Gov. John deJongh Jr. has nominated five new members to serve on the board of trustees for the University of the Virgin Islands, and nominated attorney Henry Smock to another five-year term.
If confirmed by the Senate, V.I. Superior Court Judge Patricia D. Steele, along with Carol Fulp, Luz Suarez de Highfield, Edward E. Thomas and Sinclair Wilkinson, will replace members of the board whose terms have expired.
In a letter sent recently to Senate President Louis P. Hill about the nominations, deJongh said all the nominees are "well-qualified, by education and experience, to hold the positions … and they are outstanding citizens of our community.”
Steele been a Superior Court judge since 1994, and is currently heading the Family Division on St. Croix. She has held the position as territorial risk-management director at the Health Department and before that was an associate in the law firm of Hodge and Sheen and the law office of R. Eric Moore.
A St. Croix native, Steele holds a juris doctor from the Howard University School of Law and a bachelor of arts degree from Southampton College of Long Island University.
Fulp is a senior vice president of brand management and corporate social responsibility at John Hancock Financial. She oversees brand communications, marketing sponsorships and corporate philanthropy for the company, which has been recognized by the New York Times as one of the country’s 100 most recognizable brands, according to a recent Government House news release. She also leads the company’s philanthropic initiatives.
Fulp is a founding member of the Obama for America New England Steering Committee and created Massachusetts/V.I. Women for Obama. She is ranked 12th among Boston Magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women in Boston." The magazine also listed her as one of the “10 Most Interesting Women to Watch.”
Fulp received her bachelor of science degree in liberal studies from the University of the State of New York. She lives in Boston and is married to C. Bernard Fulp, chairman of Go-Biz Solutions and founder of Middlesex Bank and Trust Company.
Highfield is a former part-time teacher at UVI, translator, Central High School teacher and social worker with the former Department of Welfare. She has a master’s degree in bilingual education and a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
She is a member of various community organizations, the release said.
Thomas is currently the president and chief executive officer of the West Indian Company, Ltd. He has also worked at the Education Department and is a former Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) director. During his years at BIR, Thomas was successful in advancing many programs that generated millions of dollars for the treasury of the local government, according to the release.
In 1993, Thomas was selected to lead a negotiation team to purchase the Danish West Indian company and its assets. He has headed WICO since 1994, and seen the number of cruise passengers to the territory increase from less than 1 million in 1993 to a peak of 1.9 million in 2007.
He currently sits on the board of directors of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce and the USVI Hotel and Tourism Association. Thomas is also a member of the UVI Foundation Board, chairs its investment committee and is also a member of the board’s development committee.
Wilkinson is a retired Ivanna Eudora Kean High School principal who has "committed his time to helping young people improve their lives and become productive citizens in their communities," the release said. He was recognized as the local teacher of the year in 1975 and has been active in the public-education system for a number of years, working as an instructor and administrator at the Adult Evening School, co-administrator of the summer programs at Charlotte Amalie High School, assistant CAHS principal and adjunct instructor in UVI’s Humanities Division.
He has a master’s degree in education from the University of Connecticut, a bachelor of arts degree from the College of the Virgin Islands and a sixth-year specialist diploma in education, also from the University of Connecticut.
For more than 25 years, Wilkinson has taught chess to hundreds of students and adults, organized chess clubs and conducted chess tournaments.
Wilkinson is the author of “Chess, a Fun Game to Learn and Play.”
Smock is a former V.I. Territorial Court judge and currently a partner in the law firm of Smock and Moorhead. He is also a member of the Third Circuit Lawyers Advisory Committee, the advisory group of the Civil Justice Reform Act, the American Bar Association, the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association and the Defense Research Institute.
Smock is a former Law Revision Commission chairman and a former V.I. Bar Association president.
He received a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was admitted to the V.I. Bar in 1973. He is also admitted to the Bar of Wyoming and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
