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Description
The Grand Opening Plenaries will feature a series of keynote addresses from island and industry leaders who will discuss in a wider context how their islands are implementing the Sustainable Development Goals to meet the needs of future generations.
Speakers
James Ellsmoor is the Founder & CEO of Island Innovation, a communications agency focused on the need of island communities. He has a passion for sustainable development and renewable energy, particularly applications for rural and isolated communities. Last year he ran the inaugural Virtual Island Summit, which brought together 4,000 participants from Scotland to Samoa to share stories about their communities. James has always used technology to advance his mission, allowing him to live and work anywhere and manage a team spread over 4 continents. Island Innovation focuses on bringing together NGOs, the private sector, universities and government with projects covering topics including lithium extraction, climate change and public policy.
Matthew A. McMillan is an accomplished international political & public affairs consultant that has worked in 30 regions, countries and territories around the world. He has won dozens of political consulting awards, has organized large-scale events and has advised Heads of State, Opposition Leaders, Governors, major political parties and well known corporate brands around the world.
In the Caribbean, Mr. McMillan has worked on high profile political, corporate and public affairs campaigns in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
Mr. McMillan holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Columbia University. He is based in Washington, DC.
Mr. Rattray is an accomplished diplomat with a distinguished career in the Jamaican foreign service. He brings to the position broad-based managerial and leadership experience of working within and across multicultural settings, with a focus on addressing the developmental challenges faced by countries in special situations, particularly in the area of development finance.
Currently Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Mr. Rattray also serves as Co-chair of the Group of Friends of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Financing; Children and the SDGs; as well as the Group of Friends of Decent Work. He has chaired several key initiatives, including the fifty-second session of the Commission on Population and Development in 2019, Co-facilitator for the Conclusions and Recommendations of the 2018 Financing for Development Forum, Chair of the United Nations Permanent Memorial Committee to honour the victims of slavery and Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on United Nations Security Council Reform.
Mr. Rattray is a past Chair of the Committee on Disarmament and International Security (First Committee). He also co-facilitated negotiations for the Ministerial Declaration of the High-level Political Forum of the Economic and Social Council and chaired the sixth Biennial Meeting of States on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Before taking up his current position, Mr. Rattray was Jamaica’s Ambassador to China (2008-2013); Director of the Bilateral Relations Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade in Kingston (2005 -2008); Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Jamaica in Washington, D.C., (2001-2005); Special Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade (2000-2001); and Special Adviser to the Minister for Industry and Investment (1999-2000). Before he joined the foreign service, he served as Executive Director of the Jamaica Marketing Company in London (1990-1997) and Director of Marketing and Promotions at the Jamaica National Export Corporation in Kingston (1987-1988).
Mr. Rattray holds a Master of Arts degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the United States, a Master of Arts in International Business from the London South Bank University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from West Virginia Wesleyan College in the United States. He was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters (Honoris Causa) by West Virginia Wesleyan College.
Mairi Gougeon was previously a councillor for Brechin and Edzell, during which she was chairwoman of the East of Scotland European Consortium.
She is a history graduate from the University of Aberdeen.
Mairi was elected as the MSP for Angus North and Mearns in May 2016. She was appointed Minister for Public Health and Sport in December 2020.
