Lilia Burunciuc, Caribbean Countries Director
Lilia Burunciuc is the World Bank’s Country Director for the Caribbean countries. Ms. Burunciuc, a Moldovan national, is responsible for maintaining the partnership with the countries to address their development challenges.
Since joining the World Bank in 1996, she held a range of increasingly challenging positions: Director for Central Asia; Manager in Operations Policy and Country Services; Country Manager for Macedonia; Country Program Coordinator for Southern Africa and Central Asia; and Senior Country Officer for Ukraine and Belarus.
She has extensive experience on leading policy dialogue with governments on various aspects of development.
Tim Johnston, Human Development Program Leader
Timothy Johnston is the World Bank's Human Development Program Leader for the Caribbean and Haiti. He joined the LAC region in May 2018, and relocated to the Haiti Country Office in September 2019. In Februray 2022 he moved to Kingston. Tim previously served as HD Program Leader for Southeast Europe, based in Vienna, Austria. He has wide experience in the World Bank working on health and human development issues, including field assignments in Cambodia and Burkina Faso, and has worked in a wide range of countries in East Asia and Africa.
H.E. Priya Manickchand, Minister of Education of Guyana
Priya Devi Manickchand is the Minister of Education in Guyana with oversight of the country’s education sector. Manickchand entered Parliament in 2006 as Minister of Human Services and Social Security, and a few of her many achievements include: establishing Guyana’s Childcare and Protection Agency; developing a Policy on Domestic Violence and piloted laws in the Parliament relating to the care, development, and protection of children, and; collaborating with the private sector on a loan program that provides low-interest and collateral-free loans to single-parent women from lower-income brackets who wish to start up or expand their businesses. In 2011 Manickchand became Minister of Education, and in 2020, she returned as Education Minister amid the COVID 19 pandemic and found innovative ways to deliver education. She launched the 2020-25 Education Policy that aims to deliver universal secondary education. In 2014, she was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate from the Lesley University in Boston Massachusetts, United States of America, in recognition of her tireless work for the rights of children and women. Manickhand is an Attorney-at-Law, is married to a Civil engineer, together they have two children.
Archibald Gordon (Moderator)
Archibald Gordon is an award-winning journalist and communications consultant with two decades of experience in the news and current affairs arena - including seven as Television Jamaica’s News Editor and Anchor of its market-leading Prime Time News package.
He has conceptualised and executed crisis communication, interviewing and media relations training for organisations such as JAMPRO, the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), Red Stripe, JMMB, J Wray and Nephew, and the Met Office.
Archibald is the Managing Director of Archibald Gordon Communications and Director of Marketing and Communications at the Caribbean Maritime University.
A Chevening scholar and CNN Leadership Fellow, he holds a Master of the Arts in Media Management (Distinction) from the University of Westminster, London, UK, and a Bachelor of the Arts in Media and Communication from the Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at the UWI Mona Campus.
