About us
Lead Organisers
Mr. Peter Williams – Commodities Forum
Peter Williams is Senior Vice President of Emera (Caribbean) Incorporated (ECI). Before taking up his role at ECI, he was Managing Director of the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited, a subsidiary of ECI. Mr. Williams is also a member of the Board of Directors of Dominica Electricity Services (DOMLEC), and Past Chairman of the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC).
Mr. Williams holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Manchester University (UK), an M.Sc. (Electrical Power Systems) from the University of the West Indies and an MBA from The Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is a Member of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (UK) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (USA), and is a Past President of the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers. Mr. Williams was the recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary in 2010.
Mr. Williams is the President of the Rotary Club of Barbados for the Rotary year 2019-2020. He is the founder of Suzuki Music (Barbados), whose aim is to promote talent education for very young children based on the method developed by Japanese violinist, Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. Mr. Williams also serves on the Boards of St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic School, the Barbados Private Sector Association and First Citizens Bank (Barbados) Ltd. In 2011, he was appointed to the Privy Council of Barbados, an advisory body to the Governor General of Barbados.
Dr. Chantal Munro-Knight – Civil Society Organisations Forum
Dr. Chantal Munro Knight is a development and trade policy specialist and is the recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Cannabis Licensing Authority. She has over 20 years’ experience in the non-profit sector and was the former Executive Director of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC). She specializes in the areas of trade policy, public policy, leadership, capacity building, advocacy, policy research, and organisational change management.
She has written, co-written and led the development of numerous research papers on issues including the adjustment impact of trade liberalisation, climate change, gender and regional integration.
She has also held a number of positions on boards and committees of regional and international organizations including CIVICUS, the Global Environment Fund Small Grants Programme and the Commonwealth Foundation. Dr. Munro-Knight was a member of the Barbados Government Committee for National Reconciliation and the Barbados Government Committee on Governance and former Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation Civil Society Advisory Group. She has participated extensively in UN processes, including processes leading up to the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the 3rd International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) where she was the lead NGO spokesperson under the UN NGO Major Groups.
She is a social commentator, a former talk show host and columnist for a local newspaper in Barbados. She was selected as one of a hundred top global leaders in 2015. Dr. Munro-Knight has a doctorate in Public Policy and Administration and holds a Masters in International Trade Policy. She was also a part time lecturer and tutor at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus in Political Science for over
five years.
Mr. Adrian Green – Cultural Industries Forum
Adrian Green is an arts-educator, performer, writer and visual artist. He is currently conducting research towards a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies at the University of the West Indies. He holds a Master’s Degree in Journalism, a Bachelor’s in Advertising and an Associate Degree in Graphic Design.
Mr. Green’s journey as an educator began at the Coleridge and Parry school where he taught visual art for five years. He has since then worked as a personal development educator with the Freemind Institute and has taught courses in mass communication and writing at the Barbados Community college. He spent a period of three years with the Info-Life program helping to design an HIV educational course which was presented to almost every class at almost every secondary school on the island.
As a spoken word artist, Mr. Green has performed to audiences in Europe, North America, Africa and across the Caribbean and has produced three spoken word albums. As an actor he has been featured in three films and a number of stage presentations.
He has a weekly column published in the Sunday Sun newspaper, and has developed courses using poetry and spoken word as personal development vehicles. Mr. Green is currently working on his first book.
Prof. V. Eudine Barriteau – Gender & Development Forum
The Most Honourable Prof. V. Eudine Barriteau is a Professor of Gender and Public Policy, with a distinguished record as a Caribbean scholar and administrator. Professor Barriteau served as the first Head of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies: Nita Barrow Unit. She was also the first woman at The University of the West Indies to be appointed Campus Coordinator, School for Graduate Studies and Research. She became the second woman to be appointed Deputy Principal at the Cave Hill Campus on August 01, 2008. On August 01, 2014 The UWI Open Campus welcomed Prof. Barriteau as its second Principal, a position she held for nine months before assuming the Principalship of the Cave Hill Campus on May 01, 2015.
Prof. Barriteau has received a number of national, regional and international awards and recognitions. On November 30, 2019, in celebration of Barbados’ 53rd Anniversary of Independence, The Order of the Freedom of Barbados, the country’s highest national honour, was awarded to Prof. Barriteau in recognition of her outstanding contribution to tertiary education and pioneering leadership in the development of gender studies and the promotion of gender equality. On February 07, 2016, as Grenada celebrated its 42nd Anniversary of Independence, the Government of Grenada presented The Order of Grenada Gold Award for Excellence to her, in recognition of her contribution to education. In July 2011, she was bestowed the 10th CARICOM Triennial Award for Women at the Opening Ceremony of the 32nd Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in St. Kitts. Prof. served as the President of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) from 2009 to 2010.
She was an inaugural International Research Fellow at the Centre for Excellence in Gender Research, GEXCEL, Örebro, Sweden in April 2008, and returned in November 2010 and March 2013 by special invitation. In 1997, she had the honour of being the Inaugural Fellow of the Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Women in Development Visitor Programme at the University of Toronto. She was awarded a Howard University Doctoral Fellowship in 1992 and was a LASPAU/Fellowship scholar at New York University 1982 – 1984. In 1992, she became a Scholar of the American Association of University Women and prior to that, the first Caribbean scholar to be awarded the Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund Scholarship in 1991.
Prof. Barriteau’s research interests encompass feminist theorizing, gender and public policy, gender issues in higher education, investigations of the Caribbean political economy, theorizing heterosexual women’s socio-sexual unions, educational leadership and change. She is the author of The Political Economy of Gender in the Twentieth Century Caribbean published by Palgrave International, and won the University of the West Indies Press’ inaugural best-selling text book prize for the edited work Confronting Power, Theorizing Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean. Her latest publication is the edited collection, Love and Power: Caribbean Discourses on Gender which was published by UWI Press in 2012. She has co-edited four other publications as well as published over thirty book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Ms. Roshanna Trim – Youth Forum
Roshanna Trim is a student at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, pursuing a B.Sc. in International Relations. She earned an Associate Degree with Majors in Law, History and English Literature from the Barbados Community College in 2013. Ms. Trim has a keen interest in governance and youth development and has endeavoured to contribute to both through her roles in numerous organizations for the last several years.
She is President of the Barbados Youth Development Council, and Chairperson of the Caribbean Regional Youth Council.
Ms. Trim served as Prime Minister of the Barbados National Youth Parliament (2014-2016), on the CARICOM Youth Ambassador Committee (2016-2017), and on the National Youth Policy Implementation
Committee.
Dr. Annalee C. Babb – Trade Digitisation Forum
Dr. Annalee C. Babb is an international consultant with more than 15 years in executive management, specialising in international technology policy, innovation and management, telecommunications policy analysis, digital convergence, broadcasting, new media entrepreneurship, branding, marketing, investment and export promotion.
She is currently the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy and Special Advisor to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology, Government of Barbados. In those capacities, she offers strategic and policy guidance on the Ministry’s vision, mandate, structure, work plans and functioning. She also advises on national digital transformation, telecommunications policy, the creation of a Barbados Tech Accelerator for the delivery of digital public services, the National ICT Strategic Master Plan, SMART Bridgetown, SMART Barbados, the University of the West Indies Innovation Hub, e-Government, e-Governance, investment climate efficiency, and the ease of doing business in Barbados.
From 2011 to 2015, Dr. Babb was a member of the International Advisory Board of The Research Council, Sultanate of Oman, where she provided strategic advice to foster innovation, leading-edge research, emerging technologies, and competitive advantages to help leverage the future development and prosperity of Oman. She served as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Invest Barbados from 2006 to 2008. She is a former diplomat, having served in the Barbados Foreign Service, as well as a former journalist.
Dr. Babb received her Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, where she wrote on “Small States, the Internet and Development: Pathways to Power in a Global Information Society”. She also holds the degrees of Master of Arts in International Law and Diplomacy, and a Bachelor of Arts with honours in Mass Communication, Journalism and Political Science.
She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
Lead organiser at Village Marketplace Mr. Adisa Andwele.
AJA (Adisa Jelani Andwele) is a Barbados-born, New York-based multi-dimensional artiste and social advocate. He is a Performance Poet, Public Speaker, Humanitarian and Events Planner & Coordinator.
EventsbyAJA is the administrative headquarters of AJA’s events coordination network. Due to his wealth of knowledge and experience as an artiste, Caribbean cultural activist and cultural administrator, AJA has coordinated and/or produced some of the biggest cultural/entertainment events in Barbados. He has also worked in other Caribbean islands in this capacity, including Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and St. Lucia, as well as in New York, USA.
He has performed around the world; gives dynamic & engaging presentations; produces the carnival in Barbados during the Crop Over Festival and other cultural events; and executes humanitarian projects in Barbados, the Caribbean and Sierra Leone.
He has been recognized by the UN as the UNDP Spokesperson for Peace & Poverty Eradication for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean; a UNWomen Partner for Peace; and is a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Network of Men Leaders – promoting and mobilizing activities for the “UNiTE: End Violence against Women” Campaign.