Ms. Elizabeth Riley is the first female Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and was appointed to that position on July 1, 2021. She is a committed regionalist with over 22 years experience in the areas of disaster risk management at the regional and international levels and in environmental management. She is passionate about people and sees her role as one of creating spaces and facilitating connections to advance the resilience agenda. At the operational level, Ms Riley has played a leadership role in the coordination of regional responses to all major hazards impacting the region from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 to COVID-19. She has written, presented, and published technical papers in disaster management and environmental management. Ms Riley has also lectured in Disaster Management at the University of the West Indies, Mona and Cave Hill. She holds a M.A (Econ) in Environment and Development from University of Manchester, United Kingdom, BSc. (Hons) in Geography from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica and a Masters Certificate in Results Based Monitoring and Evaluation and Information Systems from the University of Laval, Quebec.