Who judges the Future Caribbean Buildathon
Future Caribbean's Founding 1000 has grown to 159 judges, advisors and volunteers. Here is who sits on the public list and how scores are checked.
Future Caribbean, the Barbados-founded AI programme, has built a judging network it calls the Founding 1000, and by late August it counted 159 named people. Who scores the teams matters, because a win can bring cash, a pitch at the New York Stock Exchange and introductions to banks and investors.
For how the competition works, see our Buildathon overview. For the sponsors, see the partners guide.
How big the network is
Future Caribbean describes the Founding 1000 as "a global network of judges, advisors, builders and volunteers" helping turn ideas into working products (futurecaribbean.com/judges). The name is an ambition. The real number is smaller and still growing.
Its 90-day impact report, with figures to 23 August 2026, gives this breakdown:
| Role | People |
|---|---|
| Judges | 95 |
| Advisors | 53 |
| Members | 8 |
| Volunteers | 3 |
| Total | 159 |
The report says the network includes people from the World Bank, the IDB, UNDP, Google DeepMind, Intel, Citigroup, DRW and Trinidad's ANSA McAL. Only 36 of those people are named on the public judges page, so most of the bench is not listed by name.
The report also explains why the network had to grow. The programme planned for 40 teams, but 236 teams applied from 39 countries, and organisers say they found resources to let all of them build. A small panel cannot fairly score that many entries across ten subject areas.
How judging is supposed to work
Future Caribbean publishes three rules on its judges page (futurecaribbean.com/judges):
- Every entry is scored against the same rubric (a shared scorecard), whatever its track.
- Final scores are checked by two people, so no single judge decides an outcome.
- Results are frozen for 48 hours between final scoring and the announcement.
The impact report lists what the rubric measures: whether the product can be deployed, its technical design, how well the AI agent handles a workflow, the business model and the plan for reaching customers. Entries are reviewed as they come in, instead of all at once after the deadline. The exact weight of each criterion has not been published.
For a Caribbean business owner, the useful point is the weight given to deployment. A team that builds a slick demo but cannot plug into a real bank, utility or government office should score lower than one that can.
The judging commitment is modest. The FAQ puts it at about nine hours in total: six hours scoring applications and three hours judging finalists (futurecaribbean.com/faq).
The named judges
The judges page lists these people and titles (futurecaribbean.com/judges). The first four were also featured on the homepage (futurecaribbean.com).
| Judge | Role |
|---|---|
| Todd Speece | Head of VC Coverage, Citigroup Tech Investment Banking |
| Darlington Akogo | Founder and CEO, Mino Health |
| Spencer Powers | Head of Special Investments, DRW |
| Olumide Durotoluwa | Senior Product Manager, M-KOPA |
| Sukhveer Sanghera | Founder and Chief Architect, Potentially |
| Adrian Glace | Chief Technology Officer, Amalgamated Bank |
| Hazel Bagwell | Vice President, Dynamic Talent International |
| Kellyssia Robinson | Data and AI Architect, Salesforce Middle East |
| Thokozile James | CEO, EXECUCOMM |
| Jarryon Paul | Founder, Sunshine |
| Carolina Casas Forga | Co-Founder, Sangha Capital |
| George Oliver R Thomas | CEO, Sagicor Bank (Barbados) |
| Adrian Dunkley | Founder, StarApple.ai |
| Kyle Sonlin | Co-Founder and President, Global Settlement Network |
Two names stand out for Caribbean readers. George Thomas runs Sagicor Bank in Barbados, so a regional lender is in the room. Adrian Dunkley founded StarApple.ai in Jamaica and is one of the region's better-known AI entrepreneurs.
The page does not say which judge scores which track. The titles are as the organisers published them; we have not independently confirmed each person's current job.
Advisors, members and volunteers
The same page lists a wider group who mentor teams and advise on specific fields (futurecaribbean.com/judges). Advisors run a one-hour group workshop each week during the build, according to the FAQ.
Caribbean names on that list include Nikola Simpson-Kellman of Sustainable Caribbean, Roxanne Waithe of Workmates BB, Navin Seeterram of Smart Mountain Inc., Nigel Guy of Iyansan Ventures, Jessica Lewis Marshall of the UWI Mona Library and Sherika Herbert of the Government of Barbados. Others bring specialist knowledge, such as Roberto Schiano Lomoriello in disaster risk finance and Tanya Radosavljevic of UNICEF.
That mix suggests the organisers want people who have dealt with Caribbean problems firsthand, alongside investors and executives from global firms.
Where things stand
The timetable has slipped. Launch coverage said winners would be named on 1 September, with an investor showcase in the Caribbean and a pitch day at the NYSE that month (Barbados Today). On 18 September, founder Lily Dash posted on LinkedIn that judging was still going on and the field was "down to the top 100" (LinkedIn). She also opened an investor portal where early backers can watch team videos and message founders.
We could not find a public list of winners as of 11 October 2026.
What to watch
- The winners announcement, and whether the two-person check and 48-hour freeze are visible in how it is handled.
- Whether the rubric weights are published before a second cohort opens.
- Which Caribbean institutions, such as Sagicor, follow up with pilots after the competition.
If you run a business with a problem one of these teams could solve, Future Caribbean's membership and track sponsorship routes (futurecaribbean.com/impact) are the place to start a conversation.