Biography

Dr James Viernes is from Guam in the Mariana Islands of Micronesia. He has held faculty and leadership positions at the University of Guam and University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. As an academic, his teaching, research, and publications have been rooted in Pacific Islands history and area studies, militarism, and gender studies with an emphasis on masculinities.

His academic background is paired with established experience in regional public service. He is experienced in providing strategic leadership, advice, and support to Pacific governments, organizations, and stakeholders while working with partners to support Pacific regionalism, leadership capacity building, climate action, and gender equality and social inclusion.

Prior to joining PICAN, he served as Deputy Director of the Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP) - one of nine regionally mandated Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific (CROP) agencies. During his tenure with PIDP, he was actively engaged with regional colleagues in advancing several key regional initiatives including the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and its Implementation Plan, the Revitalised Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration, the Review of Regional Architecture, CROP Technical Advisory Groups, and support of the Pacific Youth Council and the next Pacific Youth Development Framework.

For the past several years, he has also worked closely with regional colleagues as part of the One CROP team - a collective of 6 CROP agencies that support Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS) and Pacific Political Champions in their engagements with and negotiations in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process. His work with One CROP has primarily been focused on the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) priority area. More broadly, he has worked collaboratively with colleagues, organizations, and communities across the regional and international architectures to progress a wide range of GESI initiatives.