Key speakers
Speakers (A-Z)
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Andrea Tang is Legal Services Director at, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA). She is responsible for legal matters across the work of the Federation, and oversees the Federation’s work across the various modes of transport (air, maritime, rail, road), as trade facilitation and customs.
Prior to FIATA, she held roles in the Swiss industry association for the commodity trading and shipping sector for the Swiss industry association, and in regulatory affairs for the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.
Andrea is a qualified lawyer and was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales, following which she completed her Master studies in International Law. In addition, she holds a Certificate in Insurance (CII) from the Chartered Insurance Institute. She is a member of the Womens’ International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) and is the representative for Switzerland to the WISTA International Trade Committee.
Trisha S.M Tannis, Managing Director of the Unicomer (Barbados) Group is a professional with over 25 years’ experience in financial management and corporate governance. As the first woman appointed to that office in the Unicomer Caribbean and Latin America Group, Trisha is professionally qualified as Fellow in the Chartered Professional Accountants, the Chartered Governance Institute in Canada, and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados.
Trisha was the first woman to chair the Barbados Private Sector Association. Currently, Trisha is Co-chair of the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) Monitoring Committee and chair of the Unicomer Caribbean Risk Committee. Trisha was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the UWI Cave Hill Campus in October 2023, and holds a Bachelor Degree in Accounting with Honours at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Trisha is a devout Christian, happily married to Patrick, and proud mom to Michael and Abi.
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George Tavo is the Deputy Secretary Operations of the Ministry of Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport of Fiji.
With a career spanning over 35 years in Government, he has served extensively across Fiji in the field of construction management, project management and contract administration working very closely with other professionals such as architects, quantity surveyors, engineers (civil, structural, mechanical and electrical) that are involved in the construction and built environment sector.
He provides advice to the Permanent Secretary and Minister on policy, administration and operational matters associated with Transport (land and maritime), shipping services, energy, meteorological and hydrological services, water and sewerage, roads and public works construction.
Desmond Tay is currently the Regional Director (Americas) with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), stationed in San Francisco.
Prior to his current appointment, he was with the Innovation, Technology and Talent Development Division. He is responsible for catalysing innovation initiatives such as PIER71, the Maritime Innovation Leadership Roundtable, the Smart Port Challenge and the Maritime Drone Estate.
Desmond currently holds a computing degree and an MBA from Monash University and the University of Adelaide. He has spent more than 15 years in managing and developing IT solutions for the maritime industry and MPA.
Leveraging on his technical expertise and industry knowledge, he is passionate about working with marinetech start-ups to reimagine their solutions for the maritime industry.
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Alicia Taylor is an Investment Management Lead Officer, in the Infrastructure and Energy division at IDB Invest in Trinidad. She is responsible for originating and structuring sustainable development financing projects in the energy, transportation, water and sanitation, and social infrastructure sectors throughout the Caribbean countries in which the Bank operates.
Before joining the IDB Group, she was a Partner at The Phi Group Limited providing financial advisory consultancy services to clients in several sectors including the Financial, Infrastructure, Energy, Hospitality and Manufacturing sectors.
With more than twenty years of experience in the Financial services sector, Ms. Taylor has held several senior positions such as Cash Manager and Trade Head (Caribbean) at Citibank, Assistant Vice President at AIC Finance Limited and Head of Scotiatrust and Merchant Bank Limited. Alicia earned an International Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from UWI/Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business.
Darwin Telemaque, is a very accomplished professional with extensive experience in port operations, transportation, logistics, project management, and safety management.
For the past ten years, Mr. Telemaque served as the CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Port Authority and was instrumental in the recent state-of-the-art port redevelopment. He also holds the positions of Vice-Chairman of the International Committee of Ports of the Organization of the American States (OAS), Chairman of the Port Committee of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and Chairman of the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC). He is passionate in these roles, advancing the growth of these organisations for the benefit of the region they serve.
Mr. Telemaque participates on multiple local development committees and consultancies and provides expert advice on several key discussions relating to port developments around the region. He is passionate about developing resilient and sustainable infrastructure for the region.
Nirad Tewarie is the CEO of AMCHAM T and T. Nirad is also the Chairman of C15 studios, a Member of the Board of Directors of Aspire Fund Management, and the Loan For Enterprise and Network Development.
He serves as an observer-member of the National Trade Facilitation Committee.
Nirad was formerly the CEO of the T and T Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI) and a member of the Communications and Public Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, UK.
He has also served on the board of US-based FinTech startup Fintanium, and of the Telecommunications Authority of T and T, among others.
He holds a BSc. in Mass Communications from Florida International University and an MSc in International Relations from the Institute of International Relations, UWI.
Nirad is trying to be a good husband and father to his three kids and is hoping to leave the world a little better than he found it.
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George Theocharidis is a Professor of Maritime Law and Policy at World Maritime University.
He is a Member of the Piraeus Law Bar and a qualified advocate before Areios Pagos (Supreme Court) with extensive shipping litigation practice.
He is a Member of the IMO Roaster of Experts and a Member of the Working Group of its Legal Committee pertaining to "Measures to Prevent Unlawful Practices Associated with Fraudulent Registration and Fraudulent Registries of Ships".
He has served as Ordinary Member of the Law Commission that recently revised the Code of Private Maritime Law of Greece and Joint Rapporteur of the International Working Group of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) on "Liability for the Wrongful Arrest of Ships".
He is author of many books and articles in various fields of law.
Holder of an LL.M. degree from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a Ph.D. from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
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Wendy is the supervisor of International Relations at the Legal Department of the National Customs of Bolivia. She has several years of experience working with National Customs.
She has excelled in various areas of the customs domain, making significant contributions to technical capacities across Customs administrations, free zones, borders, the central customs office among others.
She is actively involved in the preparation of regulations and manuals for customs operations, Wendy is also a member of the technical secretariat of the National Trade Facilitation Committee of Bolivia.
Jair Torres is the Programme Management Officer of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for the Americas and the Caribbean, based in Bridgetown, Barbados. He is the UNDRR focal point for the Early Warning for All Initiative and for the different regional and national's projects related to MHEWS, for instance through the Climate Related Early Warning Systems (CREWS).
For more than 13 years he worked at UNESCO where he served as a consultant in the Unit for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, as well as contributing to the International Hydrological Program and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.
He was responsible for the International Platform for Earthquake Early Warning Systems, the International Network for Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems, the Global Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience in the Education Sector, and the UNESCO Program to Measure Resilience.
He holds a PhD in Risk and Emergency Management from the University School for Advanced Studies of Pavia (IUSS).