Non-executive Council Members

Kimberly Bryan: Kimberly Bryan is a Commonwealth scholar and certified environmental professional educated in Jamaica and the United Kingdom. Her professional experience as an environmental specialist involves analyzing technical information; proposal writing as well as establishing budgets and work plans for the conduct and completion of various environmental studies; client and agency liaison; review of survey plans, imagery and environmental data to identify potential constraints to wetlands, watercourses, wildlife & sensitive habitats, and determining appropriate mitigation measures. Ms. Bryan typically manages a team of multidisciplinary staff and contractual relationships. Her duties are highly confidential and require broad and comprehensive knowledge of environmental assessment and regulatory processes, environmental permit and approval requirements and processes, environmental monitoring, hazard assessment and mitigation, impact analysis, and environmental planning. Ms. Bryan has also been involved in training of various private sector and community groups and in coordinating and conducting stakeholder consultations and community meetings on a variety of subject matters. Ms. Bryan’s breadth of experience has exposed her to global issues particularly in relation to the millennium development goals, fragile ecosystems, local populations and climate change impacts and adaptation.

Marcia Creary (Immediate Past President): Mrs. Marcia Creary is the Environmental Data Manager at the Caribbean Coastal Data Centre in the Centre for Marine Sciences, UWI where she oversees the processing, analysis, archiving and reporting on regional and local coastal ecosystems data. Mrs. Creary has been involved in the regional climate change initiatives since 2000, with specific responsibilities for the assessment of climate change impacts on coral reefs in Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean. She has also reviewed the impacts of climate change on agriculture, food security and water resource within the region. Her current responsibilities also include project administration and liaison with local, regional and international organization in the acquisition of data and implementation of projects. She has also conducted environmental studies related to wetland succession, productivity, water quality, plankton communities, sewage impacts, environmental impact assessments, environmental audits and environmental guidelines. Mrs. Creary has been a member of the JIEP Council since 2003, Chairperson of the Conference Committee since 2005 and President from 2008 - 2012.

Andrene Jones - Central Region Focal Point

Eleanor Jones: Eleanor Jones has given over thirty years of professional service to education, training, policy, strategy, and systems development in the fields of environment and disaster risk management, and project development. Committed to driving change through corporate strategy, public awareness and education, Ms Jones has been engaged in an international consulting practice for over twenty years, having lectured in the Dept of Geography at the University of Wisconsin and University of the West Indies for four and thirteen years respectively. Ms Jones, has developed outstanding expertise in the analysis and management of the interrelationships between human activity and natural environments, and is solutions- and results-oriented. She serves on the Boards of several professional and public service entities, and has received many civic awards for outstanding leadership in the field of environmental awareness, environmental leadership, and community development. Ms Jones received tertiary education at Hunter College, City University of New York, University of Wisconsin and University of New Orleans, and is a founding partner and consulting principal of Environmental Solutions Ltd., and ESL Management Solutions Ltd., environmental services, risk reduction and engineering firms registered in Jamaica.

Ava Maxam: Dr. Maxam joined the JIEP in 2011. She completed Ph.D. studies in Oceanography at the University of the West Indies where she also obtained a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in Zoology and Botany. Her range of professional experience spans the environmental field, from 3D hydrodynamic modelling to environmental impact studies of Jamaica’s coastline. She is currently the Deputy Director of the Mona Geoinformatics Institute (MGI) where she manages the projects and programming units as well as develops and coordinates GIS training for the institute.

Karen McIntyre: Karen McIntyre, an Environmental and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) scientist, has had seven years experience in the environmental field. She obtained a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the University in East Anglia in 2003, after which she returned home to Jamaica and worked in varying positions, including Environment, Health and Safety Manager at Beaches Sandy Bay, Environmental Scientist at CEAC Solutions Co. Ltd. and Information Officer for the Jamaica Clearing-House Mechanism. At present, Karen is the Projects Manager at Mona GeoInformatics Institute (MGI), University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, where she is responsible for the management of GIS related projects primarily related to the business sector, environment and natural hazards. She is currently undertaking her Masters in GIS with Lund University’s online programme and she assists in the preparation of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Monitoring Reports for CL Environmental Co. Ltd. Karen has been a member of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals since 2005, she is a United Nations (UN) Volunteer and was accepted on the Roster of Candidates in 2008.

Michelle McNaught: A member of the Jamaica Institute of Environmental Professionals (JIEP) and Jamaica Coral Reef Monitoring Network (JCRMN), Ms. McNaught has a B.Sc. in Zoology and Botany (Double Major) and a M.Sc. in Tropical Ecosystems and Assessment Management.  As a Marine Conservationist she is trained in several regional and international reef and fisheries assessment methodologies including, Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA), Reef Check and Conch Abundance and has executed numerous assessments locally and regionally. She is also trained in Coral Reef Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) for the Government of Jamaica and has experience in EIAs, Project Management, Marine Ecosystems Mitigation (restoration, relocation, artificial reefs) Fisheries Management and Environmental Monitoring. Ms. McNaught is currently the National Coordinator for The CARIBSAVE Partnership which is a not for profit organisation focused on Climate Change Adaptation and Poverty Alleviation in the Caribbean Basin.

Susan Otuokon: Susan Otuokon (Ph.D.) is an environmental consultant, specializing in protected area and natural resources management. She is a former Executive Director of the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT), an environmental non-government organization delegated management of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park (BJCMNP) by the Government of Jamaica. Dr. Otuokon was awarded a Ph.D. degree from the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2010, for her thesis on, “Ecotourism and its Role as a Tool for Protected Area Management in the Caribbean: Case Studies from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago”.  Dr. Otuokon has over twenty-three years work experience, mainly in the natural resources management field in the NGO sector, as a consultant and as a part-time lecturer at the UWI with the Environmental Management Unit’s M.Sc. Programme. She was the Executive Director of the Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT) from 1998 to 2001, and worked for fourteen years with the JCDT (from 1990 to 1996 and 2002 to 2010). Dr. Otuokon has a M.Sc. in Aquatic Resource Management from the University of London and a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of the West Indies. She has been involved in national planning and policy development for both protected area management and tourism.

Philip Rose: Philip Rose (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences (Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) – Mona Campus. His research career has been focused in the fields of Terrestrial Plant Ecology and Botanical Taxonomy for just over a decade. He is also an environmental consultant with over 12 years combined research and professional experience in projects involving developmental impacts on local terrestrial plant ecology. His Ph.D. project involved combining the skills associated with plant taxonomy and database development to create Jamaica’s first virtual herbarium which serves specimen data and images based on user queries.

Thessa Smith - Western Region Focal Point

Danae Vaccianna: Danae Vaccianna is a practicing environmentalist for 8 years, having worked in the construction, Protected Area Management and Urban and Regional Planning and Development  Fields.