Haitian Ambassador to Deliver Keynote Address at Caribbean Summit, November 3rd

United States, H.E. Paul G. Atidor, will deliver the keynote address at the Caribbean Summit. Sponsored by the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies, the Summit will be held on campus on November 3. The day will be dedicated to bringing together U.S. and international colleagues to raise awareness about opportunities for business and development in the Caribbean region. Panel discussions will focus on topics including leadership, education innovation, the business of tourism, investment, the arts, and enterprise resiliency and business continuity.Appointed as Haiti's U.S. Ambassador in January 2012, Altidor is known for his innovative and strategic leadership. An economist and international development specialist, he received his undergraduate degree from Boston College, an advanced degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and pursued additional graduate studies in law and economics at the University of Paris X, in France. He has an extensive background in the private sector and has been involved in efforts to reset the narrative surrounding Haiti and encouraging people to explore and discover the island nation. Prior to becoming ambassador, Altidor served as vice president of programs and investments for the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. Created in the wake of the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean island nation in 2010, the fund was established with the support of President Barack Obama and co-chaired by former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush."Our diverse community of students and scholars hail from many parts of the Caribbean, making Seton Hall an ideal location for the summit," notes Karen A. Passaro, J.D., event co-chair and dean of the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies. "We have a tradition of supporting entrepreneurship, travel and service to the Caribbean and we look forward to working with others to strengthen their ties to this beautiful and resilient region."The Caribbean Summit, which is co-chaired by Reginald Boisrond Canal of Les Cayes Partners, will also examine how organizations can fulfill contractual obligations and maintain business operations in the aftermath of natural disasters.The day begins at 8:30 a.m. with a continental breakfast, plenary sessions and a Caribbean-inspired lunch featuring an address by Ambassador Altidore. Following panel presentations in the afternoon, participants will enjoy networking at the Summit’s closing reception which will end at 5:30 p.m. By Linsda Karten | October 18, 2017 

Accreditation of two new ambassadors

 President Jovenel Moïse, received the credentials of two new Ambassadors accredited in Haiti, at the National Palace. They are their Excellencies André Frenette of Canada and Oscar Chàvez Valiente of the Republic of El Salvador.The two new diplomats renewed their country's commitment to maintain close ties of friendship and strengthen cooperation between Haiti and their countries.The Head of State also reassured these ambassadors on his willingness to work by common agreement to the harmonious development of relations between his Haiti and these two friendly countries.Subsequently, after the delivery of their credentials to the President of the Republic of Haiti, they made a floral offerings to the Haitian National Pantheon.HL/ HaitiLibre

Ambassador to Haiti: Who Is Michele Sison?

Michele Sison was nominated to be U.S. ambassador to Haiti by President Donald Trump on July 20, 2017. Sison, who has been deputy permanent representative to the United Nations since December 2014, succeeds Peter Mulrean, who served in Port-au-Prince from October 2015 to February 2017.In her role at the United Nations, just a month before her nomination, Sison made it clear that the Trump administration did not intend to contribute to a UN trust fund to fight Haiti’s cholera epidemic because the U.S. had already contributed more than $100 million to the anti-cholera effort. It is widely believed that cholera was inadvertently introduced into Haiti by UN peacekeepers from Nepal in October 2010.Born May 27, 1959, in Arlington, Virginia, Michele Jeanne Sison is the first Filipino-American ambassador from the United States. Her mother is Veronica Travers Sison. Her father, Pastor Bravo Sison, originally from the province of Pangasinan in the Philippines, earned a master's degree from Harvard Law School and eventually spent 25 years with the World Bank, retiring as director for public affairs in its Asia Division. She has two sisters, Victoria and Cynthia. Sison earned her BA in Political Science from Wellesley College in 1981 and also studied at the London School of Economics.Sison joined the State Department in 1982 and served early career postings as a consular official in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 1982 to 1984; Lomé, Togo, from 1984 to 1988; Cotonou, Benin, from 1988 to 1991; Douala, Cameroon, from 1991 to 1993; and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 1993 to 1996. Sison served as consul general at the U.S. consulate in Chennai, India, from 1996 to 1999.She was deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, from 1999 to 2002. Just one month before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Sison met with Taliban officials to try to secure the release of American aid workers who had been arrested in Afghanistan for allegedly showing a Christian video to an Afghan family. The following March, Sison was out jogging and waved to embassy employee Barbara Green and her 17-year-old daughter, Kristen Wormsley, who drove by on their way to church. Shortly thereafter, the two were killed in a grenade attack on the church.In Washington, Sison served as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of South Asian Affairs from 2002 to 2004, after which she was appointed ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where she served from July 2004 to January 2008, putting a strong emphasis on promoting trade with the Dubai dictatorship, a strategy she referred to as “massive corporate diplomacy.”From the UAE she went to Lebanon, serving in Beirut as chargé d’affaires ad interim starting in February and as ambassador from June 2008 to August 2010. Her tour in Lebanon was a demanding one right from the start, as she had to deal with numerous controversial issues. For example, in April 2008, she sent a cable to the State Department explaining that Lebanon’s telecommunications minister, Marwan Hamadeh, had complained that Hezbollah (which held elected seats in the national legislature and a cabinet position) had set up its own fiber optic telecom network, which, in Sison’s words, “covers the Palestinian camps, and the Hezbollah training camps in the Bekaa, and is penetrating deep into the Christian Metn and Kesrwan areas.” On June 18, 2008, she was involved in a particularly unpleasant incident, when her motorcade in the southern Lebanon town of Nabatiyah was stoned by anti-American pro-Hezbollah militants.After her tour in Lebanon, Sison served as assistant chief of mission for Law Enforcement and Rule of Law Assistance in Baghdad, Iraq. She also served stateside as director of Career Development and Assignments in the Bureau of Human Resources from 2010 to 2011.Sison returned to South Asia to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives from September 2012 to December 2014.As U.S. deputy representative to the United Nations, Sison again found herself in the thick of the action, particularly in 2016 when the Obama administration clashed with the Russian government over the war in Syria. In March 2017, she accused the government of South Sudan of conducting a “scorched earth campaign” that used man-made famine as a tactic in that country’s civil war.Sison has two daughters, Alexandra and Jessica; she and their father, Jeffrey J. Hawkins, are divorced. She speaks fluent French, basic Haitian Creole, and Arabic.By: David Wallechinsky, Matt Bewig | August 23,2017