Keeley Holder was appointed Chief Agriculture Officer in Barbados’ Ministry of Agriculture in February of 2021. Ms. Holder, who holds a BSc in Biology and Computer Science from The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Crop Production and Water Management from Galillee Institute, Israel, is the first female and youngest-ever Chief Agricultural Officer. On being appointed to her post, she stated that she is “… pleased to be in a position to lead agriculture into a new future. We can only grow from strength to strength, working in partnership and unity as we fight COVID-19, and ensure food and nutrition security for all.”
Ms. Holder has a wide background in agriculture including experience in both the private and public sectors. She is a former Chief Executive Officer of HydroGrow Farm and Go Bananas Inc., served as a member of the National Agricultural Advisory Commission of Barbados and has also held the position of Vice President of the National Union of Farmers, from 2012 to 2018. Additionally, she served as 1st Vice President of the Barbados Agricultural Society and President of the Barbados Fruit and Vegetable Growers. Her Caribbean regional experience includes working as a consultant with the Food and Agricultural Organization (GAO) for the Caribbean region between 2015 and 2018.
Allison Holland leads the Debt Policy Division of the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund since July 2023.
She has been with the IMF for over 18 years in a variety of roles including Mission Chief for Zambia and Somalia, supporting them through complex debt relief operations, as well as for Oman; overseeing the Regional Economic Outlook for the Middle East and Central Asia; and as a public debt management expert in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department.
Prior to joining the IMF, Ms. Holland worked for almost 12 years in the UK public sector—including the Bank of England, and senior roles at the Ministry of Finance and UK Debt Management Office.
Jameela Hollingsworth is the Vice President of Barbados Youth Development Council and HR Manager at the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. She is a qualified HR practitioner with over 9 years’ experience in Jamaica, Barbados and St. Lucia. The Barbadian native holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Human Resources and Management from the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica and a Master’s in Business Administration from Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland. Jameela is a certified recruiter & psychometric assessor and has helped thousands of persons take charge of their careers.
Ms Patricia Holmes is the First Assistant Secretary and Chief Trade Law Officer of the Trade Law and Economic Security Division at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Until January 2022, Ms Holmes was the Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the WTO, UNCTAD and WIPO. Ms Holmes’ previous positions include Assistant Secretary, Trade and Investment Law Branch and Assistant Secretary, FTA Legal Counsel Branch. Ms Holmes was Australia’s Ambassador to Argentina from November 2011 to December 2014. Most recently, she served as chargé d'affaires of the Australian Embassy in Mexico March 2023-August 2023. Ms Holmes has previously served in Geneva WTO (Counsellor 2006-2009), PNG (First Secretary 1998-2000) and Vanuatu (Third, later Second, Secretary 1994-1996). Ms Holmes holds a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Law (Hons) degree from Macquarie University; a Graduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the University of Technology, Sydney; and a Masters of Laws in Environmental Law from the ANU. Ms Holmes was admitted to the Bar of NSW and the ACT in 1992 and holds an ACT government practicing certificate.
Mr. Ren Hongbin, Secretary of the CPC Leadership Group and Chairman at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).
He worked successively as Commercial Counselor (deputy director-general level) in China's Embassy in Hungary, Party Secretary and Vice President of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, MOFCOM (director-general level), Director-General of the Department of WTO Affairs and Director-General of China WTO Notification and Inquiry Center, Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade and Deputy Director-General of National Mechanic and Electronic Import and Export Office, MOFCOM, Assistant Minister of Commerce and Vice Minister of Commerce.
James Hookham is Secretary General and a Director of the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), the voice of cargo owners in international supply chains. He is a graduate in Environmental Science from the University of Bradford and completed a master’s degree in the safe transport of dangerous goods at the University of Manchester.
James early career was spent with Exis Technologies (now part of National Cargo Bureau) developing the world’s first remotely accessible computerised dangerous goods database and later served as deputy editor of Hazardous Cargo Bulletin.
Until 2020 James was Deputy Chief Executive of the Freight Transport Association (now Logistics UK) where he held numerous positions on UK, EU and global transport and logistics advisory bodies, as well as senior executive roles at one of the UK’s largest trade organisations.
Tetteh Hormeku-Ajei is Head of Programmes at Third World Network Africa.
Mr Hormeku-Ajei has over 20 years of experience of engagement with international economic and trade policy, law, negotiations and advocacy; multilateral, regional and bilateral.
Elke Hortmeyer is Director of Communications and International Relations at the Bremen Cotton Exchange. Elke completed an apprenticeship in wholesale and foreign trade, specializing in the tea trade. She then went on to study philosophy and German language and literature at the University of Cologne, graduating with a Magistra Artium degree. She has served for the cotton industry for almost 20 years.
Elke is member of the Panel on Social, Economic and Environmental Performance of Cotton Production (SEEP) of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and representative of the Bremen Cotton Exchange in the Partnership for Sustainable Textiles.
Currently she serves as Chair of the Discover Natural Fibers Initiative (DNFI) and Vice Spokesperson of the Make the Label Count Initiative.
Gilbert F. Houngbo was elected as the 11th Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) by the ILO’s Governing Body in March 2022.
He is the first person from the African region to have been elected to this post. His primary focus is promoting greater social justice, fighting inequalities and discrimination in the world of work, and achieving better working conditions through national action and building more effective multilateral coordination and leadership.
To achieve this, he is emphasizing universal social protection, decent work in global supply chains and in the platform economy, the fight against child and forced labour, protecting the rights of migrant workers, promoting social dialogue and freedom of association, ensuring just transitions, and attaining gender equality.
Additionally, Gilbert F. Houngbo chairs the Board of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and is a board member of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA).
Laurent Hounsa is the Director-General of INSTaD and the Chief Statistician of Benin. Before joining INSTaD, Laurent worked for BCEAO (Central Bank of West African States). He played a pivotal role in the UNCTAD-UEMOA Trade-in-Services Project, contributing significantly to the development of the questionnaire used for collecting trade-in-services data. Drawing from his extensive experience at BCEAO, he represented the institution in this project and helped shape the statistical frameworks that would later support the development of TiSSTAT. Laurent has continued to support the development and implementation of TiSSTAT, transitioning from a key contributor to a user of the tool in his current role. His expertise in economic statistics and external accounts has been instrumental in advancing trade and services data collection in the region. Prior to his leadership role in Benin, he worked as the Head of the Balance of Payments Service at BCEAO, contributing to the development of external accounts for the UEMOA region. His career has been marked by a deep commitment to enhancing statistical capacity and the use of data for informed policy-making in West Africa.