WAPA COO lauded for candor amid constant blackouts resigns, power failures continue

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Interim Electric Chief Operating Officer for the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, Ashley Bryan, has resigned effective November 29, and she reflected on her decade with the utility during Thursday’s board meeting.

“It’s been a long 10 years but a very, very rewarding 10 years,” Bryan said. She returned home to the Virgin Islands and applied to work for WAPA “as a young engineer,” and jumped into work on energy projects like the Donoe Solar Farm with mentor Cordell Jacobs. She added, “he’s the reason I know as much as I know about a lot of the intricacies of WAPA.” Bryan thanked Jacobs, “for letting me shadow him and learn from him, and then all the other mentors and young engineers,” like Chavante Marsh, and all of the WAPA staff. Bryan did not say what she intends to do next, but said she will remain in contact and is “willing and able to assist in any way I possibly can.”

Bryan served as interim WAPA CEO following the resignation of former CEO Andrew Smith in June, after he spent only two years in the role. Her brief time in leadership was widely lauded by WAPA customers who were impressed by Bryan’s transparency and candor, and many expressed disappointment when she was passed over for the permanent position. Instead, the WAPA board hired Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.’s former Chief of Staff, Karl Knight in late July. During Thursday’s meeting, Knight said he appreciated Bryan’s willingness to ”fill the voids that have been created over the last several years.” In addition, “I know she’s had an impact on the young engineers in the company, they’ve told me that directly themselves,” Knight said.