| Keynote Speaker: Former Guyana President Jagdeo established an Office of Climate Change within the Office of the President, and a Low Carbon Development Strategy was developed, outlining Guyana’s approach to promoting economic development while combating climate change. A key element of the strategy is the deployment of the country’s tropical forests towards addressing climate change. For championing the cause of developing countries in the fight against climate change, the former Guyana leader was named by Time Magazine and CNN as one of their “Heroes of the Environment" in 2008, and he was awarded the United Nations “Champion of the Earth” award in 2010. He also served on the UN Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Group on Climate Finance, and earlier this month, he was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University in New Delhi, India. |
| LEONARD NURSE is a former Director, Coastal Zone Management Unit, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Barbados. He is presently a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Resources Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), UWI, Cave Hill. He is also Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, headquartered in Belize. He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Mona, Memorial University, Newfoundland, and McGill University, Montreal, Canada. READ MORE ABOUT LEONARD NURSE. |
 | DR. DAVID W. RANDLE holds a B.A. from California Lutheran University, an M-Div. from the Iliff School of Theology, and a doctorate in Spiritual Disciplines, Wellness and Environmental Concerns from the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO. He currently coordinates the USF Masters of Global Sustainability Sustainable Tourism Concentration serves on the Education Committee of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and serves as Lead Advisor in Florida for Sustainable Travel International. READ MORE ABOUT DAVID RANDLE. |
 | DR. MAYA A. TROTZ is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of South Florida. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. She completed post doctoral research at Stanford whilst also lecturing at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. READ MORE ABOUT MAYA TROTZ |
| A Guyanese national and resident, MS ANNETTE ARJOON has become synonymous with the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society. This is one of the first and most successful conservation NGOs established in Guyana. The agency’s main work has been concentrated in Shell Beach, a 100-mile ecosystem in the northwest coastal region. Most of the turtle nesting beaches in the world harbour only one or two species but Shell Beach is the main nesting habitat for four species of endangered marine turtles: green, leatherback, olive ridley and hawksbill. READ MORE ABOUT ANNETTE ARJOON. |
| JUDY KARWACKI is president of Small Planet Consulting and has over thirty years of experience in marketing and sustainable tourism development. After working in senior consulting positions with Deloitte, ARA Consulting and KPMG Consulting/ Bearing Point, Judy founded Small Planet in 2002. Judy has also co-owned Jubilee Travel, a retail travel agency, for over 25 years. Combining her business and professional background in marketing and development with her personal passion as an experiential traveller, Judy supports tourism destinations and organizations around the world to design and implement practical sustainable tourism development strategies that deliver tangible results. READ MORE ABOUT JUDY KARWACKI. |
| DR. PAULETTE BYNOE: Dr. Bynoe's current position is that of Visiting Research Fellow, UWI, St. Augustine. She has over 15 years of professional accomplishment as an Environmental Specialist, with particular focus on social issues. Past positions include: Director of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of Guyana (Current), Member of Regional Team of Experts for JICA/CDEMA Project on Community Disaster Risk Management in five pilot countries in the Caribbean; Member of Scientific Advisory Committee for Forestry Network Project (FORENET) for ACP countries; and an International Environmental Consultant in: environmental education and training, environmental management and policy formulation at the international, regional and national levels. READ MORE ABOUT DR. BYNOE. |
| SHYAM NOKTA is an Adviser to the President and Head, Office of Climate Change (OCC) in the Office of the President, Guyana. The OCC is responsible for coordinating Guyana’s response to climate change and implementing Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), including the Memorandum of Understanding between Guyana and Norway. Mr Nokta is eminently qualified in environmental assessments, natural resources management, and tourism with substantial experience in environmental and social impact assessments (EIAs) and strategic environmental assessment (SEAs), biodiversity management among other areas. READ MORE ABOUT SHYAM NOKTA. |
 | Reporting to the President & CEO of Naanovo Energy Inc., TONY FIDDY holds the dual position of President of Naanovo's Waste to Energy Division and the Regional Vice President for Europe and Africa. As head of the WTE Division, his primary responsibility is to oversee the global deployment of WTE/MaaxTM systems and to work with regional representatives of Naanovo and its subsidiaries in the development of WTE projects. This includes projects in the Caribbean, among them St. Kitts/Nevis. READ MORE ABOUT TONY FIDDY. |
| GREG WATSON re-joined the Multilateral Investment Fund in 2008, having previously worked there from 2004-2007. Greg serves as the team leader for the MIF’s environment and clean energy team, conceptualizing, overseeing, and implementing the MIF's climate change projects, investments, and research in clean and efficient energy, natural capital, and adaptation. He leads several projects in the Caribbean, including a recent regional project on adaptation, projects on energy efficiency in Jamaica and Barbados, and a project on sustainable tourism and biodiversity in Guyana. Previously, Greg led the MIF’s remittance program for several years. |
| ANTONIO DEL ROSAL- Executive Director Latin America- Adventure Travel Trade Association was born in Mexico in 1974 to a Mexican father and an American mother. He was raised in a bi-national, bi-cultural environment which made him particularly sensitive to multi-national issues as seen from local perspectives. He received his formation as a Civil Engineer and later obtained an MBA from Georgetown University, Washington D.C. This led him to become a consultant for the IDB “Inter-American Development Bank” and advisor to a large Private Equity firm in D.C. Some years later, he was invited to collaborate with CEMEX, one of the largest Mexican conglomerates as strategy and planning manager. At this point, Antonio decided to accept a position as Executive Director for Rio y Montaña Expediciones, one of the largest and most reputable adventure travel companies in Mexico. |
| Giulia Carbone is Programme Officer in the Business and Biodiversity Programme at The World Conservation Union, since April 2006, where she in charge among other issues of tourism and agriculture. Previously, from 1997 to 2005, Giulia has been coordinator of UNEP DTIE’s tourism programme, where she led as well the Tour Operators’ Initiative. Before joining UNEP Giulia ahs practiced as a consultant exploring different issues, including survey certification schemes for destinations, and engaging in marine mammals anti-captive campaigns in Italy. Giulia is Italian, and has a Master of Science from the London School of Economics in Marine Policy (1993). |
| ENA HARVEY - IICA Management Coordinator, Caribbean Region and Agrotourism Specialist Ena Harvey holds an M.Sc. in Process Engineering and Food & Postharvest Technology from the University of Guelph, Canada, and a B.Sc. First Class (Hons) degree in Tropical Agriculture from the University of the West Indies, Trinidad. She is passionate about linking agriculture with tourism and over the past 10 years, she has been spearheading IICA’s initiative in Agrotourism linkages while serving as the Representative, IICA Office in Barbados and Hemispheric Specialist in Agrotourism. READ MORE ABOUT ENA HARVEY. |
 | RAVI RAMBARRAN, BSC, MSC, FIA- President and Chief Executive Officer, Sagicor International Ravi Rambarran joined Sagicor in 2006, and he is President and Chief Executive Officer of Sagicor International. His work experience includes Pensions Actuary of Life of Jamaica (LOJ), Appointed Actuary of Global Life Bahamas and Global Life Cayman, Chief Financial Y Investment Officer of LOJ, Managing Director of NCB Capital Markets and West Indian Trust Company, part-time Lecturer in Actuarial Science at the University of the West Indies and running his own actuarial practice. Prior to joining LOJ, Mr. Rambarran was a Consulting Actuary with Aon Group and the HSBC Group in the United Kingdom. Mr. Rambarran has a BSc(Hons) in Actuarial Science from City University, London, and an Ms.c in Finance from the University of London. Mr. Rambarran was awarded an Open Mathematics Scholarship by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and is also a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. |
 | FELICIA J. PERSAUD is a New York-based, award-winning, Guyana-born journalist who wears many hats. She is founder of the digital media solutions company- Hard Beat Communications, Inc., and a pioneer in Digital Media publishing, founding the Caribbean World News Network - now News Americas Now.dot com, a multi-media syndicated news service focused on the Americas; CaribPR Wire (CaribPR.com), now part of the PR Newswire family and Invest Caribbean Now, to boost interest in investment in the Caribbean. Felicia is also a an immigration columnist for The New York Amsterdam News and an ardent advocate for the empowerment of Caribbean nationals in the US Diaspora, founding CARIB ID in 2008, a lobbying group to get Caribbean nationals their own category on U.S. Census forms. Her opinion on the Caribbean and immigration is regularly sought by many media houses, including the Associated Press, the BBC and CNN International. |
