Alex Borg announces new party CEO, campaign manager amid key appointments

Nationalist Party leader Alex Borg on Thursday evening announced the appointment of four key roles within the party including a CEO and a chairperson for the newly created delivery office.

Property and commercial lawyer Sabine Agius Cabourdin has been appointed the party's CEO, as Borg implemented one of his leadership campaign pledges. She will report to the party's general secretary.

Agius Cabourdin, who holds dual Maltese and French citizenship, is also a philanthropist who founded the Fidem Foundation in 2018 to support vulnerable women by giving them access to education and mental health guidance. She is also the president of the BOV Joseph Calleja Foundation and a member of the Malta Women's Lobby.

Borg said he had decided to appoint her after noticing that there were only men around the table during his meeting with Prime Minister Robert Abela at the Labour Party headquarters last week.

“When I saw the photo of everyone sitting around the table, I noticed we were all men. At that point, I decided the new CEO should be a woman,” Borg said. 

He added that he wants to see far greater participation of women in politics and this is why he wanted this role to be entrusted to a woman who has achieved success in her life.

Speaking to Times of Malta, Agius Cabourdin said the decision to accept the role was not an easy one, but she was looking forward to tackling the challenges ahead.

"Everyone knows the party's finances are not in the best state, so resolving that will be the top priority. Once the finances are in order, everything else will fall into place. I will also work to deliver Alex's pledge to publish the party's accounts in his first 100 days as leader," Agius Cabourdin said.

The Opposition leader also revealed engineer Simon Mizzi, whose son Noah recently tragically died after drowning in a swimming pool, will serve as the chairperson of the Delivery Office, a new office within the PN that will serve to "keep the leader on track" with delivering on promises.

Munxar Mayor Damien Spiteri has been appointed PN's head of secretariat and Simon Vella Gregory is campaign manager.

Simon Vella Gregory, who used to work as the PN's communications coordinator until he resigned in late 2022 after just one year in the job, will now serve as the campaign manager. 

“He will make sure the party goes into the next election prepared, strong, united and victorious," Borg said.

Borg’s head of secretariat will be Munxar mayor and auditor Damien Spiteri.

The appointments were announced at the end of a Q&A session with youths in Triton Square in Valletta on Thursday evening, as part of Independence Day celebrations. 

During the Q&A session, several youths grilled Borg on subjects ranging from mental health to preserving village feasts. 

PN leader Alex Borg took questions from a number of young people as part of Independence Day celebrations. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“I’m proud to see so many young people present. This is proof that the PN is once again the natural home of youths. We will work to make the party alive, dynamic and youthful,” Borg said. 

While answering questions, Borg reiterated several policy pledges from his campaign, such as reopening a trade school, increasing stipends for healthcare students to the equivalent of the national minimum wage, appointing a shadow minister for loneliness, and, if elected, appointing a minister dedicated to sports. He also announced he will be setting up a Youth Think Tank.

Borg said that just a few days after he became Opposition leader, he scored his first victory, with the party succeeding in pushing through an urgent parliamentary debate on the shortcomings found by the Auditor General in the transfer of public land to the Fortina Hotel. 

The Speaker had originally declined the request for the debate, saying it was not urgent in terms of standing orders. However, government whip Naomi Cachia, who earlier also said the debate was not urgent, said the government had agreed to an immediate debate.   

Borg has demanded a public inquiry and a police investigation into the findings of the report.