Staff Spotlight: Daniel Ponce-Taylor

Title:
Strategic Partnership Advisor

Photos

International business development, experiential education and service-learning consultant with 15+ years experience in setting up, managing and evaluating high impact conservation and community development projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and South Pacific. Long term experience in international networking. Currently focusing on designing and developing high quality environmental and development service-learning opportunities for international students in Cuba and Galapagos.

Passionate about helping students reach their maximum potential and find new ways to develop their careers.

My role is to help IOI find new partners, both academic and others who will help promote IOI’s programs in different corners of the world. I also work in contributing to increasing IOI’s impact on the ground and how to engage a wider community in becoming part of the solution.

What is your favorite travel memory?

Some of my best travel moments are linked to the ocean, where I feel most relaxed and at home. I remember a dive I did in Australia, in the Great Barrier Reef, where after an amazing dive exploring and being mesmerized by the colours and diversity present, we started hearing some "weird" noises.

We looked around and the noises kept getting louder. It was after a few minutes that a shape appeared not too far away, and the noises kept getting louder and louder, that we realized that a whale was close by.

You can imagine how amazed we were, and our jaws dropped and nearly our regulator! What an amazing memory!

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

IOI is a special organization. As a non-profit, we make decisions differently than other volunteering and service-learning providers. The priority is always the sustainability of the communities where we live and operate and the objectives set by our local partners and IOI. This means that when promoting our projects, we do it very differently than with other organizations I have been involved with.

I have also had higher engagement with the UN network since one of IOI's global objectives is to have a proactive engagement with the UN and the Global Objectives and Sustainable Development Goals.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

Many, difficult to choose one, but I love one from a biologist major, who went to IOI's Galapagos Tortoise conservation project. Her feedback was amazing, she had an incredible time, but what I really liked was the fact that she chose that project as she wanted to experience being in the same ecosystems that Charles Darwin was many years ago and where he developed his theory of evolution. She loved discovering similarities between Darwin's books and today's Galapagos and species.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

Difficult to say as all programs and locations are amazing!

Any of the Galapagos programs; as a marine biologist, Galapagos is THE place to be, an evolutionary lab, where you can see nature at it's best. And on top of the projects, I could do some amazing dives in my free time...and yes, diving in Galapagos is out of this world!

And of course, the Marine and Coastal ecosystem conservation project in Cocodrilo, Cuba. Cuba has one of the most pristine reefs in the Caribbean, with a higher percentage of coral coverage and bigger fish than nearby regions and countries. So being able to contribute to the conservation of this reef structure would be an amazing project to be part of.

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

Commitment to the local communities!

Our staff works super hard, always placing our host communities and projects as priorities. As we live in those communities, we feel highly responsible for balancing the positive and, the potential, negative impact that having international participants and volunteers can have.

I am very proud of the work done in the Galapagos where many local initiatives have developed into fully functional operational local coops and community groups, achieving the ultimate objective of ownership and empowerment.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

As I mentioned before, I think IOI is different in that decisions (business and operational) are always made with the sustainability of our host communities in mind. IOI has had organic growth, slowly developing the projects and expanding areas of influence, working with local organizations and community groups, resulting in projects that are owned by all stakeholders and where participants feel their contribution from day 1.