Team Biographies

James C. Knapp, CEO - Endless Energy Ltd.

Jim is a two time US Presidential appointee.  He served as a technology representative on the National Security Forum in 1989 and as a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995 under President Clinton.
He was the founder of I/NET Inc., a research and development firm that specialized in digital imaging and voice recognition technologies in 1983 and served on the first Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG).  He negotiated a $25M sale of his intellectual property and equity to IBM in 1989. He retired to the Cayman Islands in 1993 after taking I/NET public. He served in the United States Air Force as a teacher for computer guidance systems. He received a BBA Degree from the University of Maryland in 1972 and attended Wharton Business School in 1988 for Advanced Management Studies.
Mr. Knapp has been a featured lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Harvard Business School and has travelled to over 100 countries as an international speaker on the Internet and digital imaging. Jim is a Senior Fellow of the Cayman Institute.

Dr. John Harvey, Ph.D., P.Eng., C.Eng., F.I.G.E.M.

John  serves as CEO to MIRCO Center, Mike’s Ice & Refrigeration, BPC, Advanced Fire, CBS, PACE, Island Waste, Mike’s Esso and group of companies in Grand Cayman. John has over 30 years management experience in the UK, Germany and Canada, covering marketing, sales, design, engineering, project management, construction, commissioning, operations and maintenance in the oil and gas transportation, management services and MEP industries. During his career, John instructed under-graduate, post graduate and doctoral studies candidates in the field of Business Studies, including two years as Senior Lecturer, Management at University College Cayman Islands. He is a Director of the Cayman Islands Red Cross and acted as head of Gold and Silver Commands’ Administration for the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service during the Hurricane Ivan Emergency. John is a Fellow of the Institute Gas Engineering & Management (UK), Chartered Engineer (UK), Professional Engineer (Canada), Member of Cayman Architects Engineers and Surveyors, Member of Cayman Islands Society Human Resource Professionals, Founding Member of the Cayman Institute, chairs the Training Committee of Cayman Contractors Association, and is a retired member of American Institute of Mechanical Engineers and of the Ordre des Ingenieurs du Quebec. John has a B.Sc. in Engineering and a Ph.D. in Management & Organizational Development. John is a Senior Fellow of the Cayman Institute.

 J. Lee Tinney

Lee is a Highly versatile Executive / Manager with broad expertise in Corporate management, electric power systems design, strategic planning, system loads forecasting and modeling, construction, operation and maintenance for utility transmission, distribution, and substations. Specific expertise in the planning, design, development and implementation of transmission and distribution processes, and safety, health, skills training, and environment management processes focused on employee team building to accomplish management objectives. Skilled in the management of utility telecommunications infrastructure systems and business development and marketing strategies. Lee is a Senior Fellow of the Cayman Institute.

Tim Balls

Tim is in law enforcement and has seen the Cayman Islands develop over the last twenty years and has great insight into the transportation needs of the Cayman Islands. Tim is a founding member of the Institute. Tim is a Fellow of the Cayman Institute.

Kem Jackson

Kem is an avid environmentalist, having worked in the diving industry since its kem_jackson_smallinception in the Cayman Islands. Kem has participated in studies of currents in the waters of the Cayman Islands, and was involved in the construction of the original George Town cargo dock. His knowledge of Cayman’s marine environment  is second to none.  Kem is a Fellow of the Cayman Institute.
He is a Master Boat Builder who is very involved in preserving the Cayman Catboat and is Vice President of the 
Cayman Marine Heritage Foundation.


Nick Robson


Nick has a rich background in the non-governmental  (NGO) sector. He received 

his MA in Peace Studies from the  University of Bradford. Nick has consulted for the British Red  Cross in Disaster Management and is the founder of the Cayman 

Institute, a think tank doing policy research in areas such as global warming and climate change, energy security and economic sustainability for small island states. Nick also has a background in security and law enforcement. His geographical areas of interest are Central and South Asia and the Middle East as well as Small Island Developing States. He is also the Programme Manager for the South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) based in London whose aims are to make a leading contribution to regional and international academic and policy-orientated research discourses about South Asian security. SASSI‘s remit goes beyond nuclear stability to include the wider issues of chemical and biological weapons, conventional force balance, civil-military relations, social and political stability, religious extremism and the security issues presented by climate change, peak oil and energy security. Publications