Dionisio D'Aguilar

D'Aguilar was born in Nassau on October 15, 1964, to Vincent D'Aguilar and Marina Benjamin, and attended Rugby School in England for his early education.[1] He then studied at Cornell University, receiving his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in hotel administration in 1986 before earning his Master of Business Administration (MBA) one year later.[1][2] He remained in New York state for five years while working as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) before returning to the Bahamas, where he has served as the president and CEO of Superwash Limited, a chain of self-service laundromats, since 1993.[3]

D'Aguilar later served on the board of directors for companies such as Insurance Company of The Bahamas, J.S. Johnson Insurance, AML Foods Limited, Bahamar, and the Bahamas Electricity Corporation.[3] As an active member of the community, he also presided as the president of the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and the Bahamas Breast Cancer Initiative.[4]

Prior to his political career, D'Aguilar was often in the news for challenging the government on issues such as fiscal policy and strict immigration.[5][6][7][8] He committed to running for a Parliamentary seat in the 2017 general election under the FNM platform, submitting his name for consideration.[9][10] He was officially ratified by the party in October 2016 to represent the Free Town constituency, then still known as Montague.[11] The incumbent, Richard Lightbourne, had fallen out of favor with the party, which is why they looked to replace him.[10] Leading up to the election, D'Aguilar said that the country was "becoming a socialist state" in response to a proposed reform of the Employment and Industrial Relations Acts which increased the maximum length of redundancy pay, calling the idea "absolutely crazy."[12] He also criticized government social programs and overspending.[13]

D'Aguilar won the seat after defeating Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) candidate Wayne Munroe with 60 percent of the vote; the FNM also won 35 of 39 seats.[14][15] Five days later he was sworn in as Minister of Tourism and Aviation by new Prime Minister Hubert Minnis,[16] and in June he was elected to a one-year term as chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).[17] In 2018, he was named the Caribbean Tourism Minister of the Year at the Caribbean Travel Awards, receiving praise for adding new hotels and securing additional flights to the islands.[18] Caribbean Journal reported that no other country in the region had a more impressive surge in their tourism sector that year.[19]

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt devastating blows to the tourism industry, and it was no exception in the Bahamas,[20] where airports and seaports were closed to visitors starting on March 24, 2020.[21] In June, he announced the Tourism Readiness and Recovery Plan, a four-phase strategy for re-opening the international tourist economy.[22] In January 2021, in response to U.S. President Joe Biden's executive order requiring returning tourists to self-quarantine, D'Aguilar said the move was "simply devastating" because it represented a "significant deterrent to travel."[23] The following month he expressed satisfaction with the rate of COVID-19 vaccination in the United States, projecting an improvement in the domestic situation by the third quarter of the year.[20]

D'Aguilar married Dutch citizen and fellow Cornell alum Saskia Schutte in 1990, and brought her back with him to Nassau the following year.[24] The couple has two sons, Alexander and Oliver, both of whom played football.[24]

Saskia bonded with Dionisio's father, Vincent, over his art collection, often going to art shows and galleries together as he taught her about the local scene.[24] After his death in 2008, she lobbied the family to open the D'Aguilar Art Foundation to preserve and display his collection, serving as its director.[24]

According to the declared financial declarations, Dionisio D'Aguilar is worth US$37.9 million (2021).[25]

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