Kalistan

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Meet Lady Helen Ananto-Reynolds
34 year old head of House Ananto plans new initiatives for Baltusia and Gaduridos
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
December 27, 5650


Lady Helen Ananto-Reynolds, Head of House Ananto

Lady Helen Ananto-Reynolds, first cousin of Her Imperial Majesty Empress Mary I Ananto, has been at her post as head of House Ananto and CEO of Miramar Holdings for more than a year. But so far she has kept a fairly low profile in Kalistan, as she got settled in her new role as Manager of one of the wealthiest family fortunes and one of the most important holding companies in Terra. The Princess, daughter of of Her Highness, Princess Michelle Ananto-Sandoval has one job: Aggrandize the wealth of the Monarchy of Kalistan. So far, she has maintained the family's traditional strategy of conservative but steady growth. Her first annual reports showed a modest gain in net wealth by about 1.1%, far underperforming the markets, but on historic trajectories.

"The House fund is designed to sustain the monarchy," said Lady Ananto-Reynolds. "That not only includes Her Imperial Majesty, of course, but her entire family, her sister, her sister's family, my mother, and my brothers and sisters, and etc... There are a lot of people on pension, but we can proudly say that the Foundation permits a very generous pension for the royal family, and the amount of public money that is contributed annually by the way of Her Imperial Majesty's salary is annually returned, as it is negligible compared to what she would earn in pension if she decided to take it." Lady Reynolds put the current foundation's assets at over ₭800 billion and said the annual draw off alone on the foundation is more than K30 billion. "We return most of that money to the principle. What could we possibly spend all that on?" Miramar holdings no longer pays a dividend to the Royal Family, as House Ananto has returned the money to the company annually for about 45 years.

So what does this MBA graduate of Kaliburg Polytechnic say happens to the money. "We have a lot of money tied up in investments all over the Anantonese Region," said Lady Helen. "We have investments in Anantonese Empire nations primarily, some in Dolgava, some in Lourenne, and some in Hutori, but we are also looking to expand our investments elsewhere in the region. We are very excited to see Baltusia finally getting serious about expanding their rail network. We most certainly want to help with that, as it will be a huge benefit to Kalistani Trade throughout Northern Seleya, now that the Trans Seleyan Railway no longer extends to Likatonia. But we would also like to expand our investments in primary and secondary sectors in Gaduridos."

Lady Helen Ananto-Reynolds said she intends to meet with the outgoing Gaduri Viceroy, Sir Alejandro Lopez de Leon, who plans to retire next year after serving in the role for 25 years. She wishes to discuss with Sir Lopez de Leon the needs of Gaduridos going into the new term. "House Ananto and Miramar stand ready to assist in anything that Gaduridos needs. We can put as much money as they need to expansion of current sectors or development of new sectors. Keeping Gaduridos humming is as important in Kaliburg's eyes as expanding the economy in Baltusia. Her Imperial Majesty has listed both economic and human development in those two nations to be her top priorities."

The Princess is circumspect about herself. Close associates and friends have described her as ebullient when it comes to finance, but less interested in High Society. "She likes to keep to herself a lot," said one friend who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I can see why the Empress likes her. As outgoing and social as Princess Margaret (Ananto-DeLaurentis) is, both the Empress and Lady Helen are private. I wouldn't say Lady Helen is as introverted as Her Imperial Majesty is: She loves conferences and she loves board meetings. Nobody would ever call her the life of the party, though." Others have suggested that ideologically, she leans more liberal comparatively than Her Imperial Majesty, and several pointed to her 5647 editorial for the Financial Press titled "How the Central Bank could Loosen credit and reserve rules and still thrive," and her regular appearances on the Radio Kaliburg show "Finance Today," which frequently compares strongly mercantilist Kalistan to liberal economies around the world.

"No, I am not a liberal," said Lady Ananto-Reynolds. "How can someone possibly be a liberal in my family? It's not even the State, but the Royal Family itself, which is by far the most important economic player in this country. Our nation's economic prosperity is built on mandatory national service, state domination of food, shelter, medicine and education, and strong protections for workers' rights, at the literal expense of employers. The only thing we can offer private employers in Kalistan is the chance to make a modest profit, though not a spectacular one. And that's just our system. Could it be reformed and made better? Sure. But am I going to use my position to call for reform? Not a chance in hell. Because I, like everyone who has done this job before me, knows that it could be a whole LOT worse."

Lady Helen Ananto-Reynolds said she will visit Gaduridos in March of next year to meet with Viceroy Lopez de Leon before he leaves off. "We would also like to begin consultations with the Incoming Government in Gaduridos to find a suitable replacement who will be acceptable to both Her Imperial Majesty and the People of Gaduridos" said Lady Helen. "Viceroy Lopez has served Her Imperial Majesty with distinction. The next Viceroy should have Gaduri support. But this is just the beginning of that conversation. It is one that will continue long after March--our meeting will be limited to a discussion on what more Miramar and Gaduridos can work together on to continue helping Gaduridos meet its development goals."

@TheRepublic