Gregory R. Francis (born August 30, 1951 in

Saint Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorpo ...

) is an American Virgin Islands politician. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, he served as

Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

from January 1, 2007 to January 5, 2015, having been elected on a ticket with

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

John de Jongh.

Biography

Early life

Gregory Francis was born in

on August 30, 1951, to Olric Francis and Hyacinth Wilson-Francis. He is one of seven siblings, the others of whom are Olrick, Herbert, Kathleen, Howard, Milton, Kenneth, and Arthur. Francis attended Christiansted Grammar School, Christiansted High School and Saint Croix Central High School. He received a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals i ...

certificate from the

University of the Virgin Islands The University of the Virgin Islands (or UVI) is a public historically black land-grant university in the United States Virgin Islands. History UVI was founded as the College of the Virgin Islands on March 16, 1962. In 1986, it officially beca ...

in 1984 while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Military career

Francis moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

after graduation from high school, where he planned to attend a

trade school A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...

. However, because of a one-year residency requirement for the school, Francis enlisted in the

instead. Francis would spend 27 years in the Army. He served as a Command Program Support Specialist, Supervisory Military Personal Specialist and a Recruiting and Retention Manager. He was stationed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and the U.S. Virgin Islands during his military career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Gregory 1951 births Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands politicians Lieutenant Governors of the United States Virgin Islands Living people People from Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands