GERS News

GERS ANNOUNCES NEW ADMINISTRATOR

 Chairman of the Government Employees’ Retirement System of the Virgin Islands (“GERS”) Board of Trustees, Dwane Callwood, today announced the selection of Angel Dawson, Jr. as the System’s next GERS Administrator/CEO. Mr. Dawson will succeed the current administrator, Austin Nibbs, who has been at GERS’ helm since 2007. 

According to Callwood, although the Board of Trustees selected Dawson in its May 18, 2023 meeting, time was required for an offer to be made and accepted. “Now that this process has been completed, we publicly thank Mr. Nibbs for his service and commitment to the GERS over the years and his willingness to remain at the helm while the process of selecting his successor wound its way to completion,” Callwood stated. Angel Dawson is a career banker, having started his banking career with Chase Manhattan Bank, where he completed its Western Hemisphere Professional Development Program in commercial and investment banking shortly after receiving his degree in Business Administration / Finance from the then-College of the Virgin Islands. He presently serves as a Senior Vice President of FirstBank Puerto Rico, overseeing commercial lending activities in its Eastern Caribbean Region and the bank’s only international operation in the British Virgin Islands. His banking career also included twelve years with Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, where he left as Vice President of Commercial Lending in 2009. 

Dawson served as Commissioner of Finance from 2009 to 2014. In this position, he was also Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority and a member of the GERS Pension Reform Taskforce Advisory Committee. In announcing Dawson’s selection, GERS Board of Trustees Chairman Callwood stated, “Mr. Dawson brings us a well-balanced career in both the public and private sectors. We are confident that his experience in public finance and commercial banking will serve us well as we continue to stabilize and strengthen the Government Employees’ Retirement System.” Dawson will join the GERS on July 10.

 At that point, Mr. Nibbs will transition to Special Advisor to the Board until his retirement on September 30, 2023. Among other duties, Mr. Nibbs will be tasked with making the transition to Dawson a smooth one. 

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