Ms. Tonya T. Ayow

Ms. Tonya Ayow is a national of Trinidad and Tobago with over 20 years’ experience within the CARICOM Region. Ms. Ayow began her CARICOM career at the CARICOM Secretariat where she spent five years before subsequently joining CARICOM IMPACS in April 2008 as Head of Secretariat and then the Assistant Director, Support Services.

During her tenure at the CARICOM Secretariat, Ms. Ayow served as the Project Officer, Crime and Security and prior to that Project Officer, Conference Services. During the security preparations for Cricket World Cup 2007 (CWC 2007), she was seconded to work with the CWC 2007 Project Team which was spearheaded by the then Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados. She was part of the team which developed the Regional Security Plan for CWC 2007 of which there are several initiatives that have been retained as legacy systems.

At CARICOM IMPACS, Ms. Ayow served as the Head of Secretariat for two and a half years before being appointed as Assistant Director, Support Services. In that position, she had oversight of Human Resources, Finance, Administration and Secretariat and was responsible for ensuring that the Agency’s Work Programme was in conformity with the agreed CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy approved by the CARICOM Conference of Heads of Government.

In April 2019, Ms. Ayow was appointed to act in the position of Director, IMPACS and was confirmed in the position as of March 2022. The position was subsequently renamed as Deputy Executive Director.

Currently, she works with the Executive Director specifically on matters related to Resource Mobilisation, identification and pursuit of cooperation and collaboration with traditional and non-traditional partners. She was recently tasked with supporting the development of CARICOM IMPACS’ maritime capacity and the implementation and introduction of Passenger Name Record Data within the Agency and by extension within Member States. CARICOM IMPACS is responsible for the management of the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS).

Given her background, Ms. Ayow spearheads initiatives for CARICOM IMPACS with Latin American entities such as the Central American Integration System (SICA) and hemispheric entities including the Organisation of American States (OAS). Where required, she also provides policy and technical support to ongoing regional security projects through CARICOM IMPACS and to its partners.

Ms. Ayow is the holder of a BA in Latin American Studies from Trinity College, United States of America (USA), an MA in International Relations from Boston University, USA and a MLitt in Terrorism Studies from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.