Jewels of the Virgin Isles is a feature series profiling Virgin Islanders in the diaspora who are excelling in their respective fields and/or positively representing the USVI abroad.
Having the opportunity to base your career on something that piques your interest personally is a rare gift, and Mark Wenner is one of the lucky ones. He lives by the adage, “To whom much is given, much is expected,” and has shaped his livelihood and his way of life on this premise, always making sure to have a positive impact on those around him.
An economist for the Caribbean Country Division/Vice Presidency for Countries of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Wenner has had a fascination since his youth with why certain people and countries are poor, and others are not. For the past 18 years he has served in myriad capacities throughout the organization, honing in on his specialty of economic development and working to alleviate poverty and improve lives in the countries to which he is assigned.
Growing up on St. Thomas, Wenner says he received a very strong foundation through his parents and his schooling at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School, his educational home until graduation in 1975. He would later attend Georgetown University for his bachelor’s degree in government and economics; the University of Notre Dame for his masters in economics; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison for his doctorate in agricultural economics. As an only child, Wenner would spend lots of time reading anything he could get his hands on, especially the monthly issues of National Geographic magazine, devouring as much information as he could about foreign cultures, history and people. He also traveled extensively with his parents, including trips to New York, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. These experiences, in addition to his tremendous sense of empathy for others, would be the catalyst to his awareness that not everyone in the world lived on the same socio-economic levels, and his desire to find out why.
“My parents always said that knowledge must be put to use, put in the service of others. They emphasized a code of ethics that was reinforced with Catholic schooling and regular church attendance, including serving as an acolyte and lector,” he said. “I was also fortunate to meet professors in college who inspired and mentored me along the way.”
Beyond schooling, Wenner spent two years in the Peace Corps and says those were the best years of his life. Though his desire was to be assigned to Sub-Saharan Africa, he was sent to Costa Rica because of his ability to speak Spanish.
“I developed a whole new set of skills as a business development extension agent and I learned so much from the people that I was sent to help,” he said.
Wenner now travels the world for his profession and was recently stationed in the country of Guyana to provide economic development input and advice to the leaders of the Caribbean and South American nation. He credits his success over the years to his upbringing, his teachers and his wife Gemma, who also grew up on St. Thomas, saying that his wife’s support and belief in his abilities have helped him to flourish. Wenner also cites a hard work ethic, a competitive spirit and a thirst for knowledge as the keys to his continued growth.
Having dedicated his career to building up the economies of third world or impoverished nations, with agencies like IDB and TransAfrica, Wenner expresses the difficulty he has in seeing some of the challenges that stagnate growth in the Virgin Islands.
“We should be very favored as a territory given the financial support we receive from the United States, and it is rather frustrating at times and awkward for me to see us in this current economic situation. However, I remain committed and optimistic because it is my home and I would like to come back,” he said.
Wenner not only visits the island for fun with friends and family, but he also cares about the future of his home. He would like to see the Virgin Islands return to that community-minded society where elected officials look out for the greater good of citizens and not just themselves. Wenner envisions a time when he will be able to lend his talents to the territory through his economic consulting background, technical expertise either as a teacher at the university, through his writing, or his love of photography to engage at-risk youth. Despite being so far away from home, it is clear that Wenner is bound to the shores of his beautiful home, and will do what it takes to make it a better place for the future.
“Our ancestors had it much harder than we did, so we need to pick up the baton and run our leg well in order to move the islands forward,” he concludes.
A Nugget for VI Youth: Don’t give up. Keep striving to improve yourself and your community. It is easy to be disillusioned but our ancestors had it harder. To honor them, we must continue to build, improve, find solutions, and be grateful for what we have.
Little Known Fact(s): I meditate daily and am fluent in Spanish.
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Loán Sewer is a marketing and tourism consultant and proud Virgin Islander who resides in Washington, D.C. She is also a founding member of the USVI Alliance Inc., an organization focused on reconnecting the Virgin Islands diaspora with the local community and host of the USVI Economic Development Summit on the U.S. mainland. Follow her on Twitter @LoTalksTourism or e-mail her at info@Lotalkstourism.com. Read all of the Jewels of the Virgin Islands articles on Facebook.
