ABOUT
Mr. Strong joined BSP Life as Chief Investment Officer in April 2022. Mr. Strong was born and raised in Suva, educated at Kings College in Auckland and Massey University in Palmerston North in New Zealand. Mr. Strong boasts comprehensive Pacific based senior management and board governance experience in the private, public, and not for profit sectors.
With a background in commercial roles in New Zealand where he worked for James Hardie Pipelines, Humes Pipeline Systems and Mico Plumbing & Pipelines he returned home to Fiji two decades ago where he held General Management positions of significant Fijian trading companies such as the hardware company Vinod Patel & Company, the supermarket chain RB Patel Group. Mr. Strong also served as the General Manager of the Shipping Company, Pacific Agencies Fiji Limited and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Cooperation Foundation and Investment Fiji. Mr. Strong has also served the Fijian Government as the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Fisheries and the Acting Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources.
Mr. Strong is the former President of the Fiji NZ Business Council, Former Chair of the Fiji Export Council, former Chair of the Fiji Ship Owners and Agents Association and the former Chair of the Friends of Fiji Heart Foundation. Mr. Strong has also been involved in Pacific based Business Councils having been a Board member of the Fiji Australia Business Council and the Fiji PNG Business Council. Mr. Strong has previously held board directorships of the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation, Pacific Agencies Fiji Limited, Container Services Fiji Limited, Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji, the Housing Authority of Fiji and the Public Rental Board of Fiji and Fijian Holdings Fund Management Limited and the NZ Institute of Pacific Research. He currently holds directorships for Future Farms Limited, Suva Private Hospital, Oceania Hospital and RB Patel Group.
Mr. Strong holds professional membership of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. In October 2020, Mr. Strong was bestowed by the college of honours in Fiji the order of Fiji 50th anniversary medal in recognition of his contribution to the economic and social development of Fiji in their first fifty years of independence.