Eric Sonnier, executive director of the University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park, told the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Agriculture on July 14 that the park has focused the past year on aligning business attraction with investments in education and workforce development to create a local technology ecosystem.

Sonnier said the RT Park operates under Title 17 of the Virgin Islands Code, is funded entirely from fees paid by tenant companies and currently lists 70 clients (50 on St. Thomas, 16 on St. Croix and 4 on St. John). "When we align business attraction with intentional investments in education and workforce development, we can create a self sustaining ecosystem that benefits the entire Virgin Islands," Sonnier said.

The testimony outlined three core areas of recent activity: youth STEM and workforce programs, business attraction tied to university partnerships, and energy infrastructure for resilience and training. The park reported $14 million in contributions to UVI over the past eight years (about $3 million a year recently), $30 million per year in taxes paid to the territory by park clients, and roughly $400,000 spent on youth STEM programming since January 2025.

Nut graf: Park leaders said they are leveraging tenant fees to build demand-side capacity — from K–8 STEM outreach to a university-to-internship pipeline — so companies recruited to the territory can hire locally. They asked the Legislature to consider narrow policy changes to ease hiring and payroll for remote-worker arrangements and to support physical infrastructure and funding that would accelerate scale.

Programs and numbers. Sonnier described a suite of programs launched since he took the post in September 2024: a Youth STEM Enrichment after-school pilot (94 students across three K–8 schools), a territory-wide STEAM day for pre-K and kindergarten students (161 attendees), a free Youth STEM Summer Camp (122 students, 64 from St. Croix and 58 from St. Thomas/Saint John district) and a Professional Pathways Program (PPP) for UVI students. The PPP delivered 12 weeks of training to 20 students; 17 completed the inaugural cohort and each received a $500 monthly stipend. Sonnier said the park also paid stipends and instructor fees and purchased laptops and robotics kits to support programming.

Workforce and internships. The RT Park said its park tenant agreements include tiered commitments to UVI (scholarships, internships and programmatic support). Sonnier said he prefers tenant hiring of interns over scholarship-only commitments and that the park is actively placing UVI students with tenants. The park reported more than 250 employees working for RT Park companies territorywide and said payroll for tenant firms totaled $10.5 million in fiscal 2024 (313 employees) and $5.29 million in the first two quarters of fiscal 2025 (304 employees).

Energy and facilities. The RT Park described a 423-kilowatt ground-mounted solar farm on St. Croix, funded by a $1,100,000 FEMA mitigation grant, that will include a solar teaching array for hands-on instruction in renewable energy. A UVI Caribbean Green Technology Center partnership and a teaching array were described as a training pipeline aligned to WAPA and potential trainees. Sonnier said the park is pursuing batteries and charging infrastructure grants and plans to expand physical office/innovation space to lower transaction friction for incoming tenants.

Business attraction and compliance. Sonnier outlined the RT Park intake process (orientation, two‑part application, interviews, term sheet negotiations, due diligence and a 15‑year Park Tenant Agreement). He pushed back on public claims that the park lacks compliance protocols, saying the park conducts due diligence and has a compliance framework with monitoring and corrective options, including removal from the program. The park reported five new client activations in FY25 and said two exits were in process for personal and medical reasons; the park also reported one formal exit in the fiscal year. Sonnier said client retention remains a priority and that the park had four noncompliant companies removed in recent years.

Funding and requests to the Legislature. Sonnier said the RT Park is fully self-sustaining through client fees and that, collectively, park clients paid roughly $30 million a year in taxes to the territory; park payments and fees contributed roughly $9–10 million to UVI and the park’s own operations. He proposed a "remote worker employer facilitation act" to simplify employer registration and payroll withholding for U.S.-based employers hiring USVI residents, arguing the change could increase home‑based high-income residents and tax receipts. He also asked legislators to consider support for physical infrastructure and, where appropriate, modest statutory updates to better reflect modern tech sectors (for example, blockchain and AI use cases that did not exist when some statutes were drafted).

Officials and witnesses. Testimony was delivered by Eric Sonnier and the park’s leadership team including Bonnie Harrison (director of compliance), Sydney Paul (director of marketing), Marisha Perkins (youth STEM program manager) and Alfonso Rodriguez (community advancement). Several Senators pressed on the park’s budget and program costs; Sonnier said the park spent roughly $400,000 on youth STEM and workforce programs since January and that the park’s overall annualized contributions to UVI have recently been a little over $3 million per year on average.

Why it matters: Park leaders framed the strategy as a long‑term investment to build local talent, reduce brain drain and attract higher-value employers while returning corporate tax and fee revenue to the territory. They asked the Legislature to consider two near‑term policy priorities: streamlined payroll registration for remote-hire arrangements and targeted support for program scaling and DGE/oversight capacity where appropriate.

Ending: Committee members thanked the RT Park for the presentation and asked staff to follow up on budget requests and facility plans. Sonnier said the park would continue to deliver STEM programs and pursue tenant recruitment and compliance.