Feb. 15, 2007 — Gov. John deJongh Jr. on Thursday nominated his directors for the Division of Personnel and V.I. Fire Services, according to a Government House release.
Selected to serve as director of Personnel is Kenneth Hermon Jr., who was named Jan. 1 as acting director. Hermon brings 12 years of experience in personnel management to the administration. Serving as assistant director of Personnel on St. Croix, Hermon was instrumental in overseeing the human resources management of over 3,000 employees in the St. Croix district.
Additionally, he was responsible for counseling senior executives on employee development and other human resources issues. Hermon also prepared performance reports for submission to the governor and Legislature.
According to the release, Hermon has direct experience in setting and directing policy, given his experience in the V.I. Training Initiative, where he organized training activities for over 3,000 employees.
Hermon graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's in psychology and earned a master's in education, with a concentration in counseling from UVI.
“My primary goal with Kenneth Hermon’s knowledge and experience is to put in place a governmental human resource system that fairly evaluates prospective employees, restores integrity to the testing process, ensures a streamlined NOPA process and continued access to training to build on skill levels,” deJongh said Thursday.
Victor Browne, a certified public accountant, has accepted the position of Fire Services Director. He holds a bachelor's in accounting and currently holds the position of fiscal officer for the St. Croix Foundation for Community Development.
Browne has over 25 years of credentials, having served as a staff accountant for a financial management company, as a math teacher, and with a financial brokerage company. He is also a community activist and lover of the fine arts.
“Victor provides the financial management background that is critical in supporting the works of fire chiefs to ensure that the resources are in place for the personnel. The Fire Services agency has some tremendous challenges before in the next several years and it will be up to Victor Browne and his team to articulate those issues in a way that people understand ….” deJongh said.
Hermon and Browne's nominations are subject to approval by the Legislature. Both nominations have been formally submitted to Senate President Usie Richards.
