Our Team in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean

Juan Miguel Diez formally joined the United Nations in 1997 as the National Information Officer of the United Nations Information Centre for Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic. In this position, he coordinated the development of educational and outreach programmes and liaised with national and international media. He was promoted in 2006 to the position of Public Information Officer (which soon developed into the role of Deputy Director) at the Centre. In this capacity, he helped manage the national and regional responsibilities of the Centre, including the development and coordination of communications strategies for the UN in the Latin America and the Caribbean Region.

Mr Rossi has more than 25 years of experience as a legal and environmental specialist, in the areas of development and management of complex projects. He serves as both the UNOPS Representative and Country Director in Costa Rica and the Director of the UNOPS Multi-Country Office. Before joining the United Nations, as a specialist in administrative and environmental law, Mr. Rossi practiced the profession of lawyer and served in public bodies and non-governmental organizations in Argentina, in parallel with his role as a teacher and publicist in areas of his specialty.

Alison has worked with UNDP for fifteen years in a series of functions both regionally and globally, most recently at the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC) as Senior Advisor. In that capacity, she was instrumented in the preparation of the Regional Human Development Report that focused on multi-dimensional progress in the Caribbean, providing strategic advice to Senior management on engagement with Caribbean partner institutions, governments and thought leaders. Alison was in the NYU Masters Programme on Public Administration and holds BA Honors in History and Politics from the University of London.

Prior to his appointment Mr. Thomas was the CEO for the State Enterprise, National Information and Communication Technology Company Limited (Trinidad and Tobago). Mr. Thomas brings a wealth of ITU experience having served as Trinidad and Tobago’s representative at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for over 14 years, and the Caribbean representative on the ITU Council. He is a certified accountant and holds a Master’s Degree in Information and Communication Technology for Regulations and Policies from the University of the West Indies.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Zulu worked as Director for the ILO Country Office, Abuja with responsibility for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Mr. Zulu holds a degree in Economics and Public Administration from the University of Zambia; a Post Graduate Diploma from Stellenbosch University, South Africa; and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Corporate Finance and Strategic Planning) from Mzumbe University, Tanzania.

Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Quarless served as the Chief of the Small Island Developing States Unit, and also as Head of Partnerships for Sustainable Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations. She holds a Masters’ degree in Development Studies with specialization in Environmental Management.

Mr. Masera has more than 20 years experience in the promotion of Sustainable Industrial Development in most regions of the world. From 2015 to January 2018, he managed one of the largest United Nations Headquarters where he applied a number of energy efficiency interventions to make it the first UN HQ to be climate neutral ahead of the UN target. Mr. Masera has more than 20 year experience in the promotion of Sustainable Industrial Development in most regions of the world and holds a PhD on natural resource use and renewable energy and a bachelor on industrial design engineering.

Before joining UNICEF Eastern Caribbean, Dr. Kamuragiye served as UNICEF Representative to Djibouti and Morocco and the UNICEF Congo office in Brazzaville. He is currently responsible for the Eastern Caribbean Area Office that covers eight independent countries and four UK overseas territories. Prior to joining the UN, he held several positions as a Senior Manager in the health sector in his home country of Burundi, as an employee of Montreal University in West Africa and as a WHO consultant. He is passionate about working effectively and efficiently together with other UN agencies to deliver results at scale for children/young people, as well as making a difference in addressing the issue of violence against the children across the Eastern Caribbean sub-region.

Dr. Clarke has worked at the FAO Headquarters in the area of Food Safety for the past 20 years. She served as Head of the Food Safety and Quality Unit from 2011 to 2019, prior to assuming her current role. Dr. Clarke oversees the FAO Programme of work across the 13 English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. She holds a PhD in Food Science and Technology from the Technical University of Nova Scotia and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of the West Indies.

Dr. Gebre has over 24 years of public health leadership and management experience, having worked with health teams and national officials in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and in 12 Eastern Caribbean countries. He joined the organisation in 2005 as Advisor, Disease Prevention and Control in the Bahamas Country Office, and has subsequently held several key positions. Prior to his appointment, he served as PAHO/WHO representative in Suriname. He holds a Doctor of Medicine degree and a Master's in Public Health from Addis Ababa University, and a Master of Science degree in Applied Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene from McGill University.

Prior to this current role, Mr. Velasquez has served as Leader of Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit at Nairobi-HQ and was Chief of the Urban Governance Section; coordinator of the Safer Cities Programme and temporally responsible for the Gender Unit. He has assisted national and local governments in areas like urban governance, territorial planning, urban safety and area-based public policies. Mr. Velasquez is a national of Colombia and holds a Ph.D. in Geography, specializing in Territorial Policy and Planning

Prior to joining UNAIDS in 2004, Mr. Guwani was an M&E Specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Senior Program Evaluator for the Red Cross HIV and AIDS Education and Prevention Programs. In 2001 James received his Doctorate in Medical Epidemiology from the Pennsylvania State University. He also holds a joint Master’s degree in Public Health and International Development Studies from Ohio University.

Mr. José Vila Del Castillo has over 20 years of experience in the field of transnational organised crime and drug trafficking. Prior to the UN he worked as a senior advisor to the government of Spain in agencies responsible for drug prevention, treatment and social services. He carried out similar work with the European Commission. He joined UNODC in 1999 as Representative of the Regional Office in Mexico and also served as UNODC Regional Representative for East Africa.

Mr. Chapman has over 20 years of international development and humanitarian experience, including the past 15 years working with the United Nations World Food Programme in a variety of contexts. Currently, he serves as the Representative & Country Director, a.i. for WFP Caribbean, overseeing emergency preparedness and response in the Caribbean.

Robert Natiello has served as the IOM Regional Coordination Officer for the Caribbean and Chief of Mission, Guyana since September of 2016. Prior to that he worked with IOM in Colombia and Ecuador serving 16 years in the organization. He holds a Masters Degree in International Management and is fluent in Spanish.

Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Sanchez served as Director of the Information and Knowledge Network Division of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA). In this capacity, she contributed to the developed intersectoral technical cooperation and networking. She also led relevant initiatives on ICT for development and social inclusion and strengthening digital regional integration. Ms. Sanchez holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Zulia (Venezuela), a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from San Jose State University (USA) and a Ph.D. in Information Science from the University of California at Berkeley (USA).

Ms. Shelley Cheatham was appointed as Head of Office of OCHA ROLAC in August 2021, with nearly 20 years of experience working in humanitarian assistance and emergency management.

Prior to joining ROLAC, Ms. Cheatham was the OCHA Deputy Head of Office in Myanmar from 2019 to 2021, leading coordinated response to conflict, protracted displacement, and recurrent natural hazards, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the February 2021 military coup. Ms. Cheatham has also worked at OCHA headquarters managing the Rapid Response and Underfunded Emergencies Windows of the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Ms Cheatham has an undergraduate degree from the Universidad de Guadalajara in Mexico and a graduate degree from the George Washington University in the United States.

Ms. Brodber served as Deputy Representative from 2015-2020 with the MCO Caribbean, and prior to this as Team Leader for the Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific programme with the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office. She also served as the Gender Specialist for the United Nations Development Programme in South Africa, as well as briefly with the UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office and established what is now the UN Women Country Office in Haiti. Ms. Brodber’s work experience also includes lecturing in International Relations and Development Studies at Yanshan University in China, and directing and co-producing, a film on Haiti.

Prior to her appointment, Valerie served as UNDP Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific since 2017. Valerie served as the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Djibouti from 2014 to 2017. Her earlier assignments included senior management roles in UNDP New York, and UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Kuwait, as well as earlier assignments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cambodia. Prior to joining the United Nations in 1991, Valerie worked in the financial sector and served as a Volunteer for the International Rescue Committee in Peshawar, Pakistan. She holds a Masters of Business Administration degree (MBA) from Harvard Business School and undergraduate degrees from the London School of Economics and Amherst College.

Prior to his current post, Mr. Sweeney was based in Nairobi, Kenya for 4 years as the Coordinator of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (or GPA), located within the United Nations Environment’s headquarters. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Nova Scotia, and was registered as a full member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia (APENS) in 1989.