Speakers

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Feature Speaker - Senator Dr. the Honourable Bhoendradatt Tewarie

Senator Dr. the Honourable Bhoendradatt Tewarie was appointed as a Government Minister in May 2011. His present title is Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development.
Minister Tewarie has served Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean region in areas of public policy, public and private sector governance and education.

Minister Tewarie served as the first Chairman of the Council for Competitiveness and Innovation in Trinidad and Tobago.

As a Member of Parliament he held the portfolio of Minister of Industry, Enterprise and Tourism and Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives from 1986 to 1991. Regarding public policy, he served on a number of boards of which included the Fiscal Incentives Committee for Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry Investment as Chairman in 1998, the National Curriculum Review and Education Committee in 1998, as a committee member on the Cabinet Appointed Divestment Committee for State Enterprises in 1998 and 1999. In the private sector The Minister served on the Board of Directors of Republic Bank Limited from 1997 to 2009 and Trinidad Publishing Company from 2001 to 2008.

 

Mr. Mark Regis -Interim Head of the Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (TTEITI)

 

Mark Regis assumed the role of Interim Head of the Trinidad and Tobago Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative Secretariat in September 2011. A stakeholder management professional with more than 20 years’ experience in both the public and private energy sectors, Mark began his working career in the downstream energy sector at the T&T Methanol Company in Corporate Public Relations. After three years there, he embarked on a Fourteen (14) year career in Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Service, eight of which were spent at the country’s High Commission in Ottawa, Canada. 

On his return to Trinidad and Tobago in 2004 and after stints as Deputy Chief of Protocol and an assignment as Personal Assistant to the Prime Minister (2006-2007), Mr. Regis re-entered the oil and gas industry in 2007 as Government Relations Manager for the country’s second largest upstream oil and gas firm BG T&T.

In August 2011, Mr. Regis was shortlisted by the TTEITI Steering Committee for consideration to fill the World Bank funded position of Interim Head of the TTEITI Steering Committee’s operational Secretariat.

 

Ms. Sharon Bradshaw - Consultant- Southwest Local Economic Development Project 

 

Sharon Bradshaw is a development professional with twelve years experience in project  management of human and social development programmes within the public and non-profit sectors in Trinidad and Tobago. She has led multi-stakeholder collaborations comprised of multilateral institutions, public sector agencies, non-governmental organizations and the private sector in the implementation of initiatives in poverty reduction, engendering vocational training and advocacy.

She maintains a wide network of contacts among civil society organizations and public sector agencies.  

Originally from Point Fortin, Ms Bradshaw is a director on the board of Serenity Place and a member of the steering committee of the project: Developing and Implementing a LED framework for regions with extractive industries.

She is a former diplomat currently working as an independent consultant and holds postgraduate qualifications in International Relations and in Development Studies.

 

Mr. Lennox Sirjuesingh - President, Trinidad and Tobago Local Content Chamber

President Lennox Sirjuesingh is one of the Founding Fathers of the Chamber. He served as the first Secretary. His background is in the teaching profession. He served for Forty One (41) years, the final eleven (11) as Principal at Grant Memorial Presbyterian School. 

Additionally he was a football referee for 25 years serving the FIFA List of International Referees for Fourteen (14) years.  He holds the distinction of being the first Caribbean Referee to be appointed to another Confederation, South America Pre Olimpico Tournament, Bolivia 87.

He also was the first Caribbean Referee to referee in a World Tournament, the 24th Olympics, Seoul 1988. He is a firm believer in the "achievement of excellence" and serves as Chairman of his church, St. Charles Presbyterian Church in Chaguanas. Among his accolades are the National Medal of Merit(1999) and the first scheme of national awards for Outstanding Teachers 1993.