Dr. La Corbinière, BSc., MSc., Ph.D - Economics, Fund Management and Banking
Dr. Bernard La Corbiniere is a regional Consultant with decades of experience in the areas of economics, banking, finance, consultancy and advisory services. He has had a long tenure of executive leadership and has held several substantive positions locally and internationally including:- Managing Director of Eastern Caribbean Financial Holdings (ECFH) and Bank of Saint. Lucia (BOSL); Managing Director of the Saint Lucia Development Bank; Permanent Secretary and Director of Finance, Ministry of Finance and Planning – Government of Saint Lucia; Consultant Economist; Macro Economic Advisor and Chairman of the CARICOM Development Fund.
Dr. La Corbinière, obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from the University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K., his Master of Science degree in Computer Science also from the University of Kent at Canterbury, U.K. and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics (Hons.) from the University of the West Indies, Barbados where he also taught the Macro Economics course of the BSc programme. He has also completed executive level courses in Capital Markets at International Law Institute, Washington, D.C. and Financial Programming and Policy at International Monetary Fund (Institute), Washington, D.C.
Over his distinguished professional career, Dr. La Corbinière has undertaken consultancies for both regional and international Institutions and private sector companies including: Mount Royal Development Company Ltd.; Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court; Inter-American Development Bank; Caribbean Export Development Agency (for the CARICOM Secretariat); Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Gfinance Consultants Ltd. of Trinidad & Tobago; Caribbean Community (CARICOM); Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Emerging Markets; Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC) and Eastern Caribbean Economic Management Programme.
He has also served as St. Lucia’s Director/Alternate Governor for World Bank and International Monetary Fund, as well as Director on the Boards of Caribbean Development Bank, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, St Lucia Development Bank, National Commercial Bank of St. Lucia/Bank of St. Lucia and Chairman of the St. Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority and the Venture Capital Fund.
Sylvain Leith, M.SC., CFA - Chief Risk Advisor
Sylvain Leith is Associate Principal of Financial Risk Management at KPMG LLP in Montreal. He has solid, wide-ranging experience in the field of credit risk management as well as in international banking regulations under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Sylvain is an expert in risk-related governance and business intelligence modelling, specializing particularly in credit risk and economic capital.
In that respect, he was vice-president in charge of a risk modelling and strategy department at the National Bank of Canada, acting as leader in implementing the provisions of the Basel II Accord, implementing a credit stress testing program, integrating advanced notation in risk assessment practices and adopting principles for risk data aggregation and risk notification. Sylvain has worked as an expert consultant in risk management both in Canada and outside the country. During that time, he undertook regulatory GAP analysis engagements for the Business Development Bank of Canada, including stress testing. He also implemented risk management solutions for two banks in China and liquidity impasse assessments for a bank in Haiti, respectively on behalf of the World Bank‘s International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Investment Bank.
Ann Leamon
Ann Leamon co-founded Bella Private Markets, a boutique consulting firm providing actionable advice framed by academic rigor, with Harvard Business School’s Dr. Josh Lerner in 2010. She served as its Chief Operating Officer for 10 years, managing the firm’s projects, working closely with clients, and providing close editorial and research support to the team. In October 2020, she moved to a Senior Advisor role.
Ann’s background combines a wealth of experience in private capital and entrepreneurship from both the academic and practitioner perspectives. In 2000, she joined Drs. Lerner and Felda Hardymon in restructuring HBS’s Venture Capital and Private Equity (VCPE) class, the school’s most over-subscribed second year offering. For a dozen years, she wrote all the cases for that program, capturing the experiences and insights of top global investors and entrepreneurs. She has also written for the first year Entrepreneurial Manager class and for the Marketing and Retail departments.
Between 2001 and 2010, Ann handled corporate communications for Bessemer Venture Partners, a leading global venture capital and growth equity firm. In that role, she attended every investment committee meeting and developed their investor relations function.
With Drs. Lerner and Hardymon, Ann co-authored three editions of The Venture Capital and Private Equity Casebook, as well as Venture Capital, Private Equity, and the Financing of Entrepreneurship, an introductory textbook for venture capital and private equity.
During her 14 years at HBS, Ann wrote more than 120 cases and other pieces of teaching material. While at Bella, she contributed to and oversaw reports and research projects and taught programs for clients such as the World Bank, IFC, IDB, Knight Foundation, State Street Global, innovation agencies in Australia’s Victoria and Queensland states, and a number of other groups championing entrepreneurship or making private investments around the world.
Miguel Southwell, BS, MBA - Aviation Expert
Miguel Southwell is President and CEO of Brakkam Aviation Management, a global air transportation management consulting firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, with current or recent clients in the U.S., South America, Caribbean and in Africa with the World Bank. His aviation career spans over 40 years, starting with the Caribbean’s regional airline LIAT in 1973 and rising to become the head of Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the world’s busiest passenger airport with over 100 million passengers annually and a combined annual operating and capital budget of nearly US$1 billion. Mr. Southwell was named the city’s “CEO of the Year” by both the Atlanta Business League and the Atlanta Business Journal. Prior to his ATL leadership, was a deputy head at Miami International Airport (MIA) in charge of administration and $700 million in annual revenue production, where he engineered the turnaround of a 10-year passenger-traffic loss to Fort Lauderdale International Airport.
Mr. Southwell served 6 years on the World Governing Board of Airports Council International (ACI). ACI is the official global association of airports with approximately 1,800 airport members in five regions including Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America.
Mr. Southwell served as a regional bank executive overseeing 16 bank branches in Portland Oregon. He has served on numerous Boards of business, civic and community organizations, among them Convention and Visitors Bureaus in both Atlanta and Miami.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management from Portland State University in Oregon, has a Master’s degree in International Business from Baruch College - City University of New York, and holds a “Driving Government Performance” Certificate from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Education.