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Two St.Kitts UVI Alumni will be bestowed with Honorary Doctorates . Cornel Williams and Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson will be recognised at the upcoming commencemen ceremony of the University.

Williams and Jones-Hendrickson were both born and raised in St.Kitts.

Williams hails from Cayon and is known to Kittitians at home by the name Cornel Caseman .

Jones-Hendrickson is from Sandy Point, St.Kitts.

In commenting Williams said :

 He said:

The recognition was totally unexpected. These recognitions while given state wide are mostly bestowed upon persons doing research. However, I am particularly proud of it.

Cornel Williams 

Cornel Williams is the President of International Capital Management Company (ICMC), which is a business management services company in St. Thomas, from 2003 to 2018.

He joined ICMC in December 2003 as Chief Financial Officer before being promoted to President in 2007. Williams, a1982 UVI alumnus, takes pride in having expanded the company’s community outreach efforts, with a primary focus on education and youth development as well as cancer support and outreach. 

His prior experience includes several key roles such as Deputy Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Port Authority, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Lockhart Companies, Finance Manager for the Virgin Islands Telephone Corporation, and Financial Analyst for Ford Motor Company. He has also served as a part-time instructor in the Business Division at the University of the Virgin Islands. 

Williams also takes time to serve on a number of boards. He is currently Chairman of the St. Thomas and St. John District Board of Directors of the VI Government Hospitals and Health Facilities Corporation. He also currently serves on the boards of The Lockhart Companies, VI Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy, Virgin Islands Capital Resources and UVI’s Foundation for the Reichhold Center for the Arts Foundation. 

In the past, he has served on the board of the United Way of St. Thomas and St. John, serving as the board’s 2003/2004 President. He is also a past board member of United Way International, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and also served as Chair of the organization’s Caribbean Regional Council. 

Williams graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Virgin Islands with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting, and later completed a Masters in Business Administration degree with a concentration in Finance at the University of Illinois.  

Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson 

The recipient of the honorary doctorate on St. Croix is Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson, a former dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. He was born in Sandy Point, St. Kitts. He is an alumnus of the College of the Virgin Islands, now the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI). He graduated with an Associates of Arts degree in Business Administration in 1967. In 1969 and 1970, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Illinois State University, and in 1976, he earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Exeter, Devon, England. 

Dr. Jones-Hendrickson was a lecturer in Economics at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica. He joined the faculty of UVI in 1976 as an Assistant Professor of Economics and, in 1990, he attained the rank of full Professor of Economics. He has held a number of administrative positions at UVI and has gained several honors. He was a two-term chairman of the Faculty of UVI, 1986-1988; Chairman of the Division of Social Sciences, 1993-1996, the first UVI graduate to be so honored; a three-time student-awarded Faculty of the Year (once on St. Thomas campus and twice on St. Croix); and is a former member of UVI Board of Trustees. 

Professor Jones-Hendrickson has served as External Examiner for the University of the West Indies on the St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad. He has also served as External Examiner in Public Finance for the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus in Barbados and Mona Campus in Jamaica. Since 1985 he has been involved with the Caribbean Examinations Council and served as a consultant to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, to UNESCO, to the Office of Management and Budget Office of the USVI, to UN, to the Government of Montserrat. He served as Commissioner on the Task Force to resolve the economic and political issues between St. Kitts and Nevis.  

Currently he serves on the Board of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) of St. Kitts, the St. Croix Foundation Board; he is Chairman of the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) of the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis; is a member of the Executive Committee of the Public Planning Development Unit (PPDU) of St. Kitts and Nevis and is a member of the Competitiveness Council of St. Kitts. 

Professor Jones-Hendrickson is a prolific writer/scholar having written and or published more than 100 articles. He has authored publications and articles in the areas of economics, higher education and leadership, especially pertaining to the Caribbean. He has also produced many commissioned reports on matters relating to the Virgin Islands and the Eastern Caribbean.