Michael Tibbetts ’04 Runs a Sustainability-Focused Resort in the Caribbean

When Michael Tibbetts ’04 was working on his microbiology degree at Princeton University, he never imagined that instead of using that knowledge in medical practice, he’d be using it to improve the sustainability of a luxury resort in the Caribbean. 

But after stepping up to take over the family business after the death of his father, it fits. 

Tibbets, whose roots in the Cayman Islands stretch back for generations, runs JEM Worldwide, which includes resorts and scuba operations. He himself is a dual U.S. and Cayman Islands citizen, and learned the ropes of the business alongside his dad. 

But he was determined to make his own path. He grew up in Florida and despite joking that he’d never traveled north of Washington, D.C., he came to Princeton to study microbiology, after which he went to Harvard Medical School to enroll in their M.D./Ph.D. program. 

“I had a pretty definitive plan to study molecular biology from the outset, and really enjoyed my time,” he says, adding that he was able to also study at the University of Oxford for a semester.

Salterra Resort & Spa.

Courtesy of Michael Tibbetts ’04

But after his father died unexpectedly in 2006, Tibbetts had a decision to make. He could lead the company, finish his degrees, or try to do both. He dropped the Ph.D. part of the program but continued with his M.D. while taking over as chief executive officer of JEM. After residency, he went into private practice in ophthalmology in Southwest Florida. 

It worked, for a little while. But he was being pulled in two directions, trying to be a doctor in Florida and run a business largely rooted in the Caribbean. 

With JEM Worldwide, “I was not able to lead as effectively as I hoped to,” he says. “And on the other side, I realized that in medicine you have to be present, which limited my travels and ability to continue to build relationships.” 

In 2018, he let the medical practice go and dedicated himself to JEM Worldwide full time, and immediately looked at how he could grow the company — plans that were hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on tourism. “It was really the COVID closure of the Cayman Islands that prompted us to act more decisively” in expanding, he says. In 2021, JEM Worldwide bought a property on the island of South Caicos, from an owner who was ready to retire, then added additional properties around it to create Salterra, a 100-room luxury resort and spa that covers 85 acres. 

Salterra might not have happened without the help of his Princeton friends who met through the Athletes in Action Christian fellowship, and then lived together at 222 Cuyler Hall their junior and senior years. They have stayed close friends, and became investors in the project. “We call our group the 222,” Tibbetts says. Last year, this group and their families got together at Salterra, which included 22 children among them. 

Michael Tibbetts ’04 says his Princeton circle helped to make this resort possible. The group together on a trip in July 2025. From left: Jordan Smith, Trevor Smith ’03, Graeme Rein ’02, Meg Rein, Rebecca Tibbetts, Michael Tibbetts ’04, Kathleen Mickus, Brian Mickus ’03, Carrie Kingston, Peter Kingston ’02.  

Courtesy of Michael Tibbetts ’04

Tibbetts credits his microbiology degree with giving him a better understanding and appreciation of the fragile ecosystems of the Caribbean. That led to Salterra’s sustainability programs like eliminating single-use plastics in guest rooms, partnering with the local energy utility to build a 400-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system, which converts sunlight into energy and adds supply to the electrical grid for all of South Caicos, thus reducing the need for diesel power generation.  

The company also offers resort guests opportunities to learn restoration projects happening in the ecosystem around them. The company also co-founded the South Caicos Coral Reef Consortium (SCCRC) in 2023, which supports reef restoration and reef resilience research. That work includes laboratories that have replanted hundreds of corals. 

His time at Princeton tossed him into a mix of different kinds of people from all over the world, which he says has helped him work with government officials on the various islands where JEM Worldwide operates. “I was able to value differences of opinion and be able to work with people from different backgrounds,” he says. 

Those bridge-building skills also helped with his efforts to bring a direct flight from Miami to South Caicos via American Airlines. It started in March 2025 and was the first commercial international flight into South Caicos in more than 30 years. “Not only did we have to reach an agreement with American Airlines, but we also had to work with the Turks and Caicos Government to ensure that the South Caicos Airport was TSA certified for international flights,” he says. The company even transported a baggage scanner machine on a company barge from Florida and helped install it. 

Through this work, he hopes to bring more positive attention to South Caicos, and the fact that these islands “have a rich history that goes beyond a beautiful beach and clear water,” he says. It might not be something people initially think of when traveling somewhere for vacation, but Tibbetts is hoping that through their work, guests are “thinking beyond what’s just on the surface level.” 

Looking back now after 20 years, Tibbetts sees that his younger self may have already known his true destination. “My essay when I applied to Princeton was about my island heritage,” he says. “I told my family’s long history in the Cayman Islands, so it’s maybe poetic to reconnect to that history. I had to go to Princeton to charge my own course away from it first.”