Andress Appolon

Crisis Leadership | Commercial Recovery | Market Recapture | Operational Transformation

Led executive management of an international container and bulk port during a period of heightened security, market disruption, and regulatory complexity.

• Led the successful recovery of Port Lafito following the capsizing of a vessel, coordinating all regulatory approvals and returning the port to full operations within 30 days.
  
• Rebuilt the commercial book of business through direct client engagement, recovering and ultimately surpassing pre-incident market share.
  
• Designed and negotiated a strategic volume guarantee program that attracted major shipping clients.
  
• Negotiated a business interruption insurance settlement securing approximately 3.4x the assessor's original offer (roughly $2M additional recovery).
  
• Led a comprehensive operational restructuring that produced the fastest vessel turnaround performance in the Caribbean.

Infrastructure Development | Financial Restructuring | Asset Preservation | Enterprise Leadership

Built and scaled Haiti’s first integrated industrial free zone, overseeing power generation, bonded warehousing, and investor relations in a high-risk operating environment.

• Led operations spanning energy, logistics, and industrial real estate, supporting multinational tenants and export-oriented manufacturers.
• Acted as primary interface with government authorities, customs, investors, and multilateral partners.
• Navigated prolonged periods of political instability, security shocks, and infrastructure constraints while maintaining operational continuity.
• Advised shareholders and boards on risk mitigation, capital allocation, and long-term viability.

• Negotiated a $600K settlement plus transfer of $9.7M in real estate assets and $2.1M in construction inventory.
• Negotiated an $8.5M debt-to-equity conversion, reducing debt service obligations by approximately $5.4M over five years.
• Secured a 33-month principal moratorium with Haiti's central bank and commercial lenders, generating approximately $4.5M in debt service savings.
• Generated over $600K of unplanned revenue through strategic lease negotiations and completed a long-term warehouse lease supporting future expansion.
• Reduced annual SG&A expenses by 38% while maintaining uninterrupted operations and 100% power plant availability.
• Assumed executive responsibility for finance, HR, engineering and project management following restructuring, avoiding approximately $680K in annual executive compensation costs.
• Oversaw additional GB Group entities including Lafito Global, LCX and Lafito Suites, leading governance, incorporation, financial cleanup and project development.

Board Representation | Capital Stewardship | Strategic Negotiation | Multilateral Leadership

Appointed by Haiti's Minister of Finance to represent the Republic of Haiti before the Boards of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), and Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF).

• Restored Haiti's institutional credibility by rebuilding productive working relationships across 53 member countries following a gap in Board representation and helping shape consensus positions across Caribbean and Central American constituencies.
• Stewarded Haiti's $2 billion grant portfolio, including securing Board approval for 15 public investment operations totaling approximately $400 million across the agriculture, education, transportation, and tourism sectors.
• Led strategic negotiations among the IDB Board, Finance and Legal Departments, and the Government of Haiti to modify the $2 billion Haiti Grant Facility, preserving long-term development financing.
• Coordinated multilateral policy and financing strategies with the World Bank, IMF, IFC, OAS, and other development partners to support economic reform, donor alignment, and future financing programs.
• Advised Haiti's Minister of Finance on strategic policy initiatives, including energy sector reforms required to support IMF negotiations and future multilateral financing.
• Directed executive-level institutional engagement, leading five high-level missions to Haiti—including visits by the IDB President, Vice President of Countries, IIC President, and MIF Manager—culminating in a six-day Board of Directors mission reviewing fifteen development projects nationwide.
• Strengthened international partnerships by developing Haiti's first structured cooperation framework with Argentina, resulting in the first official Haitian government mission to benchmark international best practices in the management of IDB-funded programs.

Appointed by the President of Haiti to lead the country's fully integrated, state-owned electric utility and develop a one-year emergency action plan to stabilize the organization and initiate long-overdue institutional reforms. Became the first woman to lead the company's 2,500 employees.

• Led a comprehensive enterprise turnaround, modernizing the executive management structure, introducing performance-based accountability, and restoring governance through the reactivation of the Board of Directors and executive management processes.
• Delivered record financial performance, increasing non-government revenue by 22% (from $50 million to $61 million) while achieving a historic 79% collection rate through improved billing, customer engagement, and revenue protection initiatives.
• Reduced electricity production costs by 14%, from $0.30 to $0.26/kWh, through generation optimization, rehabilitation of company-owned generating assets, and restructuring of power purchase agreement (PPA) management.
• Expanded the utility's customer base by more than 40,000 accounts (15%) while strengthening revenue protection through the deployment of advanced metering infrastructure and targeted expansion of the distribution network.
• Directed the modernization of critical transmission and distribution infrastructure, including the deployment of SCADA-controlled substations that increased distribution capacity in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area by 85% (from 77 MW to 140 MW).
• Established the country's first National Power Purchase Agreement Renegotiation Commission, successfully securing a Presidential Executive Order to evaluate and restructure long-term electricity procurement contracts.
• Rebuilt institutional credibility by engaging employees, union leadership, regional utility associations, and international counterparts—including CARILEC, EDF, EDESUR, and ENEE—to build support for the utility's transformation agenda.

• Served as the State Revolving Fund (SRF) Specialist, Day-to-Day & Quantitative Banker on $1.6 billion in SRF financings on behalf of the New York State’s Environmental Facilities Corporation, the Ohio Water Development Authority, Massachusetts Water Pollution Abatement Trust and the Virginia Resources Authority
• $550 million State of Connecticut Special Tax Obligation Bond issue, 2009 Series A-C: designed breakeven & call option analyses to identify optimal tax-exempt/taxable structure, yielding the STO’s lowest all-in TIC of 3.491%
• $260 million Series 2011A & $100 million Series 2009A & DASNY State University Dorm Facilities Lease Revenue Bonds: developed an apportionment model designed to structure bifurcated maturities across 30 capital projects
• $102 million DASNY Pledged Assessment Revenue Bonds, Series 2010A: created specialized cashflow model integrating multi-year bond financings and insurance assessment streams
• $11 million Hempstead LDC Education Revenue Bonds, Series 2011A&B: developed credit structure and marketing plan for this historic unrated bond offering on behalf of the ground-breaking Academy Charter School

• Developed extensive, client-specific variable rate restructuring plans, including the Series 2008 $750 million Nassau County Interim Finance Authority variable rate refunding
• Strengthened UBS’s credibility with the State of Connecticut as an integral member of the CT coverage team, resulting in senior appointment to execute an auction rate restructuring of the State Revolving Fund
• Client portfolio included major issuers in the State of New York, New York Power Authority, Long Island Power Authority, the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, Suffolk County, Baltimore, MD & Bridgeport, CT

• Launched $6 million private-offering for DIGICEL, #1 Caribbean mobile service-provider
• Negotiated five private equity contracts averaging $25,000 each
• Designed the management plan for Haiti’s first medical cooperative
• Development the feasibility study for real estate projects

• Managed $16 million economic recovery program, disbursing 70,000+ micro loans ($300-$400)
• Negotiated $5 million USG-backed, small loan guarantee for Haiti’s largest commercial banks
• Co-authored National Public-Private Sector Development Plan

• Authored all internal briefs (for Ambassador) on the privatization of Malian cotton industry
• Informed USG policy position on cotton subsidy debate for World Trade Organization negotiations
• Negotiated military end-use agreements for Pan-Sahel Counterterrorism Program & Liberia Peacekeeping Initiatives