Small Nations Regulators’ Forum Knowledge Café 2021 (Invitation only)

Dr Allyson Leacock, Chairman of the Barbados Broadcasting Authority and Director of National Transformation Initiative, Government of Barbados, is also an independent media and human development consultant. She led a coalition of 112 Media Houses in 24 Caribbean countries for 12 years and trained over 2000 Caribbean broadcasters. She served on the Executive Board of the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) and was elected for 2 terms as Chairman of the Global Steering Committee for the World AIDS Campaign. She was also Cultural Affairs Specialist at the US Embassy covering the Caribbean and Officer-In-Charge and Student Coordinator at the University of the West Indies Distance Education Centre (UWIDEC), now the Open Campus.

Dr Allyson Leacock was conferred with the Order of the Republic (OR) in Barbados National Honours on 30 November 2023. The award was given by the President of Barbados – In ‘recognition of sterling contribution to broadcasting, media relations, corporate communications, training, human resource development and educational technology, as well as distinguished service to Barbados as Head of National Transformation Initiative’.

Dr Leacock has a wide-ranging professional background including in executive management in corporate communications, media, needs assessment, training, human resource development and leadership, as well broadcast media including production and presentation as TV News Anchor, and as General Manager of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation.

She holds Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Educational Technology, Concordia University, Canada and BA (Double First Class Honours) in English and Education and the Diploma in Education (Dip.Ed with distinction) from Stirling University, UK. Her training also includes Diplomas in Human Resource Management, Facility Management, Arts Management and Alternative Dispute Resolution.

A former national athlete, gymnast, dancer and actress, Dr Leacock is trained in sign language, is a volunteer with Special Olympics and Barbados Council for the Disabled.

Chris Woolford is Ofcom’s Director of International Spectrum Policy where his responsibilities cover the UK’s international spectrum interests, especially in relation to the ITU, CEPT and EU. He has closely engaged for the UK on a number of key European regulatory initiatives in the field of electronic communications and participates in many European spectrum groups. He leads UK engagement with the ITU and led the UK delegations to WRCs in 2019, 2015 and 2012. He is currently preparing to lead the UK delegation to WRC-23.

In 2019 Mr Woolford took on the role of Chairman of the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) of CEPT and was re-elected for a second term in 2022. He has also been a Director of the International Institute of Communications since 2018.

Mr Woolford has 25 years’ experience of working on spectrum and communications regulation, both at Ofcom and its predecessor (Oftel). He has a degree in mathematics and statistics from Manchester University.

Cordel Green is Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission, which regulates radio, television and cable in Jamaica, and he is helping to lead Jamaica’s Digital Television Transition process.

Mr Green has been appointed to the Jamaica National Commission for UNESCO and represents Jamaica on UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Council for the Information For All Programme (IFAP). He is also Vice-Chair of the International Bureau for IFAP and Chairman of the IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility. His other affiliations include being a Vice-Chair (Caribbean), International Centre for Information Ethics (ICIE); Member of the Law Committee for the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Consideration in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems; Member of the IEEE Working Group on Trustworthiness in News; Member of the IEEE Working Group on Recommended Practice for Organizational Governance of AI; Advisory Board member of the Society for Scientific Advancement (SOSA); and honorary member of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (Washington DC).

Mr Green holds Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) and Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) degrees from the University of the West Indies, a Master of Laws Degree with distinction, from the University of Sheffield in England, a Master of Business Administration degree from the Mona School of Business, and is an alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education Programme and a Chevening Scholar.

Rodney Taylor has worked most recently with the Barbados Ministry of Innovation, Science and Smart Technology (MIST) as the Chief Digital Technology Officer. In this position he was the technical lead on Barbados’ digital transformation, improving public sector service delivery through strategic use of innovation, science and SMART technology.

Mr Taylor’s professional experience includes management of the Information Systems Unit in Barbados’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and its overseas missions. He has also served as the Business Development and Operations Manager at the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), where he worked with regional governments in the development of policies to govern information and communications technology (ICT), led the work to operationalise the CTU’s Caribbean Centre of Excellence to offer consultancy services to the Member States and also represented the region in many international ICT conferences.

Mr Taylor is an advisor on Internet Governance and has published research on e-Commerce diffusion in small island developing states in the Journal of Information Systems for Developing Countries. He is a founding member and former Chairman of the Barbados Chapter of the Internet Society, an organisation whose aim is to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.

Mr Taylor holds a Masters in Management and Information Systems from the University of Manchester, UK and a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Sector Management from the University of the West Indies.

Bio coming soon …..