while slicing costs of information management to get better results more efficiently. He holds a Master’s degree from Rochester Institute of Technology.  He served as Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Atlantis for 10 years until 2016 and is currently the CIO for Novolex manufacturing, a $4 billion manufacturing firm with locations in Florida and North Carolina. 

Other members of the Bahamas Feeding Network International board include: 

BFN partners with some 100 churches, soup kitchens and other feeding programs providing perishable and non-perishable which they distribute to those who depend upon them for assistance. It costs more than $2 million a year for BFN to help in the fight against hunger and to ensure that children do not go to bed hungry, seniors do not lose their sense of pride and dignity by being reduced to begging and everyone knows there is some place to call, someone to reach out to when the cupboards are bare.