Dr. Colin A. Young, a Belizean national, is the Executive Director of the Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC). The CCCCC is an inter-governmental organization mandated by the Heads of Governments of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to coordinate the Caribbean’s response to managing and adapting to climate change. Doctor Young has a Bachelor of Science degree and Anthropology and Conservation Biology from Marlboro College, Vermont, U.S.A, during which he conducted original research on Creole Ethnology for a thesis entitled” Concepts of disease and illness and ethnobotanically useful plants among Belize Creoles n North-Central Belize.” During his research, Dr. Young worked with traditional healers and experts to catalog the use of over 100 useful species to the Belizean Creole. He also holds both a Master of Science and a doctorate in Ecology from the University of Connecticut, USA. His doctoral dissertation entitled “A comprehensive and quantitative assessment of Belizean Creole Ethnobotany: Implications for forest conservation” focused on the ethnobotanical importance of different forest types to the Belizean creole, the efficacy of medicinal plants and the reliability ethnobotanical information gathered during ethnobotanical across Belize.” Previous to his selection as the Executive Director of the CCCCC Dr. Young served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Social Security Board, a parastatal entity that administers Belize’s Social Security Fund from 2017 to 2019 were he championed contribution reform, technology transformation and numerous legislative changes. He also served as the CEO in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, the Environment, Sustainable Development where he had overall responsibilities for all of the portfolios, including climate change, other than agriculture. He also served as the CEO in the Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology and Public Utilities from 2012-2015. He also worked as the Programme Director the National Protected Areas Secretariat, an entity established to coordinate and oversee the implementation of the Belize Protected Areas Systems Plan, under the then Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment from 2010-2012. In academia, Dr. Young was an Assistant Professor at Galen University, where he served as the Director of Galen University’s Environmental Science program and MBA program. At Galen, he co-developed Galen’s flagship program in sustainable development at both the undergraduate and graduate (MBA) levels. Dr. Young has served on numerous boards including: the Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Caribbean Telecommunications Union Executive Council, a CARICOM inter- governmental organization dedicated to promoting information and communications technologies, the Belize Telecommunications Limited, the Protected Areas Conservation Trust, the Government of Belize’s financial mechanism for protected areas, the Belize Trade and Investment Development Service (BELTRAIDE), a statutory body of the Government of Belize, Friends for Conservation and Development, an NGO that co- manages Belize’s largest protected area, and Programme for Belize, an NGO that manages Belize’s largest private protected area, among others.