Governor Kenneth E. Mapp — A Lifetime of Public Service

I had the privilege of serving Governor Kenneth E. Mapp first as a Senior Policy Advisor and later as his Chief of Staff. I witnessed firsthand the weight of leadership during some of the most difficult days in the modern history of the Virgin Islands.

Governor Mapp, the eighth elected Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, was bestowed the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor, the Territory’s highest recognition for outstanding public service, pursuant to Act No. 8873, which honors him for his years of service to the people of the Virgin Islands. The Act also designates Route 75 on St. Croix as the Governor Kenneth E. Mapp Highway.

His public service spanned decades—as a police officer, Senator, Lieutenant Governor, Director of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority, and Governor. But his leadership was perhaps most severely tested following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, when two Category 5 storms devastated the Territory within weeks.

Under the Mapp-Potter Administration, power was restored across the Territory within approximately 100 days, commercial airports and cruise ports reopened within 60 days, thousands of homes received emergency repairs, and the Administration helped secure more than $8 billion in federal recovery commitments to rebuild the Virgin Islands stronger and more resilient. Governor Mapp also successfully advocated for federal changes to the Stafford Act, providing the Virgin Islands greater flexibility to rebuild damaged infrastructure to modern, more resilient standards rather than simply replacing what had been destroyed.

His administration also increased wages for thousands of government employees, raised starting salaries for teachers, police officers, firefighters and other critical workers, and advanced the initiative that ultimately provided tuition assistance at the University of the Virgin Islands for eligible Virgin Islands students.

The Medal of Honor does not suggest that any administration was perfect. It recognizes a lifetime of service, leadership, and contribution to the people of the Virgin Islands. That is the record for which Governor Kenneth E. Mapp was honored.