For Release: 10-08-2021
The Strategy Group VI’s CEO & CFO Participate in
USVI Governor’s Workforce Development Summit
U.S. Virgin Islands — The Strategy Group VI’s (TSG) leading position in the USVI professional services arena and the expertise of its leadership were on display during the USVI Governor’s Second Annual Workforce Development Summit. John Engerman, CEO, and Steve Lowe, CFO, were both featured panelists during the Summit. Mr. Engerman appeared as a specially invited panelist during the Governor’s sessions on both St. Croix and St. Thomas to share his insights on workforce development, while Mr. Lowe appeared as a featured panelist discussing personal financial literacy on St. Thomas.
The Summit was held on all three islands, St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John, October 6-8, 2021, and was open to the public. It was part of Governor Albert Bryan Jr.’s Administration’s commitment to increase workforce development and stabilize the economy. Each day-long workshop was a series of panels and seminars featuring local business owners and experts, along with the Governor himself, who addressed many topics including hiring practices and needs, training, workforce development, financial literacy, and education.
When speaking about talent recruitment, Mr. Engerman shared that one of the seven competencies he looks for in a potential employee to add value to the company is entrepreneurship. “We don’t want to just build employees. We want to build future employers as well,” he said, highlighting that The Strategy Group’s motto is to lift as we climb.
Over his two-day participation in the Summit, Mr. Engerman and his co-panelists stressed the need for skilled and competent employees on every level of service and the desire for potential employees to have the important “soft skills”, especially good communication skills, in order to appeal to potential employers.
On St. Thomas, Mr. Lowe appeared in a special break-out session focused on personal financial literacy. He shared with his group that the key to achieving all one’s personal financial goals – whatever that person’s definition of “wealth” may be – is to be financially free.
“To become financially free [is to] have assets whether it’s real estate, whether it’s stocks and bonds, whether it’s loans that you have in the peer to peer lending market, or anything like that, whether it’s your business generating excess profits and paying it to you, having passive income that is equal to or more than your monthly expenses is all it takes for you to become financially free,” he explained.
Mr. Lowe went on to describe the importance of reflecting on one’s personal values and setting goals so that when seeking new employment or business opportunities a thorough evaluation can be made to ensure that the new opportunity reflects positive movement toward one’s ultimate goal of financial freedom.
Both appearances by Mr. Engerman and Mr. Lowe are demonstrative of TSG’s commitment to empowering its community to be better because at TSG we lift as we climb.