Bevan Springer
President
Bevan is an award-winning journalist and seasoned public relations professional. He has worked as the North American correspondent of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union and contributed for media houses such as the Caribbean Media Corporation, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation, and Saint Lucia’s Radio 100.
He is well known to the Caribbean Diaspora in the New York tri-state area, having hosted several radio programmes, including the weekly five-hour, radio show, “The Caribbean in Five” on 1190 AM WLIB in New York.
A weekly columnist with New York’s renowned Amsterdam News, Bevan’s international reach includes contributions to the Trinidad Guardian, BBC World Service, New York Daily News, 1600 AM WWRL, UN Radio, and WNBC-TV in New York. As former North American editor of the Barbados Advocate, Bevan spent several years covering the United Nations where he served as editor of The Islander publication, covering the 1994 Barbados Small Islands Conference, the 1995 Copenhagen Social Summit and the 1995 Women’s Conference in Beijing.
For the past decade, he has produced the popular Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx), designed to improve the quality of media coverage of sustainable tourism in the Caribbean.
A former national tennis player of Barbados, Bevan has worked as a sports reporter with the Barbados Nation and Barbados Advocate newspapers.
He is a member of New York’s Christian Cultural Center, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, National Association of Black Journalists and United Nations Correspondents Association. He is an alumnus of Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific in British Columbia, Canada – a member of the United World Colleges’ (UWC) network, and sits on the Leadership Council in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the George Washington University’s School of Business.
Recipient of a diploma in public relations from the University of the West Indies and a guest lecturer in public relations at New York University, Bevan has received awards from New York’s City Council, the Council of Barbadian Organizations in New York, BWIA West Indies Airways and the Caribbean Hotel Association. In the summer of 2010, he was conferred with honorary Jamaican citizenship by the Jamaica Consulate in New York.
Lelei LeLaulu
Vice President
A journalist and communications consultant with wide-ranging experience in the Americas and the Caribbean, Lelei LeLaulu served as a correspondent in Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions for several publications including, the Financial Times of London, TheMiddleEast Magazine, and New African.
His career at the United Nations includes writing and producing radio and television programs as well as editing the UN Report and UN Secretariat News.
In addition to designing communications strategies for the series of global conferences and summits of the 1990s, he reported from the UN for CNN’s “World Report”.
From New York, Lelei was a regular correspondent for a variety of organizations, including Pacifica Radio PBS, Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, Swiss Radio, Sky TV, London, Rand Daily Mail, Radio New Zealand, International Publications of London and hosted “One World One Voice” for PBS TV.
Lelei is vice president of the Caribbean Media Exchange, and coordinator of the Oceania Sustainable Tourism Alliance which uses the world’s largest industry – tourism – to alleviate poverty in the Pacific and Asia.
Lelei set up sustainable tourism projects in Africa, and the Mundo Maya project in Mesoamerica, Brazil and Central America with the Inter-American Development Bank. He is an advisor for National Geographic, George Washington University’s Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, and writes book reviews for The Washington Times.[/teaser]
H. Peter Mansel
Secretary & Treasurer
Pete Mansel is president and co-founder of 4P Group, Inc. a marketing and business planning firm based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area. He has 35+ years of telecommunications operations, marketing, strategic planning and sales experience at senior executive level positions. He has developed business plans for domestic U.S. and Caribbean clients. Some of the major Caribbean plans include Barbados Photovoltaic Module Assembly Plant, Caribbean Media and Communication Services, Ltd. (CMCS), Barbados Sugar Cane Industry, West Indian Sea Island Cotton, Hit-for-Six feature film, Wentworx Spices, and BIDC Condiments Industry. Pete earned a B.B.A. from Adelphi University and an Executive M.B.A. from Pace University in New York.
Gail Moaney, APR
Board Member
Gail Moaney is executive vice president and director of Ruder Finn’s travel and economic development practice. Gail has 20 years of experience in agency and corporate public relations and in broadcasting, implementing communications programs for destinations, transportation companies, hotels and resorts, and economic development entities worldwide. She has also served as chief of communications for the State of Ohio Department of Economic Development, managing radio, television and print communications for international trade, science and technology, business development and tourism. An accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Gail has been a member of the board of PRSA NY since 1995. She also sits on the boards of the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies Partnership, Caribbean Media Exchange, Counterpart International, New York Urban League and Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America. Gail is an Adjunct Professor at New York University.
Dr Basil Springer
Board Member
Dr. Basil Springer, a Barbadian, is leading the charge, as a change-engine consultant, with the private sector-led Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. (CBET). He promotes the CBET Shepherding Model™, an enterprise development initiative, to diversify economies in the Caribbean by contributing to the development and growth of what are now called ‘sunrise’ high performance enterprises to replace the fading ‘sunset’ industries. This initiative is characterised by the effective optimal partnership between CBET, the Government and the Private Sector of a sovereign country. The model combines the entrepreneurial opportunity to penetrate global markets, shepherding and quick response seed and venture capital, as the entrepreneur embarks on a journey from business concept to sustainable business success. The prototype of this model is currently being tested in Barbados before it is aggressively promoted in the Caribbean and beyond. At the launch of The Barbados Entrepreneurs’ Quick Response Venture Capital Fund, which is an integral part of this model, the Government pledged the incentive of a government guarantee to local and foreign sophisticated investors in the VCF. Basil is a member of the international E-Team which will be launching its inaugural annual Barbados conference and awards ceremony in November 2010. The E-Team is promoting - "Barbados: The Entrepreneurial Hub of the World by 2020". He is also a Board Director of the Caribbean Media Exchange.
