Ammon Cherry

Ammon Cherry grew up in a family of entrepreneurs in Barbados, so business was always in his blood. But as he got older, he realised the traditional bottom-line-first model often came at the expense of the planet.

"One of the biggest waste management issues in the Caribbean is shifting the public and private sectors away from linear models of waste and towards a circular economy mindset," he says. "I wanted to challenge that. Rather than continue with business as usual, I became committed to building a model where profit and planet could co-exist.”

Today, Cherry is the Managing Director of the Jose Y Jose Group of Companies, a conglomerate committed to sustaining the natural and built environment across the Caribbean. "York’s Bachelor in Environmental Studies equipped me with the systems thinking and policy knowledge to lead that change,” he says. “Whether it's reusing organic materials for agriculture, building out compost systems, or advocating for policy change, my goal is to create long-term, regenerative systems that benefit people, planet, and profit."

Between taking on leadership roles and joining the faculty's Costa Rica field course, Cherry’s experiences at York were plenty. But it was the interdisciplinary capstone project that had the biggest impact on his career.