About Us: The Organisation

January 2017 to Present

Professor Downes was appointed as Chairman of the CARICOM Competition Commission on the 1^st of January 2025. He is the third Chairman of the Commission.

Professor Andrew Downes was formerly appointed to the Barbados Fair Trading Commission at its inception in 2001, and became Deputy Chairman in 2006. He served as a member of the telecommunications and fair competition/consumer protection panels.

An economist and academic by profession, Professor Downes was the Director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), at the University of the West Indies(UWI), Cave Hill Campus, Barbados and Pro Vice Chancellor for Planning and Development at the UWI. He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill in Barbados, where he attained both a Bachelor of Science in Economics and a Master of Science in Economics. He is also a graduate of the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom where he attained a Doctorate in Economics.

He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Productivity Science and a Research Associate of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance. Professor Downes was an Advisor to the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery. He has also served as the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, as well as the Chairman of the Cave Hill Campus Research Fund. He has been a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Barbados, a director of the Barbados Port Authority and Chairman of the National Productivity Council. He has served as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Caribbean Centre for Monetary Studies and a member of the Regional Advisory Group of the Western Hemisphere of the IMF.

He is the author of several publications and reports on Caribbean development issues.

July 12, 2018 to Present

Anthony P. La Ronde, Barrister at Law, Solicitor Mediator and Notary Public was called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Dominica) in 1985. He holds a B.A. General and B.A. Honours in History from the University of Waterloo, with a minor in Political Science. He read law at the University of the West Indies and was awarded the LLB degree. Thereafter he obtained the Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School.

Mr. La Ronde pursued post graduate studies at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. He holds an advanced Diploma in legislative drafting. From 1971 to 2002 Mr. La Ronde worked in the public service of the Commonwealth of Dominica first as a teacher at the primary and high school levels and thereafter as a Barrister at Law and Solicitor. Mr. La Ronde has been a Teaching Assistant in History at the University of Waterloo and a Tutor in Law at the University of the West Indies - Cave Hill Campus and in Political Science at the St Augustine Campus in Trinidad. He lectured in Law at the University of Guyana. As a Barrister at Law and Solicitor he held the positions, on full establishment, as a State Attorney, Parliamentary Draftsman, Chief Parliamentary Draftsman and Attorney General in the Commonwealth of Dominica. As the Attorney General he was a Member of Parliament and the Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Dominica from 1995 to 2002. He also held temporary appointments as Magistrate, Registrar General of the Supreme Court and Director of Public Prosecutions.

From 2003 he was a Senior Draftsperson - Legal Consultant at the CARICOM Secretariat. From 2005 to 2009 he was the Officer in Charge/Director of the CARICOM Legislative Drafting Facility at the Secretariat. He has been a legislative drafting consultant for the OECS Supreme Court, ECTEL, CFTC/St Lucia and the Government of Anguilla/Social Security Board. From January 2016 to January 2018 he served the Government of Anguilla in the capacity of Chief Parliamentary Counsel. Mr. La Ronde holds five specialist Practice Diplomas from the International Bar Association and the College of Law of England and Wales. The Specialist Practice Diplomas are in:

• International Business Organizations
• International Mergers and Acquisitions
• International Joint Ventures
• International Arbitration
• International Competition Law

Consequently he was made a FELLOW of the International Bar Association on the 18th day of October, 2007. In 2016 Mr La Ronde completed the Leading People and Teams Specialisation with the University of Michigan. He is also a Notary Public and a Mediator on the roster of the OECS Supreme Court.

Mr. La Ronde has been involved in numerous regional and international negotiations. As a legal practitioner he has appeared before the Magistrate's Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice.

January 2017 to Present

Mrs. Emalene Marcus-Burnett holds a BSc. in Economics and Accounting from the University of the West Indies, a MSc. in Financial Economics and an LLM in International Trade Law from the University of London.

Her areas of study included Competition Law and Investment Law. Mrs. Marcus-Burnett has been involved in agriculture policy formulation and analysis, and has extensive experience in trade negotiations, having been involved in, inter alia, the agricultural negotiations under the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and multilateral trade negotiations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Mrs. Marcus-Burnett has served as WTO Chair of the Committee on Agriculture (Regular Session) and Rapporteur of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Committee on Youth Unemployment.

Mr. Timothy Jonas, S.C. is an Attorney-at-Law and Senior Counsel in Guyana. He is the Senior Attorney and Managing Partner at de Caires, Fitzpatrick & Karran, where he has built a distinguished career in litigation and commercial legal practice.

Mr. Jonas holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the University of the West Indies and a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School. He began his legal career as State Counsel in Guyana’s Attorney General’s Chambers and has since held several notable positions, including President of the Bar Association of Guyana and Chairman of the Guyana Competition and Fair Trading Commission.

He specialises in public and constitutional law, as well as tax, civil, corporate, banking, insurance, labour and public utility law, with particular emphasis on commercial and investment advisory matters. He is widely recognised as a leading litigator with deep expertise in constitutional, public, and commercial law.

March 2026 to Present

Since graduating with a Master’s degree in Accounting, Mr. Miller has been employed in various industries within Jamaica. He has accumulated in-depth financial, administrative, and manufacturing experience, which allowed him to gain a comprehensive knowledge of Jamaica’s business sector, and also served as Trustee to the Pension Plans of two organisations.

Mr. Miller has extensive experience in competition law and policy. He is currently the Executive Director of the Jamaica Fair Trading Commission (JFTC), holding this post since November 2008. Before his current role at the JFTC, he served as General Manager and Secretary of the institution from 2000 to 2008.

March 2026 to Present

Ms. Sammy is an experienced executive with a strong background in trade, investment promotion, and economic development. She has extensive expertise in strategic marketing, tourism, brand development, and business transformation, with a demonstrated ability to support organizational growth and competitiveness.

Her professional experience includes analyzing existing operations and implementing strategies, processes, and technologies to enhance productivity, efficiency, and overall performance. She has also played a key role in facilitating organizational change, aligning workforce capabilities with institutional, financial, and quality objectives.

Ms. Sammy has particular strengths in marketing management, market research, and business development, including supporting start-ups and entrepreneurial initiatives. She holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on Entrepreneurship, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Business Economics.

 March 2026 to Present

Mr. Joel Allen is a management consultant, strategist, and researcher with extensive experience spanning academia, investment banking, and advisory services. He currently serves as Managing Partner and co-founder of Growth Perspectives, a global management consultancy firm specializing in country and corporate strategy, corporate education, and innovation enablement.

Mr. Allen holds a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Auckland, where his research focused on market strategy and innovation. During his academic tenure, he contributed to teaching at the postgraduate level, including courses in International Trade and Finance, and supported MBA and EMBA programmes in market strategy. He also served as a research assistant within the Market Innovation Research Group at the University of Auckland and the Organisational Resilience Research Group at the University of Canterbury.

Prior to his academic career, Mr. Allen was a Chartered Investment Manager (CIM®) with over twelve years of leadership experience in investment banking. His professional expertise encompasses corporate finance, risk management, stakeholder engagement, venture development, and organizational resilience.

Mr. Allen’s work integrates academic insight with practical application, with a focus on value creation, public policy, data analytics, and market development. He has advised firms, governments, and industry clusters on strategies to strengthen competitiveness and enhance performance in local, regional, and international markets.