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.

Wayne Dass, BSc, MSc, CFA

Wayne Dass is a proven leader with over 25 years’ experience across engineering, project management, credit risk assessment, financial risk management, investment management, and capital market development. He retired in December 2023 as Chief Executive Officer of Caribbean Information and Credit Rating Services Limited (CariCRIS), which he led for 16.5 years, building it into a profitable, well-established and internationally-recognised enterprise with a solid track record for independence and integrity in its ratings.

Before joining CariCRIS in 2007, he held senior leadership positions in prominent regional financial institutions. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Engineering, is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, and holds a Certificate in Private Equity from the CFA Institute (USA).

Ann Leamon , BA (Hons), MA, MFA

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.