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PwC Malta Appoints Two New Directors And CTO

PwC Malta Appoints Two New Directors And CTO
Jul 26 2023 Share

PwC Malta is pleased to announce the firm’s new appointments of Pamela Mamo and Mark Tabone as Directors within PwC’s Academy and Advisory lines of service respectively, and Etienne Bonnici who has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). 

David Valenzia, Territory Senior Partner at PwC Malta, says: “I am very proud of these new appointments, which have taken ef ect on 1 July 2023. These appointments reflect the continuing diversification of our business, and the multidisciplinary nature of our of erings.” 

Pamela is leading PwC’s Academy – the firm’s external training offerings, covering learning and education (L&E) strategies, e-learn developments, training platforms and learning architecture and delivery of client specific training solutions. 

Pamela first joined the firm in 2004 as an audit associate and in 2007 moved into an internal role to assist in setting up the Human Capital function of PwC. In 2013, Pamela took over the responsibility for the strategy & business development aspect of PwC’s Academy leading a team of learning professionals. 

She has a key role in driving the Academy as a leading training service provider in line with the national quality education standards and in line with digital education requirements for the 21st century. She has an active role in providing L&E consulting to clients, designing training curricula and scoping of courses, designing niche training products in line with Malta’s skills gaps, meeting clients to analyse their training needs and to assist them in translating their needs into effective training programmes. 

She continues to be one of the firm’s business skills trainers and has developed and delivered several training programmes to PwC’s managerial team and to PwC’s Academy external clients around the areas of learning, talent management, leadership and management skills, coaching, staff development & effective people communication. 

Mark became part of the Assurance line of service at PwC Malta in 2003, gaining invaluable experience at PwC Jersey, London, and New York. He moved to the Advisory Deals practice in 2011 being specifically involved in Transaction Services, covering a range of areas such as due diligence, business valuations, impairment assessments and feasibility studies amongst others. 

He has managed a series of Financial Due Diligence projects both locally and internationally operating at PwC London and Milan. Mark is presently responsible for the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions sector in Advisory. The importance of M&A has, for some time, been highlighted by clients, with PwC investing in further developing a target team, whilst also collaborating with the PwC Corporate Finance network globally. 

Graduated at the University of Malta, Mark is a Certified Public Accountant holding ACCA and MIA fellowships. Etienne has over 15 years of IT management experience within the firm and is responsible for leading and driving PwC’s Malta technology and information security strategy. Etienne joined PwC in 2002 after successfully completing his studies at the University of Malta and leads a team of technical experts in various environments. 

Over the years, he has been involved in the performance of systems and process controls reviews, including documenting and assessing controls over operations and management, application change control, computer operations, security administration, physical and logical security and disaster recovery planning for a number of clients. 

Etienne has also been responsible for providing outsourcing services for ICT infrastructure management and support to a number of clients in a range of industries. PwC Malta continues to invest in differentiating capabilities that allow the firm to deliver on its purpose, to be a community of solvers coming together in unexpected ways and continuing to help organisations build trust and deliver sustained outcomes. 

These appointments demonstrate the plan for the sustainability of the firm, and reflect the opportunities that exist for all.

#MaltaDaily 

Maltese Dancer On NYC Billboard For Tiesto & Allegra Music Video

Maltese Dancer On NYC Billboard For Tiesto & Allegra Music Video
Jul 26 2023 Share

Michaela Debono, a Maltese dancer training abroad, has appeared on New York City Times Square billboards after having been part of Allegra and Tiesto’s ‘Round & Round’ music video. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Michaela DeBono (@michaela_debono)

Michaela could be seen dancing up front and centre, alongside Allegra herself, on a video which amounted 904K views on YouTube. 

Celebrating 3 million streams on Spotify of the song, Michaela shared a few snippets of behind the scenes from her shoot, working with international creatives, choreographers and artists from all over the world.

Tijs Michiel Verwest, known professionally as Tiësto, is a Dutch DJ and music producer. He was voted “The Greatest DJ of All Time” by Mix magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. Meanwhile, Allegra is an up and coming artist, with her latest collaboration with the DJ being her latest move in the scene. 

Michaela has been working in the dance industry all over the world, teaching and furthering her career whilst also working to bring opportunities to dancers locally in Malta whenever she’s back on the island. 

#MaltaDaily 

TVM Head Of News Norma Saliba Resigns

TVM Head Of News Norma Saliba Resigns
Jul 26 2023 Share

Norma Saliba, the head of news at TVM, announced her resignation in a Facebook post on Tuesday, where she condemned what she termed a “character assassination” against her. 

She stepped down after holding the position for nearly three years since July 2020, when she took over from Reno Bugeja.

While citing “personal reasons” for her resignation, Saliba hinted that she felt compelled to leave, expressing her belief that she still had more to offer to her profession. Despite her decision, she emphasised her serenity in making it known.

Reports indicated that her relationship with TVM’s executive chairman, Mark Sammut, had soured, leading to her replacement as TVM’s registered editor in January 2022. Charles Dalli took over that role, but Saliba continued as the head of news at the national station.

Adding to the controversy, last month, PN media reported that Saliba had undertaken voiceover work for adverts by the Planning Authority, which was in violation of ethical guidelines barring PBS journalists from engaging in paid work for external parties. 

Saliba and the PA defended the work, explaining that it had been completed in 2018, prior to her assuming the head of news position, while she was already a TVM journalist and serving as the president of the Institute of Maltese Journalists.

Saliba’s tenure as head of TVM’s news operation faced criticism for alleged bias in news coverage. Instances included omitting sections of Pope Francis’s speech on corruption during his visit to Malta in April 2022, and not reporting on speeches made by two governing Labour Party mayors during a protest against overdevelopment in Valletta.

In her resignation post, Saliba highlighted achievements during her time, such as the increased viewership of the 8pm TVM news bulletin, efforts to promote in-house documentaries and female journalists, and a higher number of cases won before the Broadcasting Authority under her leadership. 

She asserted that she had never used her position to harm or favour anyone and expressed frustration over the recent misleading character assassination campaign against her. Despite the challenges, she urged for greater work towards protecting journalists and respecting women in leadership positions.

#MaltaDaily 

Mediterranean Sea Broke Daily Temperature Records On Monday

Mediterranean Sea Broke Daily Temperature Records On Monday
Jul 26 2023 Share

Spanish researchers reported to AFP that the Mediterranean Sea experienced its highest temperature ever recorded on Monday during an unprecedented heatwave.

According to the Institute of Marine Sciences in Spain, data analysed from the European Earth observation program Copernicus’ satellites revealed a new daily median sea surface temperature record of 28.71°C. 

This surpassed the previous record of 28.25°C set on August 23, 2003.

Although these findings have yet to be officially confirmed by Copernicus, the organisation previously noted that in early June, global temperatures had already surpassed pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5°C, a critical threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

The rising temperatures in the Mediterranean pose a severe threat to marine life. Past heatwaves from 2015 to 2019 led to significant decimation of around 50 species, including corals and molluscs. 

The Mediterranean region has been identified as a climate change hotspot, experiencing record temperatures in July.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN body, has warned that marine ecosystems in the Mediterranean have undergone drastic changes since the 1980s, marked by declining biodiversity and the introduction of invasive species. 

Experts from the IPCC caution that if global warming exceeds the 1.5°C target, over 20 percent of fish and invertebrates caught in the Mediterranean could disappear by 2060. These alarming trends highlight the urgent need to address climate change’s impact on the delicate marine ecosystems in the region.

#MaltaDaily