Leslie Voltaire, UN Special Envoy for Haiti and chief of the Haitian government’s Reconstruction Team

Mr. Voltaire is Haiti’s Special Envoy to the United Nations, charged by President Rene Preval with facilitating the international community’s efforts to ensure effective aid management and delivery through the offices of the UN’s Special Envoy to Haiti, former President Bill Clinton. Since the January 12 earthquake, Ambassador Voltaire has been deeply involved in developing the framework for rebuilding Haiti.

Voltaire has held several key positions at various levels of government in Haiti, several of which have been directly related to urban planning and development. He previously served as the Minister of Education, Minister for Haitians Living Abroad, Chief of Staff to President J.B. Aristide, and as a Presidential Advisor charged with the general design and supervision of 8 major public squares in Port-au-Prince, the capital’s waterfront project, and the construction of two villages of 600 housing units each. Mr. Voltaire also coordinated the development of the Port au Prince Metropolitan Strategic Plan.

Mr. Voltaire received his diploma in Architecture from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, and a master’s degree in Regional and Urban Planning from Cornell University, where he wrote his thesis on urban growth in Port au Prince. His published writings include “Housing in Haiti” (Revue Conjonction 1979), “Decentralization in Haiti,” in collaboration with Charles Downs (Edition Cidhica, 1990), and the “Plan for Developing Metropolitan Port-au-Prince (Experco International, 2003). He has lectured at Cornell, Columbia University, the University of Massachusetts, the Universidade de Brazilia, the Université d’Etat d’Haiti, and the Centre for International Governance (CIGI) in Waterloo, Ontario.

David Evans, Chief Technical Advisor, UN-HABITAT Sri Lanka

Having worked in Housing and Development for the past 27 years, Mr. Evans is currently the Chief Technical Advisor for UN-HABITAT in Sri Lanka. Since December 2004, he has worked explicitly on post-disaster and complex emergency reconstruction, and is currently focused on post-conflict housing reconstruction for 200,000 houses in tsunami-damaged areas.

In 2005, Evans coordinated the NGO response to the Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka, managing the conversion of 500 independent organizations. That same year, he provided support for the reconstruction of 450,000 homes following a major earthquake in Pakistan. In 2006, he led the Housing Reconstruction Cluster for the tsunami-damaged regions of Sri Lanka, which involved the reconstruction of 120,000 destroyed homes. In 2008, he led the Shelter and Housing Reconstruction Cluster for Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma), which involved the reconstruction of 450,000 destroyed homes. He has drawn on his experience with these major reconstruction efforts to lead post-disaster Lessons Learnt exercises in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India, and Indonesia.

Prior to working in disaster response planning, Evans worked as a Development INGO Director in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, which led to his PhD case study on the Urbanization of the Maldives at the London School of Economics (LSE). Earlier, he was the Area Director of Housing for the Westminster and Greenwich Local Housing Authorities from 1983-1994. Evans earned a post-graduate degree in Studies in Housing from the LSE in 1989.

Ami Desai, Director of Foreign Policy, Clinton Foundation

As the Clinton Foundation’s Director of Foreign Policy, Ami Desai works on a wide range of international programs and policy issues, including climate change, economic opportunity, and health in Haiti, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.  Before joining the Foundation in January 2007, Desai served as a Legislative Aide to U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, with responsibility for foreign policy issues including Africa, humanitarian crises, and international trade. Desai also has significant professional experience outside of the political realm, having worked in mergers and acquisitions for JPMorgan and held positions at Johns Hopkins Health System, the Greater New York Hospital Foundation, and the International Crisis Group. Desai received a master’s degree in Foreign Policy from Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs, and a bachelor’s degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.

Under Desai’s direction, the Clinton Foundation is working to turn the donations of money and supplies made by individuals and organizations into direct assistance for the people and government of Haiti. Since the earthquake, the Clinton Foundation has delivered more than 24 tons of medical supplies, as well as drinking water, trucks for aid distribution, latrines, stoves, solar-powered lights and lanterns, clothing, and more than 34,000 tents. The Foundation’s sister organizations are hard at work in Haiti as well: the Clinton Health Access Initiative is assisting the Haitian government in planning for the effective distribution of the donated supplies pouring in from abroad, and the Clinton Global Initiative has pledged more than $100 million in projects to deliver immediate and long-term assistance to the Haitian people.

Louis Herns Marcelin, Director, Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development Haiti (INURED)

Mr. Marcelin co-founded and is Chair of the Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  As Assistant Professor of Anthropology with a joint appointment at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Miami, he directs several large-scale studies, including NIH-funded grants on gang violence, HIV risk, and the increasing involvement of the juvenile justice system in the lives of Haitian adolescents and their families in the diaspora. He also conducts research both in Brazil and Haiti on Family, Kinship, and Politics as well as on Uses and Memories of Political Violence in Haiti and Brazil with Núcleo de Estudo da Política, Department of Anthropology, Museu Nacional, Brazil where he holds a visiting Research Faculty appointment. His work has been featured in national media including the New York Times as well as academic publications and conferences.

The Interuniversity Institute for Research and Development (INURED) is a research and higher education establishment based in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti. INURED’s mission is the development of top quality research and scientific training with the aim of improving the socioeconomic and political conditions of Haiti’s people. As a “think and do” tank, INURED’s collaborative research and problem-solving model applies powerful data analysis, multidisciplinary research and evaluation techniques, and a policy‐driven perspective to address a wide range of issues facing Haiti. With partners across the hemisphere, INURED is one of the only independent research institutes in Haiti that focuses on policy research and rebuilding the academic system in Haiti. INURED is currently advising the State University of Haiti and the Minister of Education on next steps for rebuilding higher education based on their recent report, “The Challenge for Haitian Higher Education: A post‐earthquake assessment of higher education institutions in the Port‐au‐Prince metropolitan area.” The Institute is currently in the developing stages for several initiatives that will aim to help rapidly prepare professionals in Haiti with graduate training over the next several years.

Over the past several years, INURED has also developed innovative models for community development in the most fragile areas of Port-au-Prince, including Cite Soleil. Working with community leaders, residents, students and local government, the institute has helped communities conduct their own research into the effects of international aid, marginality, and urban violence while helping to plan and strategize with local leadership for more effective development. In the aftermath of the earthquake, INURED released “Voices form the Shanties: A Post-Earthquake Rapid Assessment of Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince,” a widely-circulated rapid assessment of the shantytowns in Port-au-Prince and recommended effective responses from policy makers and relief workers.

David Mulet, Project Coordinator, Organization of American States (OAS)

Mr. Mulet supports the cadastre component of the Electronic Government Section of the Organization of American States’ Department of State Modernization and Governance.  He oversees a portfolio of several capacity-building activities aimed at strengthening institutional capacities, and by implementing an array of cadastre initiatives throughout Latin America and the Caribbean at the local and national levels. Mulet is originally from Guatemala, and holds a degree in Political Science from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

The Organization of American States brought together over 400 representatives from the Haitian Diaspora at its headquarters in Washington, DC, in March 2010 to submit recommendations to the Government of Haiti and donors ahead of the discussion held on March 31st, 2010, at the United Nations in New York. Out of this Haitian Diaspora Forum came a series of specific recommendations to address urgent humanitarian needs, the effective deployment of foreign aid, transparency in the reconstruction process, social, government, and economic development, among other issues. Moving forward, the OAS will focus its efforts on three areas: electoral observation, civil registry, and cadastre and land registry.

Cadastre, Mr. Mulet’s area of expertise, is a parcel-based land information system containing a record of interests in land, including the rights, restrictions and responsibilities of individual landowners. A cadastre usually includes a geometric description of land parcels linked to other records describing the nature of the interests, and ownership or control of those interests, and often the value of the parcel and its improvements. It may be established for fiscal or legal purposes, to assist in the management of land and land use, and enables sustainable development and environmental protection.

Chris Williams, Washington Representative, UN-HABITAT

Mr. Williams is the Representative of the UN-HABITAT Washington Office. He is responsible for building a coalition of government, municipal, private, and not-for-profit organizations designed to link US metropolitan development and international urban programming in US foreign assistance. Williams has worked for the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-HABITAT) at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, for over 15 years. He has served in several capacities, including Coordinator of the Nairobi Slum Upgrading Program, Political Coordinator of the Iraq Program and Palestinian Program, and Director of the Urban Finance Division. During this period he worked with member States and the United Nations system to strengthen the role of UN-HABITAT in the Executive Committee for Humanitarian Affairs and the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Williams worked for a number of not-for-profit organizations, including Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Interchange, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, the Pine Street Inn Homeless Shelter, and the Experiment in International Living. He holds post-graduate degrees in public policy studies from the University of Chicago and in political economy and urban sociology from the New School for Social Research, and is currently writing a doctoral dissertation on “Slums, State Formation and the United Nations in East Africa.”

UN-HABITAT supports the strategy and choices of Haitians and has introduced a system of safe return to create a platform for Haitians and the international community to implement a Safe Shelter Strategy. This involves working with residents of informal settlements, community leaders, and government officials on the one hand, and liaising with representatives of NGOs, UNOs, bilateral agencies, and private industries on the other. Emphasis is placed on safety, community-based decision making, local government administration, central government policy reform, and donor coordination. A pilot program is currently underway in select neighborhoods.

Patrice Nevil, Director of Infrastructure for Haiti, Partners in Health

As Director of Infrastructure for Partners In Health/Zanmi Lasante (PIH/ZL) in Haiti, Mr. Nevil has built and renovated eleven public hospitals and health centers in Haiti’s Central Plateau and Artibonite departments over the last 14 years, with a major new public hospital project in the works for the commune of Mirebalais. Patrice also oversees the management of all of PIH/ZL’s IT systems, including satellite internet for twelve different sites, as well as hardware and software that serves a staff of over 4,000 people.

Originally from Haiti’s South East department, Patrice is a graduate of the Institut Supérieur Technique d’Haïti in Port-au-Prince, where he received his board certification in civil engineering.  Patrice received additional training in the United States, pursuing certification in Engineering Methods for Control of Airborne Infections from Harvard University, Management for International Public Health from Emory University, and Planning and Managing Health Information Systems from Management Sciences for Health in Boston, MA.

In Haiti, PIH/ZL has taken on relief, recovery, and rebuilding activities in three core areas: clinical services, social and economic support services, and health systems strengthening. In the first month after the earthquake, PIH/ZL emergency medical efforts treated 4,961 critically injured patients, set up and staffed 25 operating rooms, and established clinics in four settlement sites to serve the basic healthcare needs of 88,000 displaced people. During the first three months, PIH/ZL hired 358 additional local staff, shipped more than 422 tons of medicines, supplies and equipment, and deployed 516 clinical and technical volunteers, providing direct social or economic support to more than 10,000 people and their families. The organization approaches “building back better” in Haiti with the same values and principles that have guided its work for many years, taking a comprehensive approach to help lift communities out of poverty.

Garry Pierre-Pierre, Editor, The Haitian Times

Mr. Pierre-Pierre is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. He began his 20-year career at the Lakeland Ledger and, within months, was recruited by the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. After a couple of years in South Florida covering local news as well as assignments in Haiti, the Bahamas, and Jamaica, Pierre-Pierre was hired by the New York Times in 1992, where he spent eight years on the Metropolitan Desk.  He distinguished himself with enterprise reporting and is considered among the top reporters that covered Brooklyn during the 1990’s. Abroad, he covered the fall of Mobutu, the Congolese dictator, as well as numerous stories from Haiti for the Times.

Pierre-Pierre has won several awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for team coverage of the World Trade Center bombings at the New York Times. He has written opinion pieces for the Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald and many other publications.

In 1999, Pierre-Pierre left the New York Times to start the Haitian Times, where he remains on staff as a consulting editor and publisher. During his tenure with the newspaper, he managed a staff of a dozen reporters and sales staff. Under his leadership the Haitian Times earned a reputation as one of the best ethnic newspapers in the United States, winning awards from the New York Press Association and the New York Community Media Alliance.

Pierre-Pierre created Kreyolfest, an annual music festival that attracts revelers from across the United States and Haiti. He is currently the co-host of Independent Sources on CUNY TV, and has been an adjunct at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism; during his career, he has trained scores of journalists in the United States and Haiti. Pierre-Pierre lives in New Rochelle, New York with his wife and two children.

James Dart, Principal, DARCH

Deborah Gans, Principal, Gans Studio

Mr. Dart, principal of the design firm DARCH in New York City, holds a MArch degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, he is a University Lecturer and Director of the Siena Urban Design Studio at NJIT in Newark, NJ. Currently, Dart is working on  several projects, including Bartram’s Garden in Philadelphia, the nation’s oldest botanical garden; a redevelopment project for affordable housing in post-Katrina New Orleans; a visitors center for the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation; and new facilities for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The firm has won numerous local and national awards, including a 2002 Honor Award from the AIA.

Deborah Gans is an Institute for Urban Design Fellow, professor of Architecture at the Pratt Institute, and principal of Gans Studio. Gans’ design work includes housing and settlements for displaced populations both global, and was featured at the Venice Biennale in 2008. She has written often on related subjects, including Extreme Sites: Greening the Brownfield (AD/Wiley), which she edited with Claire Weisz.

Dart and Gans, along with Ron Shiffman and IfUD Fellow Denise Hoffman-Brandt, participated in a HUD-funded community-based planning and design project for post-Katrina New Orleans with the Pratt Institute and NJIT. The team placed in the High Density on the Higher Ground competition sponsored by Architectural Record and Tulane University for the reconstruction in New Orleans in 2007, and their work has been exhibited at Sustainable Dialogues symposia in Panama and Los Angeles, as well as the gallery at the Parsons School of Design in New York.

Their­ proposal, entitled Repositioning in Place, conceptualizes a model for rebuilding in suburbanized New Orleans East that simultaneously addresses the larger problem of low-lying suburban coastal areas affected by climate change by using a design process that engages multiple socio-economic and political landscapes. Repositioning in Place confronts the intrinsic conflict between the sustenance of the community and the sustainable landscape.

Toni L. Griffin, Adjunct Associate Professor, Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Ms. Griffin has built an impressive career in both the public and private sectors, combining the practice of architecture, urban design and planning with the execution of innovative, large-scale, mixed-use urban redevelopment projects, and citywide and neighborhood planning strategies. Griffin recently left her post as the the Director of Community Development for the City of Newark, NJ, to take a position advising Mayor Bing of Detroit on the ambitious plans to downsize that city.

Griffin was recently Vice President and Director of Design for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation in Washington, DC, and from 2000-2005, served as the Deputy Director for Revitalization Planning in the D.C. Office of Planning. There, she oversaw large-scale redevelopment projects for the downtown, waterfront, commercial corridors, and citywide neighborhood planning.

Prior to locating in Washington, DC, Griffin served as Vice President for Planning & Tourism Development for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation in New York City, involved in creating a comprehensive Heritage Tourism Initiative. Griffin began her career as an architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP in Chicago, where she became an Associate Partner involved in architecture and urban design projects. She received a Bachelor’s of Architecture from the University of Notre Dame and a yearlong appointment as a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She has been a design critic at the GSD, Illinois Institute of Technology and Catholic University.