Tregenza Roach

Tregenza A. Roach is an American politician, attorney, and former journalist. Since 2019, Roach has been serving as the 12th lieutenant governor of the United States Virgin Islands. Roach previously was a member of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands for the St. Thomas/St. John district from 2013 to 2019.

Early life and education

Tregenza Roach migrated from Saint Kitts and Nevis to the United States Virgin Islands at the age of eight to join his parents, Victor and Iona Roach, who had made Saint Thomas their home years earlier. After attending St. Thomas Seventh-day Adventist School and V.I. public schools, Roach graduated from Charlotte Amalie High School.
Roach attended the College of the Virgin Islands as a Holstein–Lewis scholar. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism at the University of Missouri. Roach holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Career

Roach started his career as a reporter for the Virgin Islands Daily News, rising to news editor. Roach was a law clerk at various U.S. and V.I. governmental offices, practiced in the Territorial Court's Civil and Family divisions and was an associate attorney at Bornn Bornn Handy and Rashid. He has been a member of the Virgin Islands Bar since 1991.

Virgin Islands legislature

As a member of the Virgin Islands legislature, Roach championed legislation that would make attending the University of the Virgin Islands tuition-free for undergraduate students. The legislation was ultimately approved by the legislature in December 2018.

Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands

In the 2018 Virgin Islands gubernatorial election, Roach was selected by Democratic nominee Albert Bryan as his running mate, and were elected in November 2018.

Travels

May 1–5, 2019: Attended United Nations Caribbean Regional Seminar in Grenada.
June 23–28, 2019: Attended National Association of Insurance Commissioners Executive Committee Interim Meeting, and Mid-Year Commissioners Roundtable Session in Rockport, Maine.
September 9–15, 2019: Attended Guam Commission on Decolonization conference in Guam.
December 5–10, 2019: Attended the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Fall National Meeting in Austin, Texas.

Personal life

Roach is also an author and poet whose work has been included in several collections of contemporary Caribbean poetry. He was awarded the Margaret Walker Fiction Prize by the Detroit Writers Guild in 1999 and the St. Thomas & St. John Library Association's Distinguished Caribbean Author Award in 2009. On April 27, 2022, Roach tested positive for Covid-19 after being notified about an staff member in his office with a positive case.