Deodat Maharaj is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, the Caribbean regional institution with the remit to support private sector development and steer foreign direct investment to the Region.

Deodat, a national of Trinidad and Tobago, previously served as Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth, where he spearheaded the trade and investment agenda, and with the United Nations in senior roles in the field and at headquarters. He has extensive experience in international trade and investment in a career spanning 25 years. He knows the Caribbean well, having lived and worked in Barbados, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

From his earliest days teaching inner-city high school students how to discover their potential and succeed no matter what their circumstances — to becoming a world-renowned transformational speaker and trainer who has conducted more than 2,500 workshops and events all over the world — Jack Canfield has devoted his life and career to helping others achieve their personal definition of success and create lives of greater joy, meaning, and fulfillment.

A Pioneer and Legend in the Field of Personal Development and Peak Performance

• Founder of the billion-dollar Chicken Soup for the Soul™ publishing empire
• Multiple New York Times bestselling author of —The Success Principles, The Power of Focus, The Aladdin Factor, Dare to Win, The Key to Living the Law of Attraction, Living the Success Principles, Coaching for Breakthrough Success, and more.
• 2.5 million subscribers and followers on social media
• Sold 500+ million books worldwide
• Featured guest on 1,000+ TV and radio shows
• Has trained 2,900+ Canfield Success Principles Trainers in 107 countries
• Founded the Transformational Leadership Council
• Inducted into the National Speakers Associations "Speakers Hall of Fame"
• Is a Harvard graduate with a Master's degree in Psychological Education

Dr. Terri-Karelle Reid is an island girl – born, bred and rooted in her beautiful home country of Jamaica. She earned the moniker, “Your Jamaican Girl”, when she won Miss Jamaica World 2005 as an unlikely candidate, donning natural afro curls unapologetically all throughout the competition, even after being advised to straighten her hair. In an effort to challenge the representation and perception of black women, and inspire others who looked like her, she maintained her look for the international pageant in China, where she walked away as a Top 15 finalist, winning the People’s Choice vote for the Caribbean – all while being authentically herself.

After completing a Doctor of (Veterinary) Medicine in Cuba on a government scholarship in 2007, Terri-Karelle faced cross-cultural accreditation challenges when she returned home, which resulted in her being unable to practice veterinary medicine in Jamaica. Her dreams were crushed. Thus began her journey in marketing and management. Terri-Karelle worked as a Public Relations Executive with RISARC Consulting in Los Angeles; General Manager of the popular Spartan Health Club; and the Online Brand Manager of The Gleaner Company Ltd, where she successfully implemented innovative digital marketing strategies for the oldest and largest newspaper in the English-speaking Caribbean.

Taking the suggestions of people around me who thought she had the right personality and natural talent for the job, Terri-Karelle transitioned into the world of media. After getting her start as a radio personality, she eventually landed on television in 2012, hosting the most-watched live television show in Jamaica – Digicel Rising Stars, a job I still love and do to this day. This turning point led to many more opportunities over the years. She has had the joy of bringing energy and zest to television shows; entertaining international crowds at cultural and music events; and interviewing some of the world’s most powerful and influential personalities

She has been fortunate to become one of the most well-loved media personalities in her country, and she gives back by using her platform to inspire, challenge, motivate and advocate for positive change for individuals and the world at large. She lives everyday knowing for certain that there is more to each of us. We are not defined by what we study or what our professions are. We are defined by our ability to embrace failure, adapt, learn, grow and evolve. Her story is a reminder to others who are fighting crushed dreams, that they can create new opportunities, hone new skills and define their own lives on their terms.

Nigel Salina is an Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and a Global Social Impact Leader. He is well known for his record shattering performance at the Caribbean’s largest insurer. Nigel was appointed Chairman and CEO of the global arm of the Caribbean’s largest conglomerate in 2007.

Over a five-year period, he led a team whose performance was unparalleled. He is the Chairman of the Global Business Leadership Forum Ltd. This is an International Corporation focusing on global business, connecting leaders & corporations across diverse industries in different geographic locations.

Nigel is also the Founder and Strategic Advisor of Globus Energy Group. Nigel's objective for this entity is to become a leader in the global decarbonisation movement. Nigel is an International Consultant with relationships at the highest levels with both Political and Business Leaders.

He works closely with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States on a number of projects. Nigel is also involved in various philanthropic activities across the Globe. He led a Global Private Sector response after the devastating Hurricane Seasons in 2017 and 2019. Nigel is also the Project Leader/Director of a major Caribbean Security initiative.

Ian John is the Regional CEO of PBS Technology Group. Ian has over 20 years senior managerial experience in the ICT sector with a proven track record of success. He holds an MBA with Distinction, a Business Degree and many other certifications and was trained by Singapore Cooperation Programme in eGovernment Strategies and ICT Innovation.

PBS Technologies is the largest information technology solutions provider across both the Caribbean and Central America, with a diverse portfolio of products and services, operating in 19 countries with over 2,100 IT professionals, over 50 years’ experience innovating in multiple markets and over $250 million US in annual revenue.

Ian considers himself a technological futurist with specific interest in attempting to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present to impact our peoples, communities, societies and ultimately our way of life. He is an avid presenter and lecturer on the Industry 4.0 and the Future of Work. He believes in bringing solutions to market that deliver a better customer experience, whilst improving efficiency and ultimately driving growth for businesses and our Caribbean countries.

Dr. Amy SM Paul is the Founder and CEO of Elder Health Solutions, a startup company which focuses on providing personalized, holistic, in-home care to patients living with Dementia. She is an Internal Medicine Physician and fellowship-trained Geriatrician, who is a champion for the provision of high-quality care and protection of the elderly.

Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University, serving as an Attending Physician in the Geriatrics House Calls Program. Her role entailed caring for complex, underserved patients along the continuum of care in the home, acute, post-acute and long-term care settings in addition to teaching various learners. Dr. Paul is a graduate of the Saint George’s University Schools of Medicine and Arts and Sciences.

She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, and Weill Cornell University Program in New York City. Her Geriatrics Fellowship was completed at the Cleveland Clinic. She is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Health Care Administration at the Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Paul is a member of an Institutional Biosafety Committee, sits on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit Hands Across the Sea, and is the Founder of the Saint Lucian Physicians Network.

She enjoys painting, reading, hiking, baking, musical performance and of late, handmade soap-making for children. Dr. Paul is passionate about the provision of healthcare to the citizens of her island of Saint Lucia, and dreams of one day having an impact on care delivery to elderly patients there and across the Caribbean.

Anais has a master in atmospheric sciences, and is currently a subdirector of evaluation of process for vulnerability to climate change analysis at the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change. Her main responsibilities are the development of the National Atlas of Vulnerability to Climate Change and has participated in preparation of two successful applications for the GFC and GEF, River Restoration for Climate Change Adaptation (RIOS) and Connecting Watershed Health with Sustainable Livestock and Agroforestry Production (CONECTA) respectively.

Aneurin Edward was born in Castries St. Lucia on June 7th 1992. His inspiration to become an artist began at the age of 8 when he would watch and review the drawings of his then 18 year old cousin Kevaughn Edward. It was here he realized that he wanted to pursue a career in this field. He was fascinated, learning through constant study,trial and error he expanded his knowledge and honed his skill.

Coming under the tutelage of Mr. Ted Sandiford in his teens at the St. Mary's College he continued to grow as an artist. In 2017 he adopted another skill in the field of photography. Although young in his overall artistic career Aneurin has indicated his plan to merge his photographic concepts and drawing capabilities. Now working primarily with graphite and charcoal pencils he produces these hyper-realistic drawings that need to be seen in progress to be believed. Drawings that require months on end to complete .

His overall goal is to produce a detailed art collection through out his life time of cultural and historical significance, something truly unique in its own right. A collection that would stand at the heart of preserving our memories and strides toward a better future as a community, nation and civilization.

Ashley Parasram graduated with a Masters from the University of Edinburgh in Natural Resource Management. He spent 18 years working on designing sustainable development and international aid programmes at the UK Department for International Development, Consultative Group for International Agriculture Research (Indonesia), European Forest Institute (Finland) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (UK).

He has recently worked on sustainable cocoa standards for exports in partnership with the InterAmerican Development Bank and the University of the West Indies. Ashley established the Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Company in 2016 with the aim of rehabilitating the national cocoa sector. The project has developed partnerships with international brands such as Hilton Hotel Group, Hyatt Regency hotel group, Harrods Stores and Angostura Distillers Limited.

Ben is Head of Strategic Communications at the Travel Foundation, a sustainable tourism charity based in the UK, which works with businesses and destinations across the globe to improve tourism’s impacts. He has been at the Travel Foundation for nearly 9 years and has been involved in projects such as developing the influential “Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism” report in 2019, setting up the _Future of Tourism Coalition in 2020, and co-authoring the Towards Destination Stewardship report in 2021.

Bevon Chadel Charles is an Agriculture enthusiast, farmer, youth advocate and Entrepreneur from Grenada. She founded Akata Farms, a sustainable integrated farm that aims to build sustainable climate smart farms in Grenada and across the Caribbean to increase the regions capacity for export, value added products to strengthen Agri- Tourism enterprises and youth involvement in the Agriculture Industry.

She is Grenada’s first Country Representative of YOUNGPROFESSIONAL FOR AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT. An organizationlead by young advocates for agriculture advancement and change. A One Young World Ambassador, president of the Grenadian Youth for Agriculture development in technology, as well as the Regional Coordinator for Sustainable Development Goals Corp, another youth driven organization with teams across the globe.

Her interests not only lie in developing a robust entrepreneurial sphere in Grenada and the Caribbean, she is deeply passionate about ICT, innovations in hydroponics, freight farming, AI Technology, Protein engineering and Nanotechnology as it regards to improving agricultural production and food security and how these innovations can transform growing rural communities that will, in turn, enhance the livelihoods of its people.

Her aptitude for personal development enabled her to be one of 14 Caribbean Entrepreneurs to be chosen for the Caribbean Youth Entrepreneur Programme. Bevon was recently awarded Winner of the Caribbean Region: Commonwealth Youth Award 2021.

A daughter of Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, Bibi has worked in the agriculture industry for over 25 years. She obtained her PhD conducting innovative research in natural pest management in the national sugar company of Trinidad and Tobago and, as an Assistant Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, she leveraged her MBA specialization in innovation and entrepreneurship to develop a novel incubator programme, where each undergraduate student could leave with a tested business idea.

Her subsequent project in the Ministry of Food Production, generated a novel agriculture and agribusiness outreach training programme and created a multi-purpose agriculture hub of services.

In 2015 she founded the Caribbean Network for Empowerment Through Training (CNETT) where she blends her LifeCanvas Personal Coaching Programme, innovation skills and global networks to fulfil her personal mission of empowering women by helping them launch and scale their microbusinesses.

At present, she is supporting the Innovation Agenda of the FAO Caribbean Sub Regional Office to help achieve the global Zero Hunger goal.

Camila Zepeda holds a degree in Economics from the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico and a Master's degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University. She has over ten years of experience in the Mexican Federal Government, holding various positions in the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation and the Ministry of Social Development.

Ms. Zepeda currently serves as Director General for Global Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in charge of promoting, guiding and coordinating Mexico's position in multilateral forums on transversal issues such as: global governance; environment and natural resources; climate change; 2030 Agenda for sustainable development; food security, economic development, among other. She is Mexico’s Chief Negotiator for Climate Change and Biodiversity.

Dr. Carlene Radix is the Head of the Human and Social Division at the OECS. The Human and Social Division encompasses health, education, social protection.

She is a Public Health physician and Health Administration Leader in the Caribbean. She completed Medical School at St George’s University in Grenada, a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatric Residency in the United States, and an Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health Fellowship during which she completed her Master’s degree in Public Health

Dr. Radix has held various positions in Clinical Medicine, Academia, Public Health and Administration in several Caribbean countries, and has consulted for regional and international public health agencies. Her life purpose is to contribute to each person's realisation of their full potential.

Carole is a financial advisor, strategic thinker and solution-based C-Suite Executive and finance consultant with over thirty years senior level experience in banking and finance.

She is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Eastern Caribbean (ICAEC), since 1992. She holds a BSc. Honors Degree in Accounting from the University of the West Indies (Cave Hill Campus) and was a founding Investment Broker, Registered Principal and Representative on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE).

Her extensive career spans the fields of Banking, Finance, Auditing and Invest Brokerage. She has served as CEO First Citizens Bank Barbados; Regional Head (Eastern Caribbean & Barbados)- First Citizens Investment Services (Formerly CMMB) and Chief Finance Officer in various organizations including Cable & Wireless (St Lucia) and St Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority.

Carole is a past Director of St Lucia Electricity Services Ltd (LUCELEC), 1st National Bank (St. Lucia) Limited and the CCJ Trust Fund. She has held the title of “First Female” in several organizations and was the first female CEO of First Citizens Bank (Barbados) Limited and first female ACCA International Assembly representative for the Caribbean and the Americas and founding President of the St Lucia - ACCA Voluntary Members Network. She also served as the first female Chairperson of the Caribbean Association of Banks (CAB).

An avid Rotarian for over twenty (20) years she was the first female member and first female president of the Rotary Club of St. Lucia. Carole is passionate about community service and enjoys working with the underprivileged and teaching young people and women in particular about wealth creation and responsible investing. She is a regular advocate for encouraging women to pursue financial freedom and to pursue their passion and frequently makes presentations and lead seminars on the subject.

Cletus Kennedy Bertin is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC), from May 2017 to present. He has worked throughout the Eastern Caribbean, Belize, and Trinidad & Tobago, with several Governments, Educational Institutions and Corporations in the private sector, as well as for Regional and International institutions, as a consultant, and in some instances, as a full-time employee.

He has led several transformational and organisational development initiatives, most notably with the Government of Saint Lucia (as Director of Public Sector Modernisation), the OECS Secretariat (as Project Manager for the Institutional Strengthening Project) and presently with CARILEC (supporting the development and implementation of the Strategic Plan: 2018-2022, which has resulted in the repositioning of the organisation, and the successful adoption of policy, process, technological, governance, personnel and structural changes).

His areas of expertise include Management of Change & Innovation, ICT Implementation, Business Process Analysis & Reengineering, Strategic Planning, Project Management, Organisational Development and Capacity Building, across several sectors: ICT, Telecommunications, Education, Public Administration, and the Electric Utility sector. He holds a B.Sc. (Management) and a M.Sc. (Management, specialising in Information Systems) from the University of the West Indies and a Ph.D. (Information Systems & Change Management) from City University in London, England.

Dr. Charles is a native of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. As Director of Academic Affairs at The UWI Five Island Campus, Dr. Charles is responsible for the School of Science, Computing and Artificial Intelligence, School of Management Science and Technology; the School of Health and Behavioral Sciences, the School of Humanities and Education; Institutional Effectiveness; Sponsored Research and Programs, and Library Services. To add, Dr. Charles is a member of The University of the West Indies Executive Management Team.

Dr. Charles is an academic entrepreneur to his core and believes that in collaboration with regional governments, organizations like the OECS and industry partners, the UWI Five Island Campus can be an engine of innovation to ignite the “Silicon Islands of the Caribbean. Dr. Charles has a diverse and extensive background in Accreditation, Higher Education Administration, Digital Transformation, Corporate Business Strategy and Change, and Data Science. Dr. Charles’ career spans across state systems of higher education and private universities. For 25+years, Dr. Charles has held increasingly complex positions in higher education, from faculty, to Undergraduate and Graduate Department Chair, to Dean of the College of Arts, Sciences and Education, to Senior Academic Officer for Program Development and Services, to Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Institutional Transformation, to University President.

Most recently, Dr. Charles served as a Higher Education Solution Architect and Data Science Lead at Microsoft Services where he worked with University Leadership teams on the application of Cloud Computing; Big Data Analytics; Artificial Intelligence; and the Internet of Things (IoT) as a force-multiplier to strengthen operations and financial performance. In addition, Dr. Charles has served as the Vice President for Research, Development, and Innovation at RLM Communications (DoD Contractor), where he oversaw design, development and innovation of new products and services for Big Data Analytics; Artificial Intelligence (AI); Machine Learning; Biometrics and Cybersecurity.

To add, Dr. Charles has served as a Senior Business Strategy and Change engagement lead at IBM Global Services – conducting strategy customer engagements in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, and the United Kingdom.Dr. Charles is a graduate of Howard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Morgan State University, Northwestern University, Harvard’s Institute for Education Management, MIT’s Big Data and Social Analytics certification program, Harvard’s Performance Assessment in Higher Education certification program, MIT’s Building, Leading, and Sustaining the Innovative Organization certification program, and the American Council on Education Institute for new Presidents. Dr. Charles’ college degrees are in Higher Education Administration, Predictive Data Analytics, and Architecture/Smart Buildings Technology.

Constantin Muraru is the Communication and Research Manager of the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF), the umbrella association of the European insect sector in EU's capital, Brussels. IPIFF is an EU non-profit organisation which represents the interests of the insect production sector towards EU policymakers, European stakeholders and citizens. Composed of 79 members, IPIFF promotes the use of insects and insect-derived products as top tier source of nutrients for human consumption and animal feed.

IPIFF's main mission is to promote the wider use of insects as a complementary or new source of protein for human consumption and animal feed through a continuous dialogue with European institutions (i.e. the European Commission, the EU Member States authorities, the European Parliament and the European Food Safety Authority). Notably, IPIFF centres its activities around advocating for appropriate EU legislation applicable to insect production.

With a background in environmental technology and international relations, Constantin is fascinated by solutions inspired from nature - such as insect farming - and their contribution to reducing the footprint of food production activities. In the IPIFF Secretariat, he works on coordinating the communication activities of IPIFF, as well as on facilitating a continuous dialogue with the research community. At international level, Constantin was also involved in organising the IPIFF UNFSS side event in July 2021. In addition, he is the IPIFF delegate in the collaboration with other insect regional associations.

After becoming the top performing CSEC student in St. Lucia in 2012 with 14 distinctions in one sitting - plus 1 the year prior - Dajr Alfred received the B.Sc. degree (Double Major) in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the Kun Shan University, Tainan, Taiwan, in 2019.

He then went on to pursue the M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from the New York University Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, New York. During his tenure as an MSc student, Mr. Alfred served as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Power Electronics Laboratory in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NYU Tandon, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

His current research interests include machine learning in control systems, wireless power transfer for EV applications, MCU-based Field oriented motor control, image/ signal processing and real-time embedded systems for IoT applications. Mr. Alfred was a recipient of the NYU Tandon 2021 Myron M. Rosenthal Award for Best MS Academic Achievement in Electrical and Computer Engineering. This award is chosen among all ECE MS students, based on course work as well as MS thesis or project. Mr. Alfred has since chosen to return to NYU Tandon as a "Future Leaders Fellow" in pursuit of his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.

Damian’s focus is to support Fera’s engagement with PE & VC investors looking at the agri-food sector, and work in developing go-to-market strategic propositions with spin-outs, start-ups and investors, alongside our commercial and government clients and partners.

Managing a broad portfolio of strategic and potential spin-out projects, Damian works closely alongside the Fera Science community and specialists with current focus on Insect novel protein feed and food industrial solutions & insect waste reduction industrial solutions. He is leading a range of international commercial and public sector research collaborations and evidence/horizon scan studies, and was the lead author on a UK DIT sponsored Guide to Insect Bioconversion and Farming in the UK for future operators and investors into the industry. Damian is also responsible for the implementation of a $USD 1.4 million capital investment to build an industrial insect bioconversion facility at Fera Science.

Damian’s responsibilities also include supporting commercial and research collaborations in the following areas - seed crop assurance projects and phytosanitary assurance digital tools and analytical services; landscape level environmental sensing and surface ground water real-time monitoring; food innovations and fraud warning AI powered forecasting; bee therapeutics and identified compounds to treat serious honey bee diseases; and In-field detection of disease/antimicrobial resistance Fungal based bio-pesticides.

Damian specifically leads Fera’s ambition to establish an agri-food innovation £100m impact fund working in partnership with Milltrust Agricultural Investments. This will support wider agri-tech startup initiatives and collaborations to support other IP, venturing, partnering projects and initiatives driving a transformation in food production, sustainable agriculture and environment protection.

Has had a long distinguished, multidimensional career focused on education, social transformation and organizational re-engineering. He is currently the Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – a regional integration grouping of eleven Member States.

His career covers national, regional and international experience with the following highlights: Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Examinations Council, InterRegional Coordinator of the International Literacy Support Service, Permanent Secretary for Education and Human Resource Development (St. Lucia) as well as Permanent Secretary for Education & Chief Education Officer (concurrently) in Revolutionary Grenada.

His qualifications include BA (Hons) UWI; MSc Curriculum Univ. Wisconsin-Madison; PhD Education Policy University of Wisconsin-Madison and EMBA UWI.

Board appointments include: Caribbean Center for Educational Planning UWI Mona; Knowledge, Innovation & Exchange Program (KIX); Global Partnership for Education (LAC region); Chancellor’s Commission on UWI Governance; Caribbean Climate Accelerator; World Bank Task Force on Caribbean Education Strategy 2020.

Dominique Noralez is a learner and leader at heart. A 24-year-old young woman with a fervent passion for social policy surrounding the politics of feminism, Blackness, environmental protection and youth development. These passions she has shown through her involvement since age 15 with the US Embassy’s Youth Ambassador Program and national youth organization under International Planned Parenthood Association affiliate organization, the Belize Family Life Association’s Youth Advocacy Movement.

Ms. Noralez was the former acting president of the National Youth Council of Belize and held several seats on high-level decision making committees in that capacity. These included Co-Chair of the Social Planning Committee of the National Committee for Families and Children, youth director on the National 4H Board, board member of the Long-Term Project Implementation Board of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, along with an invitation to join the National Women’s Commission as youth representative on the Information, Education, and Communication Committee.

Other achievements for her include being appointed Standing member on the National AIDs Commission as representative for youth, women and children and elected secretary on the Information, Education, Communication Committee, Public Relations Executive with Save the Seas Belize, Executive Councilor of the National Garifuna Council of Belize, and Youth Focal point on the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Program commissioned by the UNDP Resident Coordinator while also co-managing the community organization, Group Hug. She was also awarded the Youth Ministers’ awarded in 2014, bestowed with the Young Woman of the Year Award in 2017 and nominated Commonwealth Youth Parliamentarian by Speaker of the House, Hon Laura Tucker-Longsworth in 2018.

With all this, she also served as an intern youth officer with the Department of Youth Services under the Ministry of Youth leading several of the department’s policy drafting including the Commonwealth Youth Mainstreaming initiative and the Revised National Youth Development Policy. Ms. Noralez is also a columnist with the nation’s most distributed newspaper, the Amandala, where just as in her podcast,Walasaha, she writes about art, history, politics and contemporary issues of Belizean society. She now serves as student affairs director of the country’s largest umbrella student organization, the National Student Union of Belize. Dominique, now the Vice President of the Belize Student Association, is a newly enrolled student at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus having received the prestigious Sir Arthur Lewis Scholarship for Indigenous People pursuing her undergraduate degree in Sociology.

Emma Dorn is a Senior Knowledge Expert in Education in McKinsey & Company's Silicon Valley office. Emma leads knowledge development and dissemination globally for McKinsey’s education practice. She also serves clients across the public, private and social sectors including school systems, higher education institutions, technology companies, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, foundations and educational nonprofits.

Emma has significant experience in global education, US K-12 schools, education technology, economic development, and global health sectors, as well as broader philanthropy, donor and nonprofit functional expertise. Areas of focus include improving access to and quality of education for historically underserved populations, supporting efforts to meet the sustainable development goal for education (SDG4), applying advanced analytics for social impact, and applying technology to improve teaching and learning.

Emma has authored several education articles and reports, including an analysis of the learning and economic impacts of the pandemic, a global analysis of OECD PISA data to identify drivers of student outcomes, and a series of charticles on trends in higher education. She has three children in US public schools.

Ferruccio is a sustainable finance professional with 10 years of experience in designing and structuring green projects and programs in developing and least developed countries. Ferruccio leads GGGI project origination and deal structuring processes across GGGI’s LAC portfolio to deliver public and private finance mechanisms and bankable projects to bridge the financing gap to NDC targets.

Prior to GGGI, Ferruccio worked as sustainable finance specialist at UNDP, JICA and World Wildlife Fund in Argentina, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico, Mozambique and Singapore.

Floris Vermeulen represents the European Investment Bank in the Southern and Eastern Caribbean. His role covers institutional relations and new business development, including public infrastructure lending and support for access to finance for MSMEs. He previously worked as an Investment Officer in sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Ocean and Asia. Prior to joining the EIB, Floris worked as a consultant both at the Boston Consulting Group and at ABN AMRO Bank in the Netherlands.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union. It has been active in the Caribbean for 40 years, supporting public infrastructure and private sector development through its loans and technical assistance programs. As the EU bank, the EIB is committed to putting EU climate goals into practice around the world, lending over 23 billion euros to climate action projects last year.

Gillian’s 25-year career spans across private and corporate philanthropy, academia, the private sector, and international development, and she is currently Vice President, Global Public Health, and Scientific Affairs at Colgate-Palmolive Company. She has held executive-level positions in corporate and private foundations, including Vice President of the Aetna Foundation, Evaluation Manager for health investments at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Board Director, the Oral Health Foundation.

These positions included stewardship for funding investments in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, China, and the United Kingdom. Her global experience covers international development, including the PAHO-WHO, where she was responsible for health systems strengthening in 19 low and middle-income countries, to ensure integration and alignment to country-level, regional, and global priorities for sustainable development. She also recently led work within the State of Nevada’s Office of Economic Development, with responsibility for new health sector investments to diversify the state’s economy beyond gaming and tourism/hospitality, and guided changes in legislation and policies to support this diversification.

Gillian has served as a member of expert panels and roundtables at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the Conference Board for Industry Partnerships, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the United States Department of Agriculture. She is an editorial board member for the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, under Johns Hopkins Press, with additional board member service for businesses and non-profits in housing, education, food security, and technology. She currently serves as a board director for Hip-Hop Public Health, an internationally recognized non-profit innovator with Grammy and other award-winning musicians and artists who promote health and wellbeing for vulnerable children and their families.

Gillian has taught at the Harvard School of Public Health, the City University of New York, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She currently supervises doctoral research at the University of the West Indies, Mona, School of Business and Management, which aims to grow next generation global and Caribbean regional business leadership. Recognizing the economic difficulties faced by many countries in the Caribbean, she also developed the first US-based social enterprise network dedicated to business innovations for sustainable development within this region.

Gillian has conducted research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Channing Laboratory in Boston, has published in the peer-reviewed and lay literature, and has been a frequent keynote speaker and presenter in the U.S. and around the world. She holds a doctorate in public health from Harvard University, a master’s in public health from the University of Michigan, a doctorate in dental surgery from the University of Detroit Mercy, and completed her general practice residency at New York Hospital. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of the West Indies.

Germain Anthony is the Technical Specialist – Education at the Education Development Management Unit within the OECS Commission. He is an educator with nearly 28 years’ experience in the sector. Mr. Anthony is a trained teacher and holds a degree in Computer Science and Management. He completed a Masters program in Design for Interactive Media in London (2012). Mr. Anthony has also served as the Commonwealth of Learning Focal Point for Saint Lucia.

In his former role as Curriculum Specialist – Technology Integration within the Department of Education, He was leading and supporting several Technology in Education initiatives in Saint Lucia and the region, including policy development for ICT in the sector, teacher ICT capacity development, ICTE project implementation and monitoring, digital content development, automation and digitisation of national and regional assessment activities and the introduction of computer coding and robotics in the curriculum.

Mr. Anthony is an advocate for the mainstreaming of OER as a means of improving equity and access to learning resources. His vision is that all learners, particularly the younger ones, will be able to take advantage of digital technologies to contribute meaningfully to society and to their own success.

Govind Seepersad has a PhD in Agricultural Economics. He is also a Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics of the University of the West Indies. He has worked for over 25 years doing trade policy, competitiveness and value chain studies in many countries. His marketing and consulting experience span the Caribbean, North and Central America and the European Union. He also has more than 15 years teaching experience with youths in agribusiness, project appraisal, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also developed and managed many agricultural programmes at the national and regional levels in the Ministry of Agriculture, Development Banking and Agricultural Marketing with focus on small farmers and rural development.

Graciela Reyes is a Mexican environmental economist. She is a Ph.D. candidate from Cornell University, where she studied on a Fulbright scholarship. She has a Master’s degree in Environment and Development from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor in Economics. Graciela has been staff and consultant of the World Bank for the past 10 years, and recently joined the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, where she leads a multidisciplinary team in the design of new projects supported by the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environmental Facility.

Mr. Gregg C.E. Rawlins, a national of Barbados was appointed Representative of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in the Eastern Caribbean Countries, with effect from July 1, 2019. Mr. Rawlins has over 30 years of experience in the field of agriculture at both the national and regional levels in the Caribbean Region. Immediately prior to his current appointment, Mr. Rawlins served as IICA Representative in Trinidad and Tobago between 2008 and 2019. An Agricultural Economist, Mr. Rawlins has held positions with several key multinational agencies in the region. Mr. Rawlins served as Trade Policy Specialist and Consultant Project Manager with the FAO/CARICOM/CARIFORUM Food Security Project between 2004 and 2007. He has also held positions as Agricultural Economist and Senior Project Officer in Economic Policy and Sectoral Programmes with the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana and as Chief Economist and Head of Planning at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in his native Barbados.

In late 2010, Mr. Rawlins was designated as Coordinator, Regional Integration for the Caribbean Region with oversight for implementation of IICA’s Strategy for agricultural development in the region as well as for the coordination of IICA’s technical support for regional integration projects, programmes and initiatives until 2017.

Mr. Rawlins holds a B.Sc (Hons.) Degree in General Agriculture from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago and a M.Sc in Agricultural Economics (with Distinction) from Wye College, University of London, England.

Mr. Rawlins possesses a wealth of technical and managerial experience and has authored many research and working papers, sub-sector reviews and analyses, negotiating briefs, policy positions and presentations on agricultural economics, commodities, trade policy and negotiations, food and nutrition security , external trade and economic related matters.

Dr Prajogi is a radiation oncologist working at the Applied Radiation Biology and Radiotherapy Section of the Division of Human Health at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He is focal point and technical officer for two virtual tumour board initiatives supported by the IAEA: The Africa Radiation Oncology Network (AFRONET) and the Asia Pacific Radiation Oncology Network (ASPRONET).

He is an active member of the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), European Society of Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO), and Education / Training Committee of the Federation of Asian Organization for Radiation Oncology (FARO).

Hanif Earis Antony Benjamin is a Licensed Master of Social Work, licensed by the New York State Office of the Professions, and a member of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and the National Centre for Crisis Management. Mr. Benjamin is a Clinical Traumatologist and Clinical Therapist holds a Certification in Clinical Traumatology from the Traumatology Institute of Canada and a Certification in Child Trauma (C.C.T). Mr. Benjamin, a Doctoral Student (Ph.D. Social Work) at The University of the West Indies is also listed in the International Deployment Directory of the National Center for Crisis Management as a first responder for traumatic events and an International Premier Speakers and Trainers Bureau of the National Center for Crisis Management and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress.

He is the Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of The Centre for Human Development Limited (TCHD), with its subsidiaries: TCHD – Postgraduate Training Institute and TCHD – Centre for Change, a Non-Governmental Organization.

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DR. JAN YVES NATALIE REMY is an international trade lawyer and Caribbean integration law specialist, who, over the course of her fifteen-year career, has advised governments and private stakeholders on Caribbean integration, international trade matters, with a focus on litigating disputes under the auspices of the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Jan Yves holds an undergraduate degree in law from the University of the West Indies (Hons); a masters from the University of Cambridge (Hons); and a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Graduate Institute of Development Studies on the Role of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Caribbean integration.

Effective August 2021, she serves as Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (SRC), the premier trade institution of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, dedicated to training, research and outreach on issues of regional and international trade. She lectures in the SRC’s flagship Masters in International Trade Policy (MITP) programme, in the areas of international trade law and e-commerce; and conducts outreach and research on behalf of the Centre. She holds the position of WTO Chair at the University of the West Indies, under the WTO’s Chair Programme.

She previously worked as Senior Associate at Sidley Austin LLP (Geneva and Washington D.C.) and before that as Legal Officer at the Appellate Body of the WTO.

Jean-Philippe de Schrevel is the Founder and a Managing Partner at Bamboo Capital Partners. Jean-Philippe has dedicated most of his career to the development of the “impact investing” field of which he is considered to be a global pioneer, having launched 15 investment funds and raised over a billion USD to date across a variety of asset classes (fixed income, private equity, venture capital, structured finance) and many sectors (microfinance, energy, healthcare, education, agribusiness, affordable housing).

Jean-Philippe’s journey stems from early personal exposure to extreme poverty while travelling, working and living in Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. His work objectives are driven by deeply rooted faith and values and an ambition to contribute to solving at scale some of the most critical problems of our planet. Realizing “investments that matter” is the path he has chosen to follow over 20 years ago. Jean-Philippe notably co-founded in 2001 BlueOrchard Finance (a pioneer commercial lender to Microfinance banks) and worked at McKinsey & Co, the UN as well as for various NGOs. He holds a MBA from the Wharton School of Business and speaks fluently French, English and Spanish.

Josie Gonsalves has built a career spanning over 28 years in the NGO sector in various executive management capacities: most notably, as a grant maker and technical advisor serving on various banking and community development consortiums to develop affordable housing; a public policy lead on anti-poverty; an executive director of a multi-service national housing model; and a creator of 501(c)(3)entities. As a community activist and academician, she has presented on panels and media on sustainability, homelessness, housing, poverty, anti-racism, implicit bias, and inclusion. Additionally, Ms. Gonsalves continues her social activism serving on government task forces, nonprofit boards, and community boards as an agent of change for those on the economic and social periphery.

As the lead on the Resiliency and Regenerative Initiative for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines disaster relief in the aftermath of the recent volcanic eruption of La Soufriere on April 9, 2021, her work focuses on the establishment of a resiliency hub to address long term sustainability. As the technical specialist to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Chamber of Agriculture and Nutrition Inc., she is building a strategic road map to transform the Agricultural sector. Additionally, Ms. Gonsalves is attached to the local Network of Rural Women Producers Inc. (NRWP), an arm of the Caribbean Network of Rural Women Producers Inc. (CNRWP) to strengthen the farmers' alliance model to build a resilient economy. Her advisory role as the gender and development specialist to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines NRWP (SVG-NRWP), specifically with women farmers in the red and orange zones, supports an agricultural pilot project to achieve scalability and replication.

Ms. Gonsalves is the co-founder and publisher of a local nonprofit media organization, Public Square in the USA, a model she hopes to replicate in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. The mission of both platforms will use journalism as a tool of civics and citizen engagement in various formats. Additionally, she is a management consultant for nonprofits, and a facilitator on racial equity, anti-racism, and implicit bias. She holds degrees from New York University and Rutgers University in the United States: she is an adjunct professor at Medgar Evers College, The City University of New York (Political Science) and taught at Rutgers University – Newark on nonprofit management.

Dr St John rose in the ranks of Public Health in Barbados from 1994 to become the first Barbadian Chief Medical Officer of Barbados in 2005. Dr St John also represented Barbados on the Executive Board of WHO and then became the first Caribbean person to Chair the Executive Board from 2012 to 2013.

Dr St John finally left the post of CMO in 2017 when she became the Assistant Director General at the WHO HQ in Switzerland. There she held the Portfolio of Climate and Other Determinants of Health and successfully completed the first phase of the Climate Change and Health SIDS Initiative.

In July 2019 Dr St John became the Executive Director of the Caribbean Public Health Agency. CARPHA has led the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Dr St John’s leadership has seen her have over 200 speaking engagements about COVID-19 as she engages with multiple sectors, and the Health leaders and Heads of Government in CARICOM.

Judy Kepher Gona has over two decades of working in sustainable tourism in Africa as a manager, strategist, researcher, lecturer, global speaker, motivator and consultant. Her interests are in community led models of tourism, integration of communities in tourism supply chain, sustainability assessment and reporting.

In 2018, Women Academics in Tourism (WAIT) recognized Judy among top 50 awesome scholars in tourism. In 2019, she was awarded the Sustainable Citizen Award by Forbes Woman Africa in recognition of outstanding contribution to awareness and knowledge of sustainability in tourism in Africa and beyond. In 2020, Centre for Responsible Tourism awarded a lifetime achievement award for her contribution to sustainable tourism. In the same year she was named amongst 40 global shakers in sustainable tourism.

She holds a master’s degree in Community Development & Rural Sociology and is the founder of Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda-(STTA)

A rural woman, first and foremost, Keithlin Caroo is an advocate and changemaker in the fields of gender equity in agriculture and rural development in St. Lucia. She is also the founder of ‘Helen’s Daughters’ a regionally recognized and award-winning nonprofit organization that focuses on rural women’s economic empowerment through advocacy, capacity development and improved market access. The organization started in 2016, when it was selected as one of the winners of UN Women’s Empower Women Champions for Change Program.

While her academic background lay in the field of International Relations and Political Science, having served the last five years at the United Nations Secretariat in New York in the areas of Peacekeeping and Political Affairs, she has never forgotten her farming roots, which is what led to the creation of Helen’s Daughters. Ms. Caroo is a One Young World Ambassador, the recipient of the 2018 National Youth Award in Agriculture by the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports in St. Lucia, a Thought for Food Ambassador for the Caribbean, a Forbes Island Innovation, the first ever English- speaking Ashoka fellow in Latin America and the Caribbean and a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Humanitarian Services.

Kamalie Mannix is a 22 years old native of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. He graduated from the Antigua Grammar School in 2016, followed by the Antigua State College in 2018. He is now a student of the University of the West Indies, Five Islands Campus where he is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Sector Management.

By profession, he is a teacher of history. When not at work Kamalie involved himself in the work of youth groups such as the National Youth Parliament Association of which he has been President since 2019. Presently, he serves as the Chairman of the OECS Youth Advisory Network where he intends to promote and advance the work of young people throughout the OECS Sub- region. In his free time Kamalie enjoys politics and travellings.

With over 20 years of experience in environmental project design and grant-making, Karen is a regional leader with specific expertise in Conservation Trust Fund (CTF) management in the Caribbean. She held the role of USAID/ Jamaica Mission Environment Officer and Project Manager before moving on to the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica where she served as CEO for six and a half years.

In her current capacity as Conservation Finance Manager at the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund, Karen manages the endowment fund and coordinates the development and continued consolidation of the CTF partners through the Caribbean Sustainable Finance Architecture (CSFA). Based in Jamaica, Karen revels in being West Indian and loves that her job takes her outside the boardroom to the many natural treasures of the Caribbean and beyond.

Karlis Noel was born on June 15 1975, of St. Lucian nationality in the western touristic town of Soufriere. At the age of four his family moved back to his father’s native community of Laborie. A bright if somewhat distracted student who processed information differently to his peers, Karlis overcame many odds to become an award winning innovator.

Karlis is the brain behind the award winning Brine Neutralizing Desalinator which went on to win the 2019 Prime Minister’s award for innovation. He is also the innovator behind the SMART Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) which will revolutionize fishing in our territory.

Unlike his hero Nicola Tesla, Karlis believes that the scientific man should aim at results which will alleviate the plight of man in his era. Although he does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up, he believes his duty is not only to lay the foundation for those who are to come, but to establish the way.

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Dr. Connell is a Consultant Internist/ Hypertension Specialist, and is full time faculty at the Cave Hill Campus of The UWI. He is Deputy Dean of Internationalization & Recruitment in Faculty of Medical Sciences and chairs the Cave Hill Campus’ Health & Wellness Committee. As a Consultant Physician at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Barbados, he manages both general internal medicine inpatient care and the Resistant Hypertension clinic.

He is the inaugural Governor of the American College of Physicians Caribbean Chapter. For his outstanding public service, he was awarded the prestigious Principal’s Award for Excellence in Public Service in 2019. He has published in numerous peer review journals, and has expanded his scholarship into innovations in medical education and the use of technology in medicine.

His professional recognitions include:

• Fellowship of the American College of Physicians (ACP),
• Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians UK (FRCP),
• Fellowship of the American College of Cardiology (FACC).

Kieran is a financial market professional with over 15 years of consolidated regional and international experience in financial services with an ultimate passion for reinventing development finance. Kieran’s primary role involves the implementation of financial sector diversification initiatives in partnership with regional and international development partners, leveraging her knowledge and expertise in: capital market policy, regulation, instruments and institutions; central banking; sovereign debt management; economic policy and analysis; primary market operations, product development, financial and valuation modelling; fintech; sustainable finance; investor relations, knowledge management, stakeholder relationship management and business development.

She currently serves as the Financial Institutions Coordinator for the ECCB blockchain-based Central Bank Digital Currency Pilot (DCash), and the Team Lead on other transformative regional market initiatives such as the ECCU Renewable Energy Infrastructure Investment Facility and Money and Capital Market Development 3.0. She is a member of the ECCB Fintech Working Group, the Securities Settlement Working Group and a representative on the Commonwealth FinTech Technical Advisory Committee.

Kieran’s most recent professional training and academic accomplishments include: The University of Oxford Fintech Programme; Graduate Scholar of the IFC-Milken Institute Capital Market Fellowship Program at the George Washington University, where she and her team won the 2019 IFC-Milken Institute Capital Market Game-Changers Policy Shark Tank; and Level 1 of the Chartered Financial Analyst Program. She holds a BSc (Honors) in Accounting and Economics from the University of the West Indies.

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Laura Jn.Pierre is a Marketing Specialist/ Brand Manager by training and a social entrepreneur by profession. Laura was born in the small fishing village of Laborie, St.Lucia and is the third of five children.

Upon graduating from the Vieux-Fort Comprehensive Secondary School in 1993, Laura attended the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. She then moved on to Canada in 1995 where she attended the Algonquin College, majoring in Marketing and the University of Ottawa in 2007, where she studied International Management.

Upon her return home, Laura held a vicissitude of positions in a multitude of industries within the private sector. Throughout all her endeavors though, Laura always had a passion to give back to her community and so aligned herself with social organizations such as Rotaract, CAFRA and Women In Action. Laura is a Human rights activist. In 2013 she co-founded Caring Hands Foundation – a registered non-governmental organization based in St.Lucia – as a platform to advocate for the end to the wanton and rampant violence against women and children particularly in rural communities – Building Futures. Saving Lives

She is a talk show host highlighting social and political issues as well as spotlighting the achievements of women and youth in society among other things. She is also a social entrepreneur. In 2016 she founded Tropical Bookings – A travel boutique agency focusing on small and intimate properties across St. Lucia and the wider OECS. In 2019 she co-founded Invictus Inc – A climate Change Adaptation company whose slogan is Creating Local Solutions to Global Challenges.

Laura is socially conscious in all her activities. She is so moved by the words of the Poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley especially the last stanza…

Leo Williams is the Managing Director of this new private equity fund in the region. Mr. Williams is a seasoned investment professional with 25 years of experience in Investment and Business Consulting in the Caribbean and in the USA. Prior to joining SEAF, he founded Williams & Associates Investments, an investment advisory firm focused on raising capital for firms in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region. He is a former executive and Int’l Bus. Dev. Mgr. of Jamaica Money Market Brokers Ltd., integral in the establishment of JMMB in the Dominican Republic and a former Director of the Jamaican Stock Exchange.

Mr. Williams has also led several divisions within General Electric USA and Spain and was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. Fluent in Spanish and possessing expert knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean region, Mr. Williams has assisted companies to launch and grow globally, including into non-English speaking markets. He holds BSc. Engineering from Princeton University, an MSc. Engineering and MA International Studies and an MBA from Wharton School of Business all from the University of Pennsylvania.

Leroy J. Martinez serves as an Economist in the Policy and Planning Unit, Ministry of Finance, Economic Development & Investment. He has served in the Ministry since 2015, with responsibility of the CARICOM Development Fund and as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Focal Point. In addition, he represents the Belize National Designated Authority in various national and regional events and committees. He is also an alternate board member to the Belize Environmental Management Fund (EMF).

Leroy J. Martinez holds, a master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in climate finance from Galen University. He also has a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Belize and an associate degree in International Business from Sacred Heart Junior College. Also, he participated in trainings such unlocking climate finance and project management provided by international funding agencies.

Further, He also had the opportunity to work at the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) and other Governmental institutions such as San Ignacio Sub Treasury and at the Immigration Department at the Belize Western Border.

Lola Uña Cárdenas joined WTTC as Director and then VP of Government Affairs in April 2019, responsible for heading all government relationships of the organisation. A Spanish national, she is based in Brussels, where she has been working for the past 20 years as an advisor and lobbyist across all key European markets and globally through international consultancies.

She has provided strategic advice to senior leaders of some of Europe’s and the world’s largest companies to help solve their most complex regulatory challenges and opportunities in the field of travel & tourism, transport and environment policies. She speaks fluent English, French, Italian, Portuguese and good level of Dutch and Finnish.

Dr. Luz Longsworth is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus, which is the Online and Flexible Learning campus of the UWI. Dr. Longsworth also holds the portfolio of Pro Vice-Chancellor Global Affairs. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration in Higher Education Management from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and French (First Class Hons.), a Master of Business Administration (Marketing) degrees from the University of the West Indies (Mona), and a Master of Arts degree in Hispanic Studies from Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada. Her research focus is in the fields of Virtual Leadership in Higher Education, Leadership Development, Organizational Transformation and Change. Dr. Longsworth currently chairs several Boards including the UWI Press Board, and the Board of the UWI Open Campus Early Childhood Centres of Excellence.

Keenly community oriented, Dr. Longsworth has worked with at risk youths in Western Jamaica, Belize, Barbados and the British Virgin Islands, as well as served on the boards of several community based organizations. As an Honorary Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning since 2016, Dr. Longsworth is also involved in mentoring young women across the Commonwealth. Dr. Longsworth is fluent in Spanish with a good knowledge of French and German and enjoys foreign language films, practicing Yoga, and Tai Chi, and is a voracious reader of biographies, historical novels, Latin American poetry and leadership and inspirational literature.

Dr. Fletcher-Paul holds a Bachelor of Science degree, First Class Honours, in Agriculture from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and a Ph.D in Biometrics and Plant Science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She has over thirty years of experience working in the agriculture sector, mainly across Latin America and the Caribbean but also in South-East Asia and East Africa.

In the Caribbean she has worked with the Agricultural Development Bank, the University of the West Indies, the Interamerican Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (in Trinidad and Costa Rica), the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute in St Lucia and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Italy, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Her most recent position at FAO was Subregional Coordinator for the Caribbean. On retirement from the FAO in 2018, Dr. Fletcher-Paul returned to the Faculty of Food and Agriculture of UWI where she currently serves as lecturer in Biometrics.

Maisha Hutton has been the Executive Director of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), the only regional alliance of over 100 NCD-focused civil society organisations, since 2012. At the HCC, Maisha is responsible for the daily operations, providing strategic oversight and management across all programming areas including: civil society capacity building; cervical cancer prevention; alcohol policy; tobacco control; healthy food policy; empowering and amplifying the voices of young people and people living with NCDs; promoting good governance in NCD prevention and control including managing conflicts of interest; and strengthening mechanisms for whole-of-government and whole-of-society multisectoral responses to NCDs.

Maria Fowell is tourism management professional with twenty over (20) years’ experience in the tourism industry in Saint Lucia, including five (5) years of policy formulation and implementation at a national level. Maria has ten (10) years’ experience leading corporate marketing and internal communications in the financial services sector within the Eastern Caribbean, supporting cross-functional teams in the implementation of strategic plans.

Maria has a BSc in Tourism Management from the University of the West Indies and an MSc in Marketing from the University of Leicester in the UK. Her skills include tourism planning & administration, community tourism initiatives, and event management. Experienced also in brand strategy and market research, Maria is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

Maria has sat on several Boards including Cricket World Cup Saint Lucia Inc., the St. Lucia Heritage Tourism Project Management Advisory Board, and the St. Lucia World Heritage Site Committee. In 2000 she was recognized by Travel Agent Magazine in their Rising Stars Awards.

Maria, a Saint Lucian national, currently holds the position of Senior Technical Specialist Tourism at the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission. In pursuit of the organization’s vision of a better quality of life for the people of the OECS, she is committed to sustainable tourism development and achieving balanced growth through tourism.

Maribel Rodriguez joined WTTC in 2014. She has built an extensive network within the Travel and Tourism industry public and private sector, accumulating over 20 years of sales, marketing, communication and commercial experience in Europe and Latin America in the airline and hospitality industry. She was an Executive Commercial Director and Board Member for Travelodge Hotels Spain from 2008 to 2014.

Prior she spent 11 years in the aviation industry, gaining extensive experience in all aspects of commercial aviation managing among others the introduction of low-cost airline operations into the Southern European market for Virgin Express, Go-Fly, EasyJet and Ryanair. She also worked for British Airways for Spain, Portugal and France. Maribel has an Executive MBA at ICADE Business School, a Degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Salamanca and holds a Senior Executive Program for Travel & Tourism at IESE & JSF. She speaks fluent English, Portuguese and a good level of French and Dutch.

Natalie Irving-Mattocks is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Training and Education Center for Health (C-TECH). C-TECH — a regional organization, has for the past 17 years supported countries in successfully addressing the health workforce and health system challenges. She provides managerial and technical guidance to ensure cohesion between the organization's goals and objectives and its programme design, implementation and evaluation. Under her leadership, the team at C-TECH implements and disseminates innovative, timely, and valuable health interventions and expertise that contribute to formulating effective and sustainable public health practices critical to fighting HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses.

Ms Irving-Mattocks has over twenty-five years of progressive and diverse experience as a leader, manager, technical advisor, and evaluator of public health and development programs. Before her current role, Ms Irving-Mattocks worked as Director and Deputy Country Director for the University of Washington International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), Seattle, USA. Before this, she has served in various roles at the Jamaica Social Policy Evaluation (JASPEV) Project, the Ministry of Health, Epidemiology and Research Unit, HIV project, and the Regional Coordinating Unit of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Regional Training Network (UWI-CHART).

Ms Irving-Mattocks has a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations and Human Resource Development and a Master's in Business Administration. In addition, she is a doctoral candidate in Public Health (DrPH) at the Atlantic International University.

Neil Walters is the Acting Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). While acting as the organization’s chief executive officer, Mr. Walters oversees the CTO’s operations and leads the organization’s initiatives to strengthen tourism’s role as a major contributor to the economic development of the Caribbean.

His responsibilities include delivering the CTO’s mission as the Caribbean’s tourism development agency; fostering relations with the tourism industry’s key stakeholders; and providing specialized services and technical support to member governments and a variety of private sector members in the areas of advocacy and representation, marketing, human resource development, communication, research and statistics, information technology and sustainable tourism development.

Mr. Walters joined the CTO in 2000 as Accountant in the Finance & Resource ManagementDepartment, after working in different areas of public accounting and finance in Barbados. In2009, he was appointed Director of Finance & Resource Management of the CTO, responsible for he financial management of the organization, and providing counsel on the efficient utilization of the organization’s funds.

Orville Grey is a coastal ecologist and climate change researcher by training. He holds graduate degrees in Environmental Biology and Environmental Studies. Orville has over 20 years’ experience in the field of environmental impact assessments and environmental management in the Caribbean, and over 13 years’ experience in applied climate change. He is the Regional Manager for the Caribbean at the Green Climate Fund, and has experience at national, regional and international levels in public and private sectors as well as academia in environmental management, climate change adaptation among other areas.

Patsy Lewis is Visiting Professor of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at Brown University. She received her PhD and MPhil from Cambridge University (Trinity College) and BA from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. She specializes in the political economy and development challenges of the Caribbean.

Her published work has focused on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), in particular the role of these regional integration arrangements in addressing the development challenges of Caribbean small states. Her publications include Pan Caribbean Integration: Beyond CARICOM co-edited with Terri-Ann Gilbert-Roberts and Jessica Byron (Routledge 2018); Grenada: Revolution and Invasion co-edited with Gary Williams and Peter Clegg (University of the West Indies Press 2015); and Surviving Small Size: Regional Integration in Caribbean Ministates (University of the West Indies Press 2002). She was previously Professor of Regional Integration and Small States Development at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.

Sabrina Cajoly was appointed Senior Gender Specialist with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States on December 1st, 2020. She holds a master’s degree in human rights law from Robert Schuman University and the Institute of Higher European Studies in Strasbourg, France. With over 13 years of professional experience with international organizations in Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean, Ms. Cajoly has an in-depth command of gender and social inclusion issues in a wide range of development and emergency settings. She is a passionate professional proudly committed to advancing gender equality and social inclusion in our region.

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Sandra Wright is CEO and founder of Break the Silence Global, Inc., A non-profit organization focused on addressing and fighting childhood sexual abuse. Break the Silence’s mission is to educate the world on the life-long devasting effects of childhood sexual abuse on its survivors, by providing survivors a platform to share their stories, get counseling and resources to restore their lives while helping others to heal.

Ms. Wright holds a MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Liberty University and a BA in Communication Arts from Ramapo College of New Jersey.

In 2005, Ms. Wright changed career paths from the communication industry, where she worked as an editor, to the Social Service field where she has worked exclusively with children and families in crisis for the past 16 years. Over her 16-year tenure in the Social Service field she has worked extensively with at Risk Youth/Family Advocacy, Parenting Skill training, Trauma informed Care and Family Counseling. She has held positions as an in-home behavioral assistant, director of a Teen Mother’s program, mental health counselor for at-risk girls and clinician in a drug rehabilitation center where she also ran the program’s Intensive Family Program.

In 2009 Ms. Wright founded In My Sister’s Hands, Inc. (IMSH) a gender specific non-profit organization for females where she provided mentoring to young girls in the town of Immokalee. In addition to the mentoring program, in 2015 she partnered, through IMSH, with the Miracle Afterschool Program in Immokalee to provide families with parenting classes to help bridge the communication gap between parents and children.

In 2018 Ms. Wright founded and launched the Break the Silence Conference. A faith-based conference geared toward helping adult victims of childhood sexual abuse heal. From this conference Break the Silence Global, Inc. (BTSGI) was formed. BTSGI will be the umbrella for In My Sister’s Hands, The Break the Silence Conference and several other ventures Ms. Wright is working on implementing to help those traumatized by childhood sexual abuse.

Ms. Wright is also the host of the Break the Silence Global Podcast, where she discusses and teaches about the devastating after-effects of childhood sexual abuse while providing a platform for survivors to share their journey of abuse to healing.

Sarah has a Masters in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a BS in Biology and Government from the College of William & Mary. Between those degrees, Sarah worked for Conservation International in the science division focused on assessing the conservation status of species for the IUCN Red List. After CI, she spent a year in Costa Rica doing research on the interactions of global and local conservation organizations. At Yale, her research looked at how management of oil palm plantations influences biodiversity (birds, butterflies, and amphibians) in Cesar, Colombia.

Seleni Matus is the Executive Director of the International Institute of Tourism Studies at the George Washington University. She has worked in close collaboration with governments and private sector throughout the Americas to develop and implement sustainable management plans and programs that have enhanced the quality of tourism offerings and helped to ensure the long-term health of natural ecosystems in more than 20 destinations.

She has also designed and directed large-scale, multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as the Sustainable Destinations Alliance of the Americas, that have mainstreamed sustainable tourism principles into key sectors of the tourism industry. She has helped to guide development of corporate destination stewardship strategies for travel companies such as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.. As a native of Belize, Seleni served as Belize’s Director of Tourism. Seleni currently serves as member of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Affiliate Members Board of Directors.

Ms. Lisa R. Cummins was in May 2018 appointed by the Government of Barbados to serve as a Senator in the Upper House of Parliament. In September 2018, she was appointed Chairman of the Barbados Port Inc., and on July 23, 2020, she was invited to join the Cabinet of Barbados as Minister of Tourism and International Transport.

She was previously the Executive Director of the University of the West Indies Consulting Company from 2016 to 2020 which was rebranded Lumin Consulting in celebration of Caribbean Luminaries and Laureates in all development disciplines. A former career diplomat for ten years ranging from 1997 to 2008, she served at the Headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade where she covered the United Nations and then was posted to the Barbados Embassy at Washington DC.

An International Trade Specialist by training, she joined the Commonwealth Secretariat in 2008 as a Trade Policy Adviser and was posted to Uganda as lead technical adviser and a member of the negotiating team for services in the East African Community trade talks with Europe and the EAC Common Market, where she worked on projects in East and Southern Africa for several development partners including the World Bank, UNCTAD, the European Union and Trade Mark East Africa, which included the development of a services policy for Uganda, the development of standards for export goods to Europe, the Introduction of a Value Creation Program for Vanilla Bean producers. She also led the negotiations for Uganda at the World Trade Organisation for the successfully concluded WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Mrs. Cummins returned to Barbados to head the Barbados Coalition of Service Industries, from 2013 to 2018 where she participated in the development of services standards for trade in services sectors, was a founding member of the Caribbean Coalition of Services Industries, served on the national negotiating team for services and investment in the CARICOM – Canada Trade Negotiations.

She has served in multiple capacities including appointments to Boards, including the Bridgetown Cruise Terminal Inc. two Private Sector Corporate Boards, and presently sits on the Advisory Board of the Shridath Ramphal Center for Trade Law and Policy. She is currently the Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and Vice President of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Commission for the Americas.

The holder of an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Diplomacy (UWI Mona), a Master of Science in International Trade Policy (UWI Cave Hill), and a post graduate certificate in professional education from the Harvard Kennedy School of Public Policy on Public Private Partnerships. She is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Barbados, and past Assistant District Governor of Barbados for Rotary Regional District 7030, and the proud mother of a 21-year-old daughter.

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Shelly assumed her current role as Regional Gender Advisor for the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in the United Nations Fund for Children (UNICEF) in November 2015. Her main responsibilities within UNICEF are around addressing the gender and other inequalities that girls, boys and adolescents face with an aim to supporting process to remove such obstacles to fulfill gender and child rights.

Prior to joining UNICEF, Shelly worked as a decentralized regional gender advisor for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) from 2011-2015, and prior to that at the World Health Organization (WHO) where she was responsible for the development and implementation of user-friendly and practical capacity development tools to address gender as a structural determinant of health with WHO and Ministry of Health actors, advancing gender and health statistics and monitoring the implementation of the PAHO and WHO Gender Equality Policies with Member States.

In her time with the UN, she has been privileged to work with women and men, boys and girls – as well as decision makers in their countries – in over 40 Member States in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, West and North Africa, South, Central and East Asia. Shelly is a Canadian feminist, second-generation immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago and holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science, with a specialization in gender, feminist theory and development.

Stevan Lynn (also known as “Coach”) a dedicated father of three amazing children, proud grandfather, international motivational speaker, award winning television producer & Global responsible fatherhood advocate comes from humble beginnings as a community organizer in the infamous Cabrini Green Housing Projects of Chicago. Coach Lynn has spent the better part of 27+ years encouraging fathers to embrace the challenges that come with the never-ending duties synonymous with responsible fatherhood.

Through multiple innovative trainings such as the award winning television program Dare 2 dream, A Fathers Guide to Success as well as creating the Fatherhood Training Center located in the heart of New York City to establishing the Fatherhood Emergency Response Series, I Will be Successful Job Readiness Training, Future Fathers Club & Caribbean Fatherhood Coalition, Coach Lynn has successfully changed the priorities, focus and practices of countless fathers & father figures around the world with the team motto rooted in the fact; Fatherhood is Deeds not Words!

“Taking on the role of a responsible father, dedicated to insuring that his children have opportunities and strength in making their dreams come true require; Faith, Sacrifice, Patience, Commitment & Unconditional Love. These are the keys to success!” - Coach Lynn

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Dr. Thérèse Yarde is an environment and biodiversity policy expert with over 20 years of experience in the Caribbean. She holds a doctorate in Geography from the University of Edinburgh, where her research focused on human relationships with nature in Dominica. Her fields of professional practice include policy development, research and reporting, capacity-building, and liaison and partnership with international, regional, and national environment stakeholders, particularly in the areas of biodiversity and pesticides management.

Dr. Yarde led the preparation of the first report on the state of biodiversity in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and initiated development of the first Caribbean Community biodiversity strategy. As a consultant, Dr. Yarde’s clients have included the Caribbean Community Secretariat, the United Nations Development Programme, and the University of the West Indies. She was the regional environmental and natural resources expert for the recent FAO assessment of national and regional food systems in Barbados and the OECS.

Tonni Brodber is the Representative of the UN Women Multi-Country Office- Caribbean. Prior to her appointment in August 2020, Ms. Brodber served as Deputy Representative from 2015 -2020 with the MCO Caribbean. Before this Ms Brodber was the Team Leader for the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific programme with the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office.

Ms Brodber served as the Gender Specialist for the United Nations Development Programme in South Africa, as well as briefly with the UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office and established what is now the UN Women Country Office in Haiti.

Ms. Brodber’s work experience also includes lecturing in International Relations and Development Studies at Yanshan University in China, and directing and co-producing, a film on Haiti.

Ms. Brodber received her first degree from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus and has post graduate degrees in Development Studies and Business Administration from the London School of Economics and ESADE Business School in Barcelona. Ms. Brodber is raising two sons with her husband.

Trevaun R. Solomon is the 21-year-old owner of Project Jaguar, from the Caribbean. Project Jaguar has received numerous awards for lowering the cost of private education and professional development post-COVID. Project Jaguar is now one of the regional industry leaders in education delivery.

Una May Gordon is Principal Director of Climate Change in Jamaica’s Ministry of Housing Urban Renewal Environment & Climate Change. She is a climate change and environmental management professional and agribusiness specialist with years of experience in the field, working on successful national, regional, and international development projects.

Ms. Gordon has worked with several governments across the Americas and has had extensive involvement in both Climate Change & Agriculture policymaking, crafting adaptation strategies, disaster risk assessment, analyses, project design, management and implementation of multi-stakeholder, inter-sectoral technical assistance, and capacity development projects.

An advocate for gender equality and is a board member of the Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership, an organization that advance Women’s transformational leadership and political participation throughout the Caribbean Region.

She is an ambassador for the Golden Rule, has a BSc in Agronomy from the University of the West Indies a MSc in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands and a certificate in Leadership for Organizational Streamlining from INCAE Business School in Costa Rica.

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