ABOUT JAKE
For twenty years, Jake Kheel has turned environmental challenges into business opportunities, designing, funding, and operating some of the Caribbean’s most recognized sustainability programs.
As Vice President of Sustainability for Grupo Puntacana, he directs a full portfolio of programs in solid waste management, marine restoration, regenerative agriculture, and biodiversity conservation that have attracted more than $10 million in funding from multilateral development institutions. His work has earned the company sustained recognition from the World Travel & Tourism Council, Condé Nast Traveler, National Geographic Traveler, and Travel & Leisure.
The guided eco-tourism programs he designed generate $1 million annually in revenue for the Foundation’s work. He leads workshops for international development partners including UNDP, JICA, and GIZ, and brings that operational experience to board roles across solid waste management, tourism and hospitality, and the not-for-profit sector.
He is the author of Waking the Sleeping Giant: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Business to Save the Planet, writes a regular column for Diario Libre, the Dominican Republic’s leading daily, and speaks at international conferences and executive forums on sustainability strategy, circular economy, sargassum, and coral reef restoration.
As producer of four documentary film projects, he has raised over $2 million USD, secured distribution with Participant Media and Univision, and earned recognition at international film festivals. He applies the same skills to filmmaking that he brings to every program: build the case, find the partners, deliver a measurable result.
His content on composting, sargassum, and coral restoration reaches more than 4 million people annually across Instagram, LinkedIn, and Diario Libre, establishing him as a public voice on the environmental issues most relevant to businesses operating in the Caribbean and beyond.
WORK
Book: Waking the Sleeping Giant: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Companies to Save the Planet
Waking the Sleeping Giant: Unlocking the Hidden Power of Companies to Save the Planet, written by Jake Kheel, will unlock your organization's hidden power to save the planet. He offers an action-driven, common-sense approach to sustainability supported by real-life examples from his work in the Dominican Republic that demonstrate how companies can become a potent force for sustainability. This book offers up tangible ways everyone—from executives to employees—can make a difference and demonstrate the value of sustainability beyond the bottom line. Waking the Sleeping Giant has been translated into Spanish and is an Audible book.
Project: The Great Sargassum Blob
The massive arrival of sargassum seaweed invading the Caribbean is the climate canary in the coal mine. For over a decade, Jake has pioneered strategies to confront the sargassum crisis in Punta Cana. Learn more.
Project: The DR Coral Innovation Hub
Jake has led Grupo Puntacana's coral conservation and restoration efforts for nearly two decades. The DR Coral Innovation Hub teams local and international coral reef scientists, entrepreneurs, companies, and not-for-profits to utilize cutting-edge technologies and techniques to accelerate and scale coral reef restoration.
Film: Death by a Thousand Cuts
Jake co-directed and produced the award-winning documentary film, Death by a Thousand Cuts. With a premiere in 2016, the film was acquired by Participant Media and Univision and screened at more than a dozen international film festivals.
Project: The Future of Garbage
Circular economy. Zero Waste. Reduce-Reuse-Recycle. Each of these objectives refers to the same idea: how to build a world without waste. Jake is passionate about making a waste-free world a reality. Having built one of the largest integrated waste management programs in the Dominican Republic, he has learned how to navigate the constantly evolving world of waste. Jake has become an authority on developing strategies to transform garbage into profit.
Film: The Island Naturalist
Jake produced the documentary series, The Island Naturalist in 2021. The series explores the conservation photographer Eladio Fernandez's unique relationship with the natural world. The series investigates the hidden threats confronting one of the most important humpback whale breeding areas in the world, the fascinating evolution an unknown but fascinating flower, the conservation of a critically endangered hawk, and the rediscovery of a lost Magnolia plant. Island Naturalist is an entertaining journey that will forever change the way we see the Caribbean.
