Profile
Rum Cocktail
CGA Nancy Gosling has an ideal mix in balancing work and life — raising children and running the family business in Bermuda.
FROM: SEP-OCT 2003 ISSUE | BY ALISON ARNOT
If you've ever enjoyed a drink or two while on holiday in Bermuda, you've no doubt tried a "Dark n' Stormy," Bermuda's official cocktail, consisting of Black Seal Rum and ginger beer. The key ingredient — the rum, of course — is the product of Gosling Brothers Limited, the family business of which Nancy Gosling, B.Comm., CGA, is president and CEO.
Gosling Brothers has a rich and long history in Bermuda. "The business actually began as Gosling and Sons wine merchants in London with William Gosling, who was my great, great, great, great grandfather," Nancy recounts. The elder Gosling chartered a ship in 1806 for his son James and employee John Till to travel to America to sell the company's wines and spirits. The ship stopped in Bermuda, and the two men decided to set up shop there, rather than continue on to the United States. James' brother Ambrose, Nancy's great, great, great grandfather, joined them, forming the partnership Goslings and Till. "Eventually, John Till returned to the U.K., and, in 1857, Ambrose's sons William (my great, great grandfather), Edmund, and Charles formed a partnership called Gosling Brothers," Nancy continues.
The company, which is the oldest running business in Bermuda, was incorporated in 1929 and remains a family affair. Nancy's father Malcolm is chairman of the board, her brother Malcolm runs the export division, her fourth cousin Charles is vice president of marketing, and her first cousin Edmund manages the warehouse operation.
"The business of our company is multi-faceted," Nancy says. Gosling Brothers began and continues to be an importer of quality wines and spirits from all over the world. It is a retailer and wholesaler; it owns the duty free shops at the airport and sells duty-free packages to visiting cruise ships, and also has an interest in a few restaurants and bars on the island. And it is the producer of Gosling's Black Seal Rum, which is currently exported to Canada, the United States, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, as well as parts of the Caribbean.
The award-winning Black Seal Rum is an extremely dark rum, made according to the original family recipe from a premium blend of three-year-old rums. Originally, it was sold only by draught to local patrons who would fill their own bottles from barrels. During the First World War, the company began filling champagne bottles recycled from the British officers' mess. The corks were sealed with black sealing wax, thus the name Black Seal. Years later, Gosling Brothers adopted the image of a black seal juggling a barrel on its rum labels.
As the company's president and CEO, Nancy oversees the entire operation, but more specifically the accounting functions and importation of goods. "I purchase the wines for the company, along with our tasting committee, and decide quantities of stock to purchase," she says. "I organize several food and wine dinners each year. Matching food and wine is a favourite hobby of mine."
Nancy was the first woman to join the family business. "Before I went to university, I indicated to my father that I wanted to go into the family business. My father said that the company really required a person who understood the financial end of it and said that if I studied business and accounting that one day I could become the financial controller."
Nancy received a bachelor of commerce from Dalhousie University in Halifax, then enrolled in the CA program while working as an auditor for Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants in Bermuda. "I gained valuable experience at Price Waterhouse and learned a significant amount about the way business is conducted in Bermuda. However, I knew from the start that I was never going to be a public accountant and, after a few years, found the work to be less stimulating than what I imagined was out there."
After three years at Price Waterhouse, Nancy joined the American International Insurance Co. Ltd. as supervisor of the captive insurance management department and, at the same time, switched to the CGA program. "The advertisement [for the job at American International] caught my attention because it would provide preparation for my future at Gosling Brothers that working at Price Waterhouse would not," Nancy says. "I also wanted to make sure that I could go out into the open market and be offered a job. This would make me feel more confident when I went into the family business that I could be offered the job whether I was a family member or not. In other words, have that job on my own merits."
After 18 months at American International, Nancy was offered a position as manager of the captive management department, a step up from her supervisory position. However, she decided rather than take this offer and commit to the company for a few more years, it was time to join the family business. In 1981, she joined Gosling Brothers as assistant treasurer, becoming managing director a year later, then vice president a few years after that. In 1991, she was elected president and CEO.
During her ascent up the ranks at Gosling Brothers, she earned her CGA designation in 1985. "Having an accounting designation helped me in this business because it gave me insight into interpreting financial information and helped me understand how a broad range of companies do business," Nancy says, adding, "Obtaining the qualification by correspondence while endeavouring to develop my career gave me disciplinary skills that I doubt I would have otherwise obtained."
Born and raised in Bermuda, Nancy has lived on the island her entire life, except for the time spent at boarding school and university in Canada. Before Dalhousie, she attended Bishop Strachan School in Toronto. Her 15-year-old daughter Emily is also attending boarding school in Canada, at Trinity College in Port Hope, Ontario. And her 12-year-old daughter Victoria will join her sister there in a few years.
Nancy's husband Guido Esposito owns and operates the Tuscany Restaurant and Blue Juice nightclub in Bermuda's capital city, Hamilton. "I assist in that business where I can and when time allows," Nancy says. She also sits on the boards of directors of another Bermuda restaurant business, a shipping company and a local insurance company. Her career and children take up most of her day, she says, though she finds the time to go to the gym five days a week and enjoys playing tennis on the weekend.
Sailing is also a passion. "Before I had children, I used to race sailboats. Bermuda is an ideal place to sail, and I have every intention of returning to competitive sailing in a few years."
An ideal place indeed — to sail, raise a family, run a business, and enjoy a rum cocktail.
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Alison Arnot is a freelance writer and editor based in Ottawa.