Kenneth Mapp

Kenneth E. Mapp (born November 2, 1955) is the 29th Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. He is a registered Republican, but ran as an independent.

A former three term Virgin Islands Senator, Mapp served as the Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands from 1995 until 1999. Mapp was an independent candidate for Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the 2010 gubernatorial election, but was defeated by John de Jongh. He ran in the 2014 gubernatorial election for Governor of the United States Virgin Islands, defeating Donna Christian-Christensen, the longtime Delegate to Congress in a run-off.

Biography

Early life and education

Mapp was born on November 2, 1955 in Brooklyn, New York, to Al Mapp and Vashti Hewitt Mapp. He was one of four siblings. Mapp moved to Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1961, where he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Almina N. Hewitt, in Estate Rattan. He graduated from St. Croix Central High School in 1973.

Mapp has attended New York City Community College and the University of the Virgin Islands, but has not earned a bachelor's degree. After leaving office as Lt. Governor in 1999, however, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School (which has no formal educational requirements) and received a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Mapp also completed other fellowships at Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.