***From The Bahamas to Panama City, STEP Caribbean Conference Continues to Grow.***
Building on a belief that jurisdictional collaboration in the trust industry was important and with initially four jurisdictions participating, STEP Caribbean Conference has grown to become one of the premier trust conferences in the world. The **2008 STEP Caribbean Conference** continues to push the envelope and marks its tenth year by hosting its first conference in South America and organizers are predicting another sell out event in Panama City, Panama May 5 through May 7.
Panama City has grown to be a vibrant and active STEP branch in just four short years. With a highly sophisticated trust industry, and an active membership, Conference Chair Dayra Berbey De Rojas is pleased to welcome STEP delegates to Panama City May 5/6/7, 2008. *“We are thrilled to be hosting the 10th annual STEP Caribbean Conference in Panama City – our goal is to showcase the best of Panama City to the world. We have planned a number of social events that are unique to the STEP Caribbean Conferences including a visit to the world famous Panama Canal for a special reception and tour.*”
As always, the programme is a cutting edge mix of specialized trust topics and macro topics examining the global realities of the trust world. This years theme *“Panama and the Path Between the Seas”* will see such topics as “Where is the Trust Industry Going” matched with “Trusts and Tamales” – an in depth view of the trust industry in a civil law jurisdiction. Also on the programme is the macro topic — “The IFC’s Role in the Global Economy” and the ever popular “Breakfast with Shan Warnock Smith”.
STEP Caribbean Conference founders Steven Cantor (Miami), Chris Coriat (TCI), Katie Booth (Bahamas) and Grant Stein (Cayman) gathered together in Miami in the spring of 1998 to talk about the idea of a STEP Caribbean Conference and the concept grew from there. With the addition of DBA Communications, a Toronto based communications management firm as the conference managers, the inaugural conference was born. Held at Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas in April of 1999, the conference attracted over 200 delegates making it the largest conference of its kind in the world that year.
*“The mandate of the conference was always about continuing education for the trust industry”*, commented Grant Stein, *“We agreed from the start that we would not be driven by individual jurisdictions, but rather by the opportunity to continue to raise the bar for trust professionals in the Caribbean and beyond – and I think that we have achieved that goal in spades”*.