Randolph Bennett has lived and traveled around the world, seen all types of cultures, and yet if you ask him where his heart is, it is right here in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Randolph Bennett has seen and done a lot in his life, but he admits that it was all part of a “strange and blessed journey” that came to fruition after a high school counselor squashed his dream of going to college. But let’s rewind a bit to uncover just who Bennett is.

 

A 1985 graduate of the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, Bennett was around 4 or 5 years old when his family moved from St. Kitts for a better life in St. Thomas. The eldest of three children, he attended elementary school on both ends of the island, including the Joseph Gomez Elementary School, so he has friends in “town” and “country,” and proudly mentions that he is a member of the first graduating class at Bertha C. Boschulte Jr. High School.

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However, life threw a curve ball at the Bennett family when, at just 10 years old, the Bennett children lost their mother, and their father became a single parent. “It was challenging and we didn’t have a lot,” says Randolph Bennett who helped take care of his siblings Ancila and Croy. “Technically I started working at 14 years old, but had my first official job in high school at age 16 and I have not been unemployed since,” says Bennett, who said he felt that he should work to help ease his family’s burden and help his father.

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Living through those early experiences set Bennett on a path at the age of 12 to always honor his mother so that she would be proud if she ever were to return, and to live his life in a way that would also represent his upbringing in the Virgin Islands.

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 He joined the federal government after retiring from military service to work within various positions at the Department of State, citing his past training from the Army as preparation for his current position. In that role Bennett and his team manage 395 U.S. ambassadors’ and principle leaders’ residences in 180 countries around the world.

He is presently the highest ranking Virgin Islander in the Department of State, a distinction that he holds dear because of his love for his home.

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Bennett has a passion for giving back to his communit

y that is both infectious and inspiring to those with whom he comes in contact. He is committed to ensuring that Virgin Islands youth have the type of experiences that he benefitted from. Under the Mapp administration he served as Commissioner of Property and procurement. He embodies the experience, integrity and vision together with Governor Gustav James in making theUS Virgin Islands a “Paradise for all