Born and raised in Jamaica, and educated in the US, Andre brings an international and diverse richness to his work. His programs developed while at Harvard University pioneered the examination of the development of interpersonal negotiation skills among minorities (2007 – 2010). Building on his background in exegetical hermeneutics and inspired by principles developed at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School as well as through connecting with top leaders in the negotiations field (such as Howard Raiffa, Larry Susskind, Jeswald Salacuse, Eric Green, John Richardson, Ben Heineman, and Chris Voss), Andre’s approach ultimately led to production of several ground-breaking conferences at Harvard University that explored the impact of race, religion, culture and youth on conflict and negotiation outcomes (as well as other areas such as strategy and ethics as well as high-stakes/difficult negotiations). These programs have equipped, in the aggregate, approximately 2500 participants and have been broadcast abroad online reaching participants in several countries including Poland, Brazil, Sweden, etc. Andre’s work was featured twice on NBC’s WHDH/Urban Update in 2010 and 2011 as well as in the Harvard Gazette.
Andre is the founder of the Negotiation & Leadership Conference (the first Harvard-wide student-run conference on negotiations at Harvard University) and the founder of the Harvard Extension Service & Leadership Society. He was also the 2009-2010 president of the Harvard Extension Student Association (the student government at Harvard’s Division of Continuing Education representing 15,000 students) and is the first Black male to be so elected in its entire history. He is also the co-founder of the Harvard Extension International Relations Club, the founder of the Harvard Great Debate and former representative for the Harvard Graduate Council. He has been involved in formal academic debates in theology and philosophy (including the Harvard Great Debate with distinguished Harvard faculty, Dr. Harvey Cox and Dr. Marc Hauser), was the president of the theology debate club at ORU and has conducted focused research on the intersection of theology, philosophy and modern physics.
Andre’s professional experience includes work in the venture capital field where he assisted in structuring “seed-stage” capital for multimillion dollar projects ranging from mixed-use resort/real estate development projects in the Caribbean to technology startups in Silicon Valley. With experience in strategy and business consulting, he has served as a board director, developed business plans for clients, engaged in deal transaction negotiations and delivered on marketing strategy developmeent. His experience includes work for Andersen Consulting, Terrafly (a joint venture between NASA and The National Science Foundation), Cingular, and AT&T Wireless. Andre also has hands-on public service experience as a teacher/tutor to disadvantaged, inner-city, high-school students in the Miami-Dade public school system via the federally-funded GEAR-UP initiative (a program similar to Teach For America). In addition, Andre has consulted at the board level with social enterprise/non-profit organizations in Jamaica dedicated to transforming the impoverished areas within the inner-city communities of Kingston.
Andre has a BA in Theology from ORU with expertise in hermeneutics. He also holds an MBA in Marketing and MSc in Finance from Florida International University.
