Speakers

• Professor Richard Auty - Feature Speaker
• Mr. Ewart Williams
• Professor Paul Stevens
• Ms. Valerie Mercer-Blackman
• Mr. Matthew Genasci
• Mr. Hunter Munroe
• Mr. Jason Joseph Cotton
• Dr. Wayne Bertrand
• Mr. Mark Regis
• Mr. Steven Greenleaf
• Mr. John Andrews
• Mr. Peter Mitchell

 

Ms. Valarie Mercer -Blackman - Feature Presenter

 

 

Ms. Valerie Mercer-Blackman is Lead Economics Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank, where she currently works on fiscal and macroeconomic vulnerability issues of Caribbean countries, in particular, issues of debt and growth. She joined the IADB in 2008 where she worked in the Central America Department. Her recent analytical work discusses issues such as investment by national and international oil companies, and barriers to growth in Central America. Prior to the IADB, she worked at the International Monetary Fund on energy and commodity issues as well as macroeconomic and fiscal issues of Latin America and some transition economies. She also held positions as research associate at Fedesarrollo, Bogota, Colombia, the Council of Economic Advisors to President Bill Clinton and the World Bank. She holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, United States.

 

In addition to research on oil and commodities, Ms. Mercer-Blackman has published articles on investment, corruption and growth, taxation and competitiveness