The Barbados-based CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) has a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who will lead the organisation through its second funding cycle, 2015-2020.
He is Rodinald Soomer, an Economist, who was previously employed in the Division of Economic Affairs with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, from May 2005 to August 2015, where he headed the Economic Development Policy Unit.
Soomer holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics from the University of the West Indies (UWI) and a Masters Degree in Economics from Britain’s York University with a specialization in Project Analysis, Finance and Investment.
With the CDF, Soomer’s key responsibility will be to provide direction and leadership to the CDF’s planning, strategy development and implementation processes. These include identifying funding sources, quantifying resource requirements, designing strategies to approach potential contributors and development partners, and administering appropriate policies for the sustainability of the Fund’s capital.
He will play the lead role in negotiations with regard to resource mobilization and in advocating the CDF’s vision and mission within the CARICOM region and the donor community.
