The function of our Advisory Board is to lend their varied and extensive expertise guiding the execution of the mandate of the Integrationist. Each member of our Board possess a demonstrable and distinguished record of engagement with regional issues, particularly from the perspective of regional integration.
Ambassador Rudolph Collins
Rudolph Arlington Collins, retired Diplomat at the Foreign Service of the Republic of Guyana, is a Graduate with an Honours Degree in History from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica and a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration from the Carleton University in Canada (1968). He was head of the Guyana Foreign Service from 1972 to 1978, subsequently serving as Guyana’s Ambassador to Venezuela until 1984. In recognition of his contribution to Guyana’s development during this period he was awarded the Cacique Crown of Honour (C.C.H). Between 1986 and 1996, Ambassador Collins was attached to the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CCS) as the Director of its Administrative Services, then Assistant Secretary General responsible for Human and Social Development. It was during this period that he was appointed, on secondment from the CCS, Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission and in that capacity supervised the October 1992 Elections in collaboration with the Carter Centre.
Professor Clive Thomas
Clive Thomas is Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Guyana. He has held Visiting Professorships in Africa (University of Dar-es-Salaam), Canada (Visiting Distinguished Professor at the Norman Patterson School of International Relations), United States of America (Leonard O’Connor Professor, Colgate University), and the West Indies (George Beckford Professor in Caribbean Economy). Professor Thomas has been a member of a number of Boards, Committees, and Expert Groups dealing with development issues, and is also on the Editorial Board of several academic journals. He is the author/co-author of 15 books and research monographs and over 140 academic articles and contributions to book, and has presented invited papers to a similar number of academic conferences, symposia, and seminars. He is the recipient of the 2001 George Beckford Award for Contributions to Caribbean Economy from the Association of Caribbean Economists.
Dr. Kirk Meighoo
Dr. Kirk Meighoo is a former Lecturer of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad; Honorary Fellow at the Trinidad and Tobago Institute of the West Indies and one of Trinidad and Tobago’s leading political, economic, and social analysts. He is the Political Leader (Trinidad) of the Democratic National Assembly (DNA). Dr. Meighoo is currently the Vice-Chair of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago’s Vision 2020 Sub-Committee on Governance and Institutional Structures for Development Sub-Committee, and Chair of Constitution Reform Sub-group. He is the founder and Director of the British-Caribbean Chamber of Commerce as well as the Adviser and founder member of the University of Trinidad and Tobago’s Academy of Arts, Letters, and Public Affairs. He is the author of Politics in a ‘half-made society’: Trinidad and Tobago 1925-2001 and the forthcoming Democracy and Constitution Reform in Trinidad and Tobago with Supreme Court Justice Peter Jamadar.
See Dr. Meighoo’s academic papers via the Academia site
Karelle Samuda
Karelle Samuda has graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Politics (cum laude) from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA in 2004 and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University, Washington DC in 2006. She is currently attached to the School of Public Policy at the George Mason University, VA as a Graduate Research Assistant while pursing studies towards a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Policy. Ms. Samuda has filled the role of Policy Intern at both the the Georgetown University Child and Human Development Centre and the Organisation of American States (OAS). In Washington DC, she has worked as the Special Assistant to the President of the Centre for Global Development, the Invest Caribbean Conference Coordinator at the Institute of Caribbean Studies and a Research Associate at Leadership Africa USA.
Ambassador Edwin Laurent
Ambassador Edwin Laurent OBE is the Director of the Ramphal Institute, King’s College London and a Senior Adviser to the UNEP. Formerly, he was the Head of Trade and Regional Cooperation at the Commonwealth Secretariat, having previously held several diplomatic posts. He was educated at the Universities of the West Indies (Cave Hill Campus); the University of Manchester (UK) and the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (Washington DC). He has since conducted extensive research and published on various trade and commodity issues.