SECOND BANANA: Mapp Appoints Bloomberg Co-Founder Tom Secunda To Ceremonial Hurricane Committee

RIGHT-HAND MAN: Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, left, and Tom Secunda, co-founder and vice chairman at Bloomberg LP, right of center, unload supplies at the Myrah Keating Smith Health Center on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Thursday, September 14, 2017. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg[ad name=”HTML-68″] [wpedon id=”23995″ align=”left”]

CRUZ BAY -– Gov. Kenneth Mapp today announced the appointment of Tom Secunda, a Bloomberg L.P. co-founder and longtime St. John resident, to the Governor’s Hurricane Recovery & Resiliency Advisory Committee.

The task force was created by Mapp to help guide the territory’s short- and long-term recovery following two Category 5 hurricanes.

Mapp appointed Secunda to help chart the course of the U.S. Virgin Islands’ long-term recovery with a special focus on making the territory’s critical infrastructure, homes and businesses more resilient to future storms and other natural disasters.

“There is no question how deeply Tom cares about our territory,” Governor Mapp said. “Our task force will benefit greatly from diverse minds like his and from Tom’s vast environmental knowledge and business acumen.”

Secunda is a renowned global leader in financial technology and was instrumental in building the iconic Bloomberg Terminal, the world’s most powerful technology platform for financial professionals seeking real-time news, data and analytics.

Along with business partner Michael Bloomberg, who served as the mayor of New York City for 12 years, they created Bloomberg LP and are both involved with Bloomberg Philanthropies – a foundation that has been instrumental in providing hurricane relief and power restoration assistance across the territory.

Secunda has been hailed by Institutional Investor magazine as Bloomberg’s “technology visionary” and credited with helping to turn Bloomberg into an “innovation factory.”

He has also been a globally-recognized philanthropist widely respected for his environmental and conservation advocacy and he is a trustee of the National Parks Conservation Association.

“It’s an honor to be a part of this important task force,” Secunda said. “I look forward to helping rebuild smarter and stronger than ever before and to ensuring the Virgin Islands is held up as a model for environmentally sensitive and sustainable building.”

Secunda and his wife, Cindy, have been traveling to the Virgin Islands for more than 25 years and have a home on St. John.

Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP, center, tours the Tutu High Rise housing complex with Governor Kenneth Mapp, U.S. Virgin Islands, right, on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Thursday, September 14, 2017. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg