Mary Vrolijk and Nicole Chirino are among confirmed speakers for this year’s lineup for the upcoming Statia Sustainable Conference, which will be held on September 24-25. Organised by the St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation (STDF), the conference’s focus will be on the economic value of tourism. Vrolijk is listed on the conference itinerary this year to give a presentation on 'The value of tourism as an economic pillar.'
Born in Aruba, and after finishing high school, she stepped into the job market at Coruba as administrative and secretarial worker. She also managed Domus Cobone, both based on cooperative integration. Vrolijk started Marlinda Tours Aruba and also is a TV-producer, scriptwriter, editor, news director ad interim of Tele Aruba and has her own studio. She is Chief Executive Officer at Channel 5 in Aruba and assisted Channel 22.
For the past five years, she has written the column 'Profil Economico' in Diario, the largest newspaper on the island.
Chirino will share her knowledge about the importance of creating a sustainable business culture. “To achieve a sustainable tourism industry on Statia, it is imperative to create a sustainable business culture,” said Chirino.
She is a Senior Management Consultant at KPMG Dutch Caribbean, specialized in Change Management on Curaçao. She supports management teams by triggering their creative approach to their business strategies, and works with clients from the public and private sectors and nongovernmental organizations to help them develop their strategy and (re)structure their organisations.
Nicole was Acting Secretary for the Island Government of Bonaire, and previously worked at the European headquarters of appliances producer Whirlpool in Italy. She consulted the governments of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, St. Maarten and Suriname and was involved with the blueprint development of the new countries Curaçao and St. Maarten and of public entity Bonaire, where she was change manager and interim-director. Chirino participated in bank mergers and reorganization of semi-public entities in Suriname and the development of a Green Economic Model.
