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David Lewis is a Fellow with the Caribbean Policy Consortium, Vice President of Manchester Trade Ltd, an international business advisory firm working on all Caribbean trade, investment and economic integration agreements from the 1984 Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) to present agreements such as CAFTADR, CARICOM/CARIFORUM, OECS, EU EPA, etc. and has three (3) decades’ involvement in US-Caribbean relations writ large. He has served as Assistant Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Caribbean Policy Project in Antigua, and Deputy Executive Director of Caribbean/Latin American Action (C/LAA). He has lived and worked across the Caribbean islands and continent and has written and lectured extensively on regional economic growth, integration, and trade and investment agreements. He is an Adjunct Professor at the FIU School of Business. Received his Ph.D. (International Business) from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and B.A. degrees from Brandeis University (Economics, Political Science) and the University of the West Indies, Mona-Jamaica (Economics, Government.
Ibukun is responsible for London Stock Exchange Group’s growth and collaboration strategy in emerging markets with a key focus on India and Africa. He has driven key initiatives such as LSEG’s “Companies to Inspire Africa” publication and also launched the Exchange’s first International Advisory Group for Africa bringing together key business leaders, investors and African regulators to solve the challenges facing African capital markets. Prior to this Ibukun was Head of LSEG’s equity listings business covering key markets in South Asia, Middle East and Africa. Managing relationships with companies, international advisors and regulators; in this capacity Ibukun was involved in over 200 initial public offerings in London by issuers from these regions.
Lucas de Beaufort is Lead Investment Officer for the Investment Funds team at IDB Invest, where he makes investments in multisector private equity and debt funds throughout Latin America, with a specific focus on the Caribbean. Lucas has over 20 years of debt and equity experience in this region.
Before joining the IDB Group in 2019, he was responsible for raising and investing the Central American Mezzanine Infrastructure Funds (CAMIF I and II) at LAP Latin American Partners, where he also served as Head Investor Relations. Before that, Lucas co-managed a $1bln Latin infrastructure fund at EMP Global. Prior to that, he was Investment Officer for the Latin American department of Dutch development bank FMO.
Lucas holds a master’s degree in Corporate Law from Leiden University in The Netherlands and a MA in International Economics and Latin American Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he was a Fulbright scholar.
Dr. Rosh Khan is currently the Head of ACE Consulting Group (a professional services and business development firm), the President of the Masterclass Institute (a professional development firm), and the Founder of SocialRank Media (Guyana’s leading marketing and public relations agency). He is also a Councilor with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI), Chairman of the Services Committee of the Guyana Manufacturing & Services Association (GMSA), and a Director with the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Guyana). Dr. Khan has facilitated large scale projects in sectors that include energy, construction, housing, finance, and aviation. He is also the recipient of two prestigious awards: The Young Business Executive of the Year Award and the National Youth Award for Entrepreneurship. Rosh believes, “We cannot have national development without people development. We cannot build our nation unless we build our people.”
Michèle is an international award-winning banker; with over 25 years in the field of development finance in emerging markets. She has held senior roles at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, including as Director of the EBRD’s North American Office, based in Washington DC and as Director of the Property & Tourism team. While based in DC, she took part annually in the United Nations General Assembly as part of the EBRD senior management delegation. Prior to joining EBRD, Michèle was a senior risk officer at Bank of Boston (now part of the Bank of America Group). A UK national, Michèle holds an MSc in Real Estate Investment from the Cass Business School in London.
Dr Juanita Cox is a Research Fellow at the School of Advanced Studies and is currently working on ‘The Windrush Scandal in its Transnational and Commonwealth Context’. She gained her PhD in the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham, in 2013, and is a winner of the prestigious RE Bradbury Memorial Prize. She is the leading authority on the life and work of the Guyanese novelist, Edgar Mittelholzer (1909-1965), editor of Creole Chips and Other Writing (2018), and contributed to the collection of essays in Re-Imagining the Guyanas (2019). In 2017 she co-founded the groundbreaking education and networking forum, Guyana SPEAKS.
Dr. Natasha Gaskin-Peters is an economist by trade with experience in both micro- and macroeconomics, and business development. As the Director of the Centre for Local Business Development, Natasha leads a team who works with local companies in Guyana to assist them in entering the oil and gas value chain. This entails conducting gap analytics, training, mentoring programmes and networking events to help local companies improve their competitiveness and capacity to work in the oil and gas sector and all other economic sectors. Natasha holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Reading and is currently the Corporate Coordinator on the Private Sector Commission’s Executive Committee. She was the former Chairman of the Bureau of Statistics and a former Director on the Small Business Bureau’s Board, in Guyana, where she played an active role in determining policies to guide these two institutions.
Dr. Peter Ramsaroop was appointed by His Excellency, Dr. Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana on 2nd October, 2020 as Guyana’s Chief Investment Officer under the Office of the President. In this role, Dr. Ramsaroop leads efforts in both Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and Local Content Investments (LCI) of Guyana. He also serves as the Head of the Guyana Office for Investment. Dr. Ramsaroop brings significant experience in the private sector as a successful entrepreneur in numerous multi-million startups and executive management roles in Fortune 500 companies. In areas of Leadership, he served in the US Military and is a war veteran with assignments at the Pentagon and Desert Storm Persian Gulf War and served at NASA. He is the author of several published books, including “Surfing the Leadership Wave” and “Hope for Our Nation Vision 2020.” He has also held associate professor roles at major worldwide universities.
Alex Graham is one of Guyana’s leading Communications and Public Relations Consultants & Public Affairs Advisors. He is the Founder and CEO of Tagman Media Inc (1995), Tagman Technology (1996 & 2019) and Tinninben Animation Studios (2012). Alex works on both public and private sector projects in diverse fields including health, education, justice, domestic and sexual violence, digital transformation, energy, and environment. These days Alex is working on widening the conversations around energy development and transition, environment responsibility, and development through conferences, podcasts, and community conversations. Alex was educated at the University of Guyana and the Manchester Business School.
John Jones-Alleyne is a Ph.D. entrepreneurship research candidate at the University of Essex. His thesis is titled, ‘How diaspora entrepreneurship can tilt the balance to increase private sector employment in Guyana.’ It includes research on the Systemic Literature Review of diaspora entrepreneurship, the role of institutions in facilitating diaspora entrepreneurship and why the institutions which were push factors are now pull factors for entrepreneurs. John is a teacher of Economics, Business Studies, and Accounting. He is the founder of TRES Ltd., an education recruitment consultancy business, in London. Also, as a consultant/entrepreneur, John has experience in a variety of sectors including transportation, property, food, agriculture and pharmaceuticals.
Orin Alexander is a former Chairman and an Executive Member of the Guyana UK Social Development Association (GUSDA) in the United Kingdom. He plays a key role in developing and implementing projects which improve the level of collaboration between GUSDA and organisations in Guyana in support of disadvantaged families and individuals. Orin is also a former Diplomat who worked at the Guyana High Commission in London for over 9 years developing strong links with the diaspora community. In 2016, he served as Chair of Guyana Golden Jubilee Organising Committee and in 2018, he co-Chaired the 2018 Guyana High Commission Awards Committee which recognised and celebrated the achievements of Guyanese in the UK.
Dr Coreen Jacobs-Chester is a Lecturer at the University of Guyana within the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Government and International Affairs. Dr Jacobs-Chester is passionate about forced migration and its effects on the migrants in the receiving countries. Dr Jacobs-Chester has an MSc in Global Studies from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago and she recently graduated with a Doctor in Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies from Fiji National University. Dr Jacobs-Chester also loves languages and has taught English, Spanish, Portuguese and French for a number of years. She is fluent in Portuguese since she graduated with a degree in Portuguese from the Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil. However, she hopes to continue her studies and research in migration and its challenges.
David Lammy is the Labour Member of Parliament for Tottenham. In November 2021, he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. David previously served as Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and as the Shadow Lord Chancellor. From 2002-2010, in the Blair and Brown governments, he was a Minister in several departments, including the Department of Constitutional Affairs, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills. David Lammy studied law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Law School and went on to be the first Black Briton to attend Harvard Law School.
For over 25 years, Genevieve Leveille has been a noteworthy leader in the finance, supply chain optimization and technology ecosystems. These days, she is recognized as the CEO and Principal Founder of AgriLedger, but continues to contribute in the realms of digital identity and financial transformation. Here are a few of her accomplishments: (1) Led successful implementation of Distributed Ledger Technology pilot in Haiti, improving food security and fair pricing for farmers and customers. (2) Recognized as a leading figure in technology, including nominations for Financial Times’ Top 100 BAME in UK Tech and ComputerWeekly’s Women in Software. (3) Experienced in providing strategic direction for distributed ledger technologies and advising governments on emerging technology initiatives.
With extensive commercial expertise in Sustainability Finance and Carbon Offset strategies, Tarique’s 30 years of experience in Energy also spans from Nuclear Power to Solar Power Development. His background in Co-Generation and simple-cycle technologies includes roles in Gas & Steam Turbine engineering, including FMEA/RCFA investigations. With a diverse client portfolio which included MIT, Hawaii Electric Company, and the City of Farmington NM, he spearheaded LTSA Account Management and After-Market Sales for some of the world’s largest German, Sweden, and US based OEMs. In his current role as AgriLedger’s Chief Strategy Officer, he spearheads Strategic Partnerships, Investor Engagement and Carbon Offset Strategies. He leads AgriLedger’s Food, Water and Energy Division’s global service strategy for developing Tech-based and Nature-based Carbon Offset Projects at the Food-Water-Energy Nexus.
High commissioner H.E. Dr. Karen-Mae C. Hill is barrister by profession who has worked for over 15 years in banking and financial services before her appointment as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
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Dr. Luis Quintero Chief Geoscientist – Halliburton. Luis holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Simón Bolívar – Venezuela, and a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering (minor in Geology) from Louisiana State University, USA. His career spans 40 years in well logging, reservoir engineering, and production management, in more than 45 countries. An SPE and SPWLA Distinguished Speaker, he has shared his perspective of the world’s energy mix for TV (Azerbaijan, UK, Colombia); as a columnist (World Energy Monthly Review); and as keynote speaker (India, Colombia, Thailand, UK, Ecuador, Japan). Dr. Quintero has more than 40 technical publications and 14 patents.
Clarence Antony Nigel Hughes is a Partner in the law firm Hughes Fields & Stoby and the Chairman of H F S Corporate Services Inc. Popularly known as Nigel Hughes one of Guyana’s top lawyers, Nigel holds an L.L.B. and a Masters in law (L.L.M) from University College, London University. Nigel was legal advisor to the successful bidder in one the Caribbean’s largest mergers and acquisitions, the take over and acquisition of COURTS (UK) Ltd in the Caribbean. To add to his list of responsibilities Nigel is Director of the Guyana Oil and Gas Association and responsible for overseeing the performance of the oil and gas sector and how it impacts the wider economy.
A former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) trained commissioned officer seconded to the Guyana National Service, David trained University of Guyana (UG) Students, Nurse Trainees and JSROC recruits, with distinction until resigning his commission in 1987.
Over the past thirty years David worked throughout the Caribbean in media, marketing and events management. The last thirteen years his company CaribDirect Multi-Media Ltd., planned, organised and delivered high profile investment focused seminars at Caribbean High Commissions in London (Jamaica High Commission, Trinidad & Tobago High Commission, Dominica High Commission, Saint Lucia High Commission and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines High Commission and BVI London Office). In 2017 he organised the first UK Caribbean festival and food conference under the names, Jus’ Caribbean Festival and Caribbean Food and Drink Conference. In 2018 he created and delivered the Jus’ Caribbean International Drinks Pavilion in partnership with Kensington Olympia London, which was supported by GOINVEST, Saint Lucia Export Promotion Agency and Trinidad’s Carib Beer.
David holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Bedfordshire University, a master’s in entrepreneurship with a focus on Leadership from Henley Business School, University of Reading and a PG Certificate in Business Research from University of London.
In March 2023 David created the Guyana Diaspora Sustainability & Investment Conference under a new company, HenleyCaribbean Sustainable Ventures Ltd., as a direct result of noticing an inadvertent information / knowledge gap between Guyana and the UK Guyana diaspora created by the International Guyana Energy Conference held in Guyana, February 2023.
David’s life philosophy is, ‘If you’re BOLD you MAY FAIL but if you’re not, YOU WILL FAIL…BE BOLD…LEAVE A LEGACY!’
One of the most travelled figures within the drinks industry, the award winning “EduTainer”, has redefined the definition of an international spirits ambassador. An ex professional basketball player in the UK and international recording artist, he has now established himself as the world’s ONLY recognised Global Ambassador for the rum category. He has conducted masterclasses and seminars, sipped cocktails and judged competitions on no less than 7 continents around the world. And in 2014 he even took the time to break the Guinness World Record for the largest organised rum tasting & masterclass. His passion for rum and cocktails is infectious and in 2007 he not only created the world’s first international Rum festival (The UK RumFest), he also inspired the birth of rum festivals around the world.
Michella Abraham-Ali is highly qualified and seasoned communications professional with over two decades of media, communications, and leadership experience. Michella has risen through the ranks of the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN) to the position of deputy CEO of Guyana’s largest media organization. Michella is nationally known and recognized in Guyana and is proud of her Indigenous heritage. She works with various partners in Guyana for the preservation of Indigenous languages and culture. Michella served as MC for the Inaugurations of both President Irfaan Ali in 2020 and Former President David Granger in 2015. She is a core team member of the Quality Bilingual Education Programme (QBEP) in the South Rupununi.
Dr. Blackman is Dean of The School of Science, Health Technology at Medgar Evers College in the City University of New York. He is an Associate Professor of Mathematics and a former Chair of The Department of Mathematics at Medgar Evers College. He is also a former Assistant Professor in The Department of Education Research Policy and Practice in the Morgridge College of Education at The University of Denver and a former Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT). Dr. Blackman is an active partner in the Guyana Business Journal that hosts regular webinars on the development of Guyana with highly influential speakers.
Dr Essah is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Reading, UK where he has been employed since 2009. Dr Essah is the Head of the Department of Sustainable Energy, Environment and Engineering (SEEE) within the School of the Built Environments. Before this role, he was for over 6 years the Undergraduate Programme Director (2015-2021). Since May 2022, he is the Programme Director of the MSc in Design and Management of Sustainable Built Environments, programme. Dr Essah is currently a Torch Bearer of the inaugural AdvanceHE flagship where he provided insight into how industry and academia can work together to develop enquiry-based learning experience through real-life projects that informs and enhances student experience and employability.
Dr Stefán Thor Smith is Associate Professor of Energy Systems and the Built Environment in the School of the Built Environment, University of Reading. He has led research in energy and environmental systems at the University of Reading for over 8 years and has been researching and teaching on issues of energy demand and energy systems for nearly two decades. Dr Smith’s research interests stem from the complexities of energy systems under adoption of clean energy pathways and the associated consequence of proposed changes to energy system operation, technology, and policy. His research brings social, technical, and physical science dimensions of energy demand and supply together through data analysis and computational model development.
Dr Michelle Yaa Asantewa is a writer, independent scholar and cultural consultant. She is the co-founder of Way Wive Wordz Publishing, Editing and Tuition Services, a multidisciplinary platform specialising in cultural, creative expression and academic development. Her books include the young adult novel Elijah, The Awakening and other Poems, Guyanese Komfa: the ritual art of Trance, Something Buried in the yard, Mama Lou Tales: a folkloric biography of a Guyanese Elder. Dr Asantewa delivers courses and workshops in creative writing, on Black Writers/literature, African History and culture. She is editor and publisher of In Search of Mami Wata: Narratives and Images of African Water Spirits (2020) and a founding member of the Guyanese (UK) Kwe Kwe Group.
Joel Bhagwandin based in Guyana is a public policy analyst and an experienced financial professional with a proven track record in senior leadership roles, with more than fifteen years of experience in the financial sector, corporate finance, management, consulting, and academia; results oriented, self-motivated, positive, and a thought leader. Joel currently holds several leadership portfolios in the private sector. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Guyana Oil & Gas Energy Chamber (GOGEC), Chairman for the Local Content Sub-Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce Guyana (AmCham), an active member of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce.
Cristina is an International Economist and Oil and Gas/Energy Consultant. She is fluent in four languages, holds a master’s degree in international business from FIU and has a rich experience in the oil & gas industry. For the past 10 years, she lived in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Turkey and United States, worked with national and private oil companies, consulting government officials and business executives on business development strategies, market expansion and growth, partnerships and investment opportunities, business transformation and innovation. She organized several international oil & gas events, such as IEF’s Moscow 2014 event. She currently has a strong focus on Guyana, performing market research and analysis, business development and investment consulting for the market.
H.E. Inniss has been the High Commissioner of Barbados in London since October 2018. H.E. Inniss was educated at the University of Reading. He worked in the construction industry for 34 years. In August 2018 the Government of Barbados identified him as a potential diplomat.
