Mrs. Rochelle Newbold  has been working in the environmental field for more than 21years. She has worked in both public and private sectors of The Bahamas and the United States managing environmental matters. She has also managed United Nations regionally funded projects and was the first Chair of the Bahamas Global Environmental Facility (GEF) Small Grant program. Mrs. Newbold recently served as the first appointed  Director of the Department of Environmental Planning and Projection, which is the first legislative environmental department in The Bahamas. 

Mrs. Newbold holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Duke University in Coastal Environmental Management and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in Marine Biology. She is a Charted Scientist and a Member of  Charted Institute of Water & Environmental Management, United Kingdom.  She has represented and negotiated for The Bahamas at numerous international and regional environmental conferences and has authored and contributed to various national environmental legislations, environmental  awareness handbooks and regional and national plans, programs and policies. Mrs. Newbold recently led the technical team at COP25, COP26 and has been appointed to the Office of the Prime Minister as the first  Climate Change Tzar for The Bahamas and Special Advisor on Climate Change and Environmental Matters to the Prime Minister. Mrs. Newbold also contributed to the development of the first blue carbon credit initiative with the drafting of the Climate Change and Carbon Markets initiatives Bill (2022).

Notwithstanding her strong environmental background, Mrs. Newbold is also the Director of The Sustainable Development Goals Unit (SDG) and is responsible for the 17 goals of that program which cover issues of social, environmental and governance. She is a Social Leader having founded and implemented a Women’s Retreat program since 2006 and the Lads to Leaders Program which is an international program which focuses on young people since 2007.