More than 150 people – including Gov. John deJongh Jr., Delegate Donna M. Christensen and a host of V.I. business leaders – will gather Friday in the nation’s capitol for the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Summit, “U.S. Virgin Islands…Your Destination for Business.” And the territory’s residents will be able to watch the proceedings online through a live stream video.
The event will features interactive panel discussions, keynote addresses and presentations that will bring together industry leaders, government delegations and associated partners to exchange ideas and educate attendees on operating, conducting and sustaining business in the territory.
The summit will take place from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Washington Navy Yard Conference Center in Washington, D.C. A welcome reception will be held Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m.
The summit is being hosted by the USVI Alliance with the support of the 340 Group LLC. The Alliance is a collaboration of Virgin Islanders with supporting economic and community-based initiatives. The team is based in D.C., New York City and St. Thomas.
Friday’s meeting will bring together academia, industry, government and Virgin Islanders on the mainland and is intended to identify ways in which the broader V.I. diaspora can reconnect and contribute their technical skills and talents to benefit the community, even if remotely.
The event will be available live online through the live web and audio streams provided by St. Croix’s Kalalloo Network. The conference proceedings will be broadcast via online news channels www.theeconomy.tv and www.watchnews.tv. Listeners and viewers will be able to submit questions to the panel and moderator by sending email to [email protected].
The summit will feature the following panels and presentations:
– An overview of the economic backdrop from a local, national, and global perspective presented by Christensen;
– Best Practices in Economic Development, sharing our success, supporting our small businesses, EDC beneficiaries, revitalizing our economic development tools;
– Role of Academia in Economic Development;
– Keynote address by deJongh;
– Innovation and Growth: Doing Business with us Today, Tomorrow, and in the Future;
– Exploring USVI Opportunities;
– Connecting the Dots: Next Steps;
– and closing remarks by Lt. Gov. Gregory R. Francis.
Three Virgin Islanders who have distinguished careers on the mainland will moderate the summit. They are:
– Lead summit moderator Charmaine L. Slack, a partner at Jones Day law firm, where she advises senior management, boards of directors and compensation committees of public and private entities on a wide variety of executive compensation and equity arrangements, compensation issues, and other fund investments in a broad range of industries. Originally from St. Thomas, Slack is a 1987 graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School and alumna of Pace University, Harvard Law School and New York University School of Law;
– Panel moderator Mark Oliver was appointed senior advisor for partnership at the U.S. Department of the Interior in February, covering education, community and volunteerism for secretary. Originally from St. Croix, Oliver is a 1980 graduate of St. Croix Central High School and an alumnus of Morgan State University and Southeastern University;
– Panel moderator Adrianne Todman is executive director at the District of Columbia Housing Authority, the largest affordable housing provider in D.C. Todman is vice-president of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities and the recipient of both the federal Distinguished Service Award and the Hammer Award from former Vice President Al Gore. Originally from St. Thomas, Todman is a 1988 graduate of Sts. Peter and Paul High School and an alumna of Smith College.
Thursday’s pre-summit reception will feature performances by Virgin Islands-born artists such as the Capitol Quadrille Dancers and Reginald Cyntje Jazz Ensemble. Virgin Islands delicacies such as Vienna cakes and tarts by Afrilasia Joseph-Phipps, originally from St. Croix, will be served.
The summit was the outgrowth of a meeting held by the USVI Alliance earlier this year with deJongh and Christensen. USVI Alliance members include Lo’an Sewer, Bernard Joseph, Roland Riviere and Zenzilé Hodge.
The summit is sponsored by the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority, West Indian Company Ltd., the Buccaneer Hotel, Orbitel, International Capital and Management Company, Beam Inc., Diageo PLC, Jefferies LLC, Bostonia Partners LLC, Southland Gaming of the Virgin Islands and Rice Financial Products Company. The Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Virgin Islands Association also supports this event.
Further information about the summit agenda and participants can be found at www.usvieds.com.
Now this is the kind of stuff that makes me LIVID and gives me absolutely NO FAITH whatsoever in the overall future of the Virgin Islands. First, I’ll share a personal experience:
I recall attending a meeting in Miami on behalf of a private business when Chas. Turnbull was Governor. I was invited through the grapevine to a reception being held for cruise line officials. I arrived, parked my rental in the parking lot of this Marriott, when Charley Turnbull rolled up in a white limo looking like Idi Amin with his manhandlers in tow.
I arrived at the reception- live music from STT, catered food, open bar, the works…I looked around so I could begin working the room and making my connections with the cruise officials.
To my great surprise, EVERYONE there (more than 100 people), with the exception of less than 5 persons were VI Govt employees, elected officials and other “hangers on” from the VI. I thought to myself: “Why am I here looking at the same people I see everyday at home? How can they justify this extravagance? Jumbo shrimp, steak, wine, the cost of the venue, the limo…all of this for WHAT result??? I still have pictures of that event and each time I look at them I am disgusted.
Now, I live in the states and for as much as I want to say that I am “done” with the VI, I still miss my native home and worry a lot about what the future will hold.
Today, I pull up The Source and I see an article about an economic development summit being held in Washington, DC by a vague DC-based organization. More than 150 people will attend (no doubt they are mostly gov’t employees)- this on the eve of the Governor’s recorded speech on the radio regarding the 19 million dollar budget shortfall.
What angers me more than anything is that this vague organization with unknown economic development credentials seems to be leading this “economic development summit” and the followers are: The VI Economic Development Authority, The Governor, The Delegate and the Lt Governor. They are there at this summit for what purpose? What is the expected outcome? Let’s take a look at the agenda to help answer these questions:
“The summit will feature the following panels and presentations:
– An overview of the economic backdrop from a local, national, and global perspective presented by Christensen; (sadly, we already know what this backdrop is)
– Best Practices in Economic Development, sharing our success, supporting our small businesses, EDC beneficiaries, revitalizing our economic development tools; (no best practices to speak of at EDA given the demise of the EDC program and the millions in bad loans they can’t or won’t collect on)
– Role of Academia in Economic Development; (Academia, as in our underfunded University and terrible public schools?)
– Keynote address by deJongh; (unless there’s a plan being revealed in conjunction with investors, legislature and/or feds, we should expect more of the same talk from our Governor.)
– Innovation and Growth: Doing Business with us Today, Tomorrow, and in the Future; (was, is and seemingly always will be difficult and business unfriendly – no credible plan anywhere-even in these critical times- to streamline business permits, licensing, taxation, etc.)
– Exploring USVI Opportunities; (with rampant crime, gov’t corruption and .54 kwh electric energy rates; a nice recipe for new opportunities)
– Connecting the Dots: Next Steps; (let’s all agree to meet again to talk, talk, talk at the expense of the taxpayers.)
– and closing remarks by Lt. Gov. Gregory R. Francis.” (yeah, whatever they said, plus ensuing hilarity or shock via foot-in-mouth comments.)
This agenda CLEARLY shows me that this summit has no real purpose. This is another junket akin to the one I was inadvertently involved in years ago in Miami.
A bunch of VI people will travel to DC at a great cost to the government and perhaps themselves, to hear the Governor, Delegate and Lt Governor and EDA regurgitate the same empty, plan-free messages they have been hearing for years.
The same message could be had at a 100% discount by staying at home and listening to the radio/watching TV in the VI.
There is no LEADERSHIP in the VI; the people are being sold the same empty messages with no credible roadmap – A PLAN- for sustainable success for our economic future. These purveyors of these empty messages and futile attempts at feigning work product continue to travel and live high off the hog with their “honorable” titles under the guise of doing something worthwhile and new.
This summit is NOTHING worthwhile and surely nothing new. It’s the same old game of living it up and having a great time at the expense of the poor electorate who don’t know any better.
Shame on all of you elected leaders and gov’t officials who share in the continued perpetrating of this fraud upon the ailing VI community.
Want to talk economic development? Start with the following:
* How and when you will replace WAPA with a modern, efficient and affordable power supply.
* How you will eliminate violent crime.
* How you will increase the quality of our educational system.
* How you will restructure/reduce our taxes.
* How you will institute fiscal and personal accountability in Govt.
Don’t be fooled – without these items and many more in place, there will be little to NO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, period.
The EDA doesn’t understand this – they think economic development is providing loans (which they fail to collect on to the tune of millions of dollars, anyway. In furtherance of their dishonesty, they then willingly participate in a conspiracy to hide the identity of deadbeat elected officials who hold delinquent accounts at the EDA). Public officials hiding the delinquency of elected officials from YOU – the very people they were sworn/elected to serve and now purport to represent in this “economic summit”. Good grief!
This is all a bad joke being played on the people of the VI because as far as economic development is concerned, we don’t have a prayer in the global marketplace unless this is taken seriously by our leadership. What we have now is the blind leading the blind.
Hold them accountable – ask your elected leaders (when they return) to explain and quantify the return on this investment. I’ll give you the answer now: NOTHING. No concrete plan to do anything whatsoever – just a bunch of empty, feel-good discussions with no resulting credible action plan. Just more of the same we’ve been fed over the past 30 years that has brought us to our present-day situation.
It’s time to wake up and realize that we simply cannot continue along this path.
Why in the world would a large contingent of folks from the Government of the Virgin Islands need to be in Washington, given the limited resources available in the VI???
Would it not have been significantly less expensive on the VI taxpayers if the speakers, moderators and anyone else were brought down to the VI??
I seriously doubt we will ever hear much about any successes of this trip, as I doubt there are any to gain. It would be helpful to all of us if we knew what you all were doing with our money, given the absolute desperate financial situation in which we find ourselves.
And who are these 340 and USVI Alliance people?? What input will/do they have in our economy?
I am very concerned that there seems to be no leadership in the Virgin Islands, period. It’s like a big piggy bank that all the entitled ones use as their own bank.
Does the Administration have to provide a detailed breakdown of taxpayer monies spent, and how, with whom, and the result of that expenditure? This is how expense reports are done by most companies and governments. Especially this one that touts transparency.
Upon your return Governor, why not let us know what was accomplished, the timeframes and how much it will cost us, because like everything else you’ve touched, it COSTS us! I think that strategy is counterproductive to the well being of the People of the Virgin Islands.
Pray tell, would the VI Inspector General ever consider an audit of expenditures by this Administration. I mean, there are literally billions of dollars that seem unaccounted for.
If these people represent the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands, then I swear I will NEVER ever vote for a VI Democrat. NEVER.
and the Governor wonders why we need a Chief Financial Officer…..
It’s called business as usual for the VI Government and the cronies that support them. There is no accountability, no creativity, no sense of leadership other than to rape the general fund for their personal gain. But until we demand change and stop voting based on fish fries and who can bring the best band don’t expect anything new.