COVER STORY
of tax benefits and being in the His- torically Underutilized Business (HUB) Zones just like in the mainland, but we can forgive your federal income tax 90%. So, those are types of opportu- nities that are very coveted but are not known in the Black community. So, we don't see a lot of African American engineering companies, Construction companies, attorneys, none of it. We don't see any of it unless there's a Virgin Islander or a Caribbean person that's connected that can hip them to what we're doing down here." Governor Bryan contributed towards the improvement of the quality of life for his fellow citizens and has been recognized for his efforts. In 2010, he received the “Bill La Motta Commu- nity Service Award” for distinguished service from the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce. He was also recognized by the Rotary Club of St. Croix as the “Person of the Year” and by the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority for his community service. In 2017, he was awarded the University of the Virgin Islands Golden Key Honor Society Pillar Award. Later that year, after the devastation wrought on the territory by the passing of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, he led Operation Rebuild USVI’s effort to coordinate the distribution of recovery and relief supplies to thou- sands of residents. In the August 2018 Virgin Islands Democratic Primary, Governor Bryan was on the ballot for a public office for his first time. He and his running mate, Senator Tregenza A. Roach, Esq. defeated two other Democratic teams and went on to defeat six other formi- dable teams in the General Election in November 2018. At the final tally of the General Election, Governor Bryan’s first foray into politics was deemed an unheralded success as he garnered the most votes of all candidates in the gubernatorial race. Despite being the top vote-getter, with such a crowded
field, he was unable to capture the fifty percent plus one votes neces- sary to win outright. Proving the third time was the charm, Governor Bryan succeeded in becoming the ninth elected Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands winning the majority of votes in a hotly contested run-off election against the incumbent Governor Ken- neth E. Mapp.
ployment because we have so many resources now to do that. The other thing there was connecting Workforce Development with Economic Develop- ment. So, I was chair of the Economic Development Authority for eight years while I was Commissioner and I was also chair of the Government Develop- ment Bank. So, I could not only see the employees coming in and getting the money, but also I can connect them to the workers that they need coming in at the Department of Labor. That was very rewarding for me."
Aspiring to Public Service
"I think the most important thing coming out of school is not your title, but where you work. Getting the op- portunity as an intern, whether paid or unpaid, in the place that you want to work and getting the experience. We're in a special work workforce cli- mate now. People are so desperate for talent; they're scooping up everybody they can. The other thing is being eager to work and willing to work, whatever it is that needs to get done, getting the job done. I think those are important. People want to stick to their job descriptions or feel like tasks are so menial for them. Some of the greatest lessons I've learned have been from secretaries and cleaning people hanging out in the halls or just talking to them because they know what's going on in the company and often doing all the work that really needs to be done."
The Moment of Leadership of the USVI as Governor
"I knew I wanted to be governor from time I was probably like in junior high, high school. But after seeing eight years, from 2007 to 14, it was really tough with a great recession and housing fall out. You know, I had my thoughts about when getting up, close and personal, working for a governor and seeing the incredible amount of stress and pressure it is, I wasn't too keen on being a governor. And then, I went to the private sector for a couple of years, did my own thing, including Junior Achievement. And then I thought to myself, you know, this is what I do. I mean, this is what I've trained for. And I told myself, essentially Michael Jordan doesn't play baseball, he plays basketball. This is what you do and think about the incredible amount of good that you could do for the people and decided to get in and run for office. It was the first time I ran for office. I had to win three elections, a primary, a general, and a runoff; beat an incumbent governor who was very experienced in terms of his political career and it was something that I just worked my tail off. I was blessed to have a great group of people supporting me, and we got it done."
As Commissioner of the Depart- ment of Labor
"So, a lot of what we did when I was at Labor was crisis management. But, we had our refinery shut down. You know, we got a record amount of money in terms of grants and support services for those employees, but my whole thing were the youth. We were able to do some incredible things with young people. There's never been a commissioner that has employed more people, more students in one summer, than me. Now, I'm trying to make the one that I have working for me top that number in terms of em-
The Work of the Work
Well, you know, we just got a piece
26 | SUMMER 2022 ♦ THE JOURNAL
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