ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Board of Career and Technical Education convened a special meeting held virtually today, during which the board unanimously selected former Senator Genevieve Whitaker to serve as its new executive director.
The board will now officially offer Whitaker the position, which comes with an $85,000 salary and a six-month probationary period.
Whitaker expressed gratitude to the board for entrusting her with the leadership role, which she enthusiastically accepted.
“I’m very excited,” she said by phone. “We have a number of new initiatives coming on board with respect to moving CTE forward, as well as some initiatives I really plan to put forward.”
Whitaker is no stranger to the board or to public service. She previously served on the CTE Board from January 2020 until her resignation on August 4, 2024. She also served in the 34th Legislature of the Virgin Islands, where she chaired the Committee on Education and Workforce Development. Prior to being elected as a senator, Whitaker served seven years as the deputy supervisor of the Elections System of the Virgin Islands in the St. Croix District.
During her time on the CTE Board, Whitaker held various roles and was actively involved in efforts to enhance career and technical education programs territory wide. She is now prepared to revisit those efforts.
“There’s a lot of, as I see, a lot of unfinished business by way of some of the initiatives that I really believe are really important,” Whitaker said. “One of the matters as it pertains to career and technical education in our territory has to do with funding.”
Moving forward, Whitaker said she would focus on identifying funding while also looking at ways to support workforce development. She stressed the importance of building strong relationships with the Virgin Islands Department of Education, VI Board of Education, and VI Workforce Development Board in addition to the private sector.
“One of the things I do want to push for is a stronger push for apprenticeship programs where our students can really get an opportunity very early on in their young careers, as they’re making decisions about the curriculum they choose,” she said.
The CTE Board’s executive members considered six candidates for the job, narrowing it down to three before recommending Whitaker as the candidate for the full board to consider, according to Jo Murphy, board chair.
The board members met in executive session to discuss the election of its new executive director before holding the vote in a public meeting held via Microsoft Teams.
After voting to offer the job to Whitaker, board member Suzanne Darrow-Magras thanked outgoing Executive Director Anton Döös, who is retiring after five years on the job.
“I want to say a very special thank you to Mr. Döös for all of your hard work over the years,” Darrow-Magras said. “Thank you so much for picking up the slack and getting us to where we are now, and we’re in good shape to move forward because of your leadership.”
Murphy said Döös will continue serving as executive director until Whitaker officially accepts the job and the proper paperwork is completed.
The board members who voted to elect Whitaker as the board’s new executive director were Murphy and Darrow-Magras, as well as Anastasie Jackson (vice chair), Anthony Mardenborough (secretary), and Michael Francois. Jenny Hawkes (treasurer) was absent.
