Board of Directors

Principal, Elevate Law, PLLC

Marie ThomasGriffith is a highly experienced attorney with more than 27 years of experience serving local, multinational companies, individuals, and institutions in the U.S. Virgin Islands focusing her practice on complex litigation, arbitration, mediation, real estate, construction and commercial disputes, and general civil practice. She has been a principal at Elevate Law, PLLC since 2021. Prior to that, she was an attorney shareholder at Hall & Griffith, P.C. in St. Thomas from 2005 to 2021. Marie started her practice as an associate with Birch deJongh Hindels & Hall and also served as a law clerk at the Territorial Court of the Virgin Islands.

Marie has been on the CFVI board since 2004 and most recently served on the executive committee as Secretary. She has been CFVI’s Scholarship Committee Chair since 2005. In addition to serving as Secretary from 2014-2020, she also served as Second Vice-Chair from 2011-2012.

Marie is also the Foundation’s first female Chair. As one of her first orders of business as the new Chair, she established the CFVI Chair’s Council, which is made up of past CFVI Chairs selected to serve in an informal leadership advisory capacity to the board.

Since 2005, Marie has served on the Committee of Bar Examiners of the Virgin Islands and has served as the chair since 2018. She was a member of the board of directors of V.I. Christian Ministries from 2005 to 2020. Marie holds a bachelor’s degree from Point Park College and a law degree from Duquesne University Law School. Since the early 1990’s Marie has served as a mentor to young girls in the community and has been actively engaged in the Virgin Islands Community.

Kafi Blumenfield is an experienced institutional funder dedicated to advancing positive societal change. Her work is focused on supporting visionary organizations that partner with vulnerable populations to deliver effective community benefits.

Kafi currently serves as an appointee to the LA County Women and Girls Commission. In addition to the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands where she has served since 2016, she is a board member of Tides and the James Irvine Foundation. Kafi serves on the Advisory Council for the Draper Center at Pomona College and the Advisory Board of UCLA’s Luskin’s School of Public Affairs, where she has also served as a Senior Fellow.

Most recently, Kafi led the Discovery Cube Los Angeles as the museum’s first Executive Director. Prior to Discovery Cube LA, Kafi served as President and CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation, where she led an array of grantmaking programs addressing civic engagement and social determinants of health. Prior to that, she was the national Deputy Director of Neighbor to Neighbor, Director of Programs for the Fair Housing Council of San Gabriel Valley and an Associate with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Kafi holds a law degree from UCLA and a B.A. from Pomona College. She and her husband have two children.

Dudley Newman Feuerzeig LLP

G. Hunter Logan is a Partner with Dudley Newman Feuerzeig LLP and is a member of the firm’s transactional department. Hunter’s practice concentrates in the areas of commercial transactions, commercial and residential real estate, commercial and residential loans, formation of business entities, and title insurance. His representative clients include banks and other commercial lenders, hotels and marinas, developers, a research and technology economic development program, a refinery and oil storage facility, and established and startup businesses.

Hunter prior to moving to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1988, Hunter practiced law in Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky. He graduated from Rollins College and was a member of the varsity golf team at Rollins. Hunter formerly served on the Board of Directors of Good Hope School, Country Day School and the combined Good Hope Country Day School.

Attorneys at Law 

Marjorie Rawls Roberts, known as “Jorie,” founded her private practice, located on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1999 after nineteen years of working in both the private and public sectors. Her firm, Marjorie Rawls Roberts, P.C., is comprised of six attorneys who specialize in tax matters, corporate and securities law, estate planning, and business law in the USVI.

Previously, Jorie was in private practice in London and Washington, D.C. with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Prior to that, she served as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy in Washington, D.C. After moving to the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1988, Jorie served as Technical Advisor and Chief Counsel to the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for seven years. Upon leaving the BIR, Jorie served as General Counsel, Vice President, and Director for Globalvest Management Company, LP, which was a St. Thomas-based investment company.

Jorie attended the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and graduated from Smith College Magna Cum Laude with High Honors in History (B.A. 1977), where she was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa. She holds law degrees from Harvard University (J.D. 1980), Cambridge University (LL.B. 1981), and New York University (LL.M. (Executive) in Tax 2016).

In addition to CFVI, Jorie serves on the Boards of the Reichhold Center for the Arts at the University of the Virgin Islands, Fonkoze USA (microfinance in Haiti), and Lutheran Social Services.

President, Merchants Commercial Bank

Currently serving as President of Merchants Commercial Bank (MCB), Valdamier (“Val”) Collens most recently served as Senior Vice President, U.S. Virgin Islands Region Director, of FirstBank providing leadership, strategic direction, and management of commercial, mortgage and consumer lending and loan portfolios; retail branch operations; and electronic banking operations. He offers more than 30 years of providing leadership and sustainable changes in processes, systems, fiscal management, auditing, compliance monitoring, and information technology in the private and public sectors.

In the public sector, Mr. Collens served as the Commissioner of Finance for the Government of the Virgin Islands, Executive Director of the V.I. Public Finance Authority, Chief Financial Officer of the V.I. Port Authority, and Executive Assistant Commissioner of Finance between April 2008 – December 2018. In addition, after the devastating back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes of September 2017, Mr. Collens served as the Governor’s Authorized Representative (GAR) for the U.S. Virgin Islands, which required significant interaction with the Office of the President of the United States, U.S. Congress, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Economic Development Administration (USEDA).

Mr. Collens earned his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1998 and has been a New York State Certified Public Accountant for more than 25 years. Mr. Collens is a native of the Virgin Islands and has resided in St. Thomas for the past 18 years.

White Bay Group

Head of Strategy and Development, Alpine Global Management

Elli Ausubel is currently Managing Partner of White Bay Group (WBG) and Chairman of its Investment Board, in addition to his role at Alpine Global. He began his professional career in the field of education and academia with a focus on management. Elli then moved to a career in the financial industry at Highland Capital and joined White Bay in 2012 as a Director, where he quickly became involved in all aspects of the business. Elli has been instrumental in the growth and success of WBG and Alpine, and oversees all alternative investment decisions.

The Honorable George W. Cannon Jr. served with distinction as a United States Magistrate Judge for the District Court of the Virgin Islands until his retirement in 2022. His tenure began with his appointment as Magistrate Judge for the Division of St. Croix on April 12, 2004, followed by reappointments on April 12, 2012, and April 12, 2020.

Judge Cannon's judicial career was marked by excellence and dedication. He presided over preliminary and pretrial matters in both civil and criminal cases, demonstrating a profound understanding of the law and a commitment to fairness. Known for his legal expertise and affable demeanor, he infused court proceedings with his trademark humor, fostering a welcoming environment both inside and outside the courtroom.

A native of Clarksdale, Mississippi, Judge Cannon earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Texas in Austin in 1977, before obtaining his law degree from the Antioch School of Law in Washington D.C. in 1980.

Following law school, he embarked on a legal career that led him to St. Louis, Missouri, where he served as an attorney for Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. In October 1980, he relocated to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, continuing his work with Legal Services. Subsequently, he joined the Attorney General’s Office in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, before returning to St. Croix in 1982 to work as an Assistant Attorney General.

In March 1983, Judge Cannon married Sandra Gordon, with whom he raised two children, George W. Cannon III and Sansara A. Cannon.

Throughout his career, Judge Cannon remained active in the community. He served as a part-time teacher at the University of the Virgin Islands from 1983 to 1995 and participated in various community organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, and the Virgin Islands Bar Association, among others.

Judge Cannon's legal acumen earned him admission to prestigious legal bodies, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and various other state and federal courts.

In recognition of his contributions, Judge Cannon received numerous awards and honors, including the Regional Hebert Smith Fellowship Award in 1979 and the Winston A. Hodge Memorial Award in 1997.

Azure Data and AI, Customer Success, Microsoft

Rashida A. Hodge, born and raised in St. Thomas, USVI, is a technologist and an executive leader at the forefront of AI and emerging technologies changing how businesses operate. Her differentiated leadership approach is grounded in her ability to connect deeply with teams and clients and inspire innovation and new ways of thinking. Throughout her career, she has been focused on delivering complex technology solutions from research to commercialization, at scale.

Dubbed the “Superhero of IBM Watson AI,” Rashida led the commercialization and global launch of IBM Watson, where she influenced the development and scale of one of IBM’s most significant technologies. She designed a world-class AI professional services organization from the ground up and ushered in custom AI applications for clients. Most notably, she led the implementation of IBM’s first major Watson AI engagements and delivered first-of-a-kind projects with prominent clients. Her collaborative approach cemented IBM’s global thought leadership in AI and influenced the product direction and evolution of the IBM Watson platform that exists today.

Currently, Rashida is Corporate Vice President, Azure Data and AI/Customer Success at Microsoft, leading the Data and AI Customer Success Azure Data and AI Team, focused on helping clients re-imagine their business outcomes with a market leading portfolio.

Rashida’s Caribbean upbringing gave her respect for strong communities, mentorship, and the power of diversity. Knowing “we all stand on the shoulders of giants,” she is firmly committed to developing next-generation leaders and creating opportunities for women and minorities in engineering. In 2012, she founded the Real Hope for NextGen Engineers Endowment at her alma mater North Carolina State University.

Rashida earned a bachelor’s and master’s in industrial engineering at North Carolina State University and an MBA from Duke University Fuqua School of Business. She was named to Fortune 40 Under 40 in technology in 2020 and 2021 Women in Tech by NCTECH.

Rashida sits on the Boards of Sonatype; Member, The Executive Leadership Council; Misty Robotics; Girls Inc.; Duke University Fuqua School of Business Minority Advisory Board; and North Carolina University College of Engineering Foundation.

Most recently, Lawrence Kupfer was the Executive Director and CEO at The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) from 2018-2021, after spending more than 20 years with Hess Corporation and its affiliated companies. He is also a former president of the Virgin Islands Next Generation Network as well as former chief operating officer of FarmPod, LLC, a Virgin Islands company working with startup businesses.

His experience with Hess Corporation includes managerial positions in both New York and the Virgin Islands, including a six-year tenure as president and chief operating officer of HOVENSA, LLC, on St. Croix. In that position, he provided executive leadership for the 500,000 barrels per day refinery. Early in his career, Larry was a senior engineer with Exxon Research & Engineering Company in both New Jersey and Italy.

Larry holds a master’s of business administration degree from the Columbia Business School, Columbia University, and a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

After graduating from college, Catherine began her career working with the Department of Social Welfare as a social worker at the Youth Care Center, a program for neglected, abused, and delinquent children. She resigned after one year and continued working in the field of juvenile and criminal justice in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Catherine also worked in various capacities for over 23 years with the Virgin Islands Government, culminating in serving as Commissioner of the Department of Human Services. In

1998, she assumed the position of the Deputy Director of the Puerto Rico/U.S. Virgin Islands High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (PR/USVI HIDTA), a position she retired from in 2013.

Catherine has been honored for her work with youth and the disadvantaged by the following community organizations: St. Thomas/St. John Multi-Service Center, St. Thomas East End Lions Club, Dial-a-Ride, and the Girl Scouts. In 1999, she was selected for the prestigious Impact Award for “Woman of the Year” by the League of Women Voters.

In addition to being a CFVI board member, she has served as Co-chair of the All Saints Cathedral School Capital Development Committee. She is a past member of the Beacon Schools Board of Directors, the University of the Virgin Islands Public Service Advisory Council, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the St. Thomas/St. John Youth Multi-Service Center, among others.

Catherine, her husband Don, and their daughter Corinne, all reside in Maryland.

Partner, Dudley Newman Feuerzeig LLP

Kurt Petri is a Partner at Dudley Newman Feuerzeig LLP and is a member of the firm’s Transactional Department. Mr. Petri joined the firm in 2008. His areas of practice include business and corporate law, licensing, real estate, commercial development, estate and tax planning, and select probates and estates.

He has guided clients through the licensing process for board licenses such as the general contractors license, and has represented clients before the Banking Board when applying for a license under the Virgin Islands Finance Lenders Law. He has also successfully represented clients seeking to obtain certificates of need for medical and pharmaceutical businesses. He has also assisted clients with unusual licenses, such as the private investigator license.

Mr. Petri has advised clients through the process of managing complex estates, including estates that involve issues with trusts, and liquidation of business and real estate assets. He works with the firm’s Litigation Department to solve litigation issues impacting estates and issues with probate, where necessary.

Mr. Petri has also assisted clients with real estate title issues, such as title chain defects, liens and defective deeds. He has successfully petitioned the Virgin Islands Courts to appoint receivers for previously dissolved companies in order to liquidate real property assets, and has worked with foreign counsel to reestablish previously dissolved foreign entities holding U.S. Virgin Islands real property.

Mr. Petri has represented clients in the purchase, sale, and formation of businesses and has experience with mergers, and dissolutions.

Mr. Petri is committed to giving back to the community and has provided pro bono legal advice to numerous local charities. He has previously served on the board of My Brother’s Workshop for over ten years, where he held official roles including President, Vice President, and Treasurer throughout his tenure.

Prior to joining Dudley Newman Feuerzeig LLP, Mr. Petri had ten years of experience as a collateral auditor, advising clients on the structure of asset based loans and performing ongoing compliance audits for major lenders.

Mr. Petri is admitted to practice in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Petrus and his wife, both born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands, are successful business owners who manage four establishments: Petrus Plaza, PG Gas, Subway Restaurant, and Sbarros Restaurant. Petrus, a former senator and candidate for Governor in 2018 in the Virgin Islands, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration with a concentration in international business and tourism management, as well as a Master’s of Arts degree in Public Administration. He earned a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of the Virgin Islands in 2001.

Most recently, Thelma Watson-Comissiong, M.D., was an independent medical provider and co-owner of Peak Medical Corporation in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands from 1990 until 2020. Prior to that, she served as Chief Medical Officer for Schneider Regional Medical Center in St. Thomas from 1999 to 2015.

Dr. Watson-Comissiong also worked for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health from 1990-1998 as the Emergency Medical Services Medical Director. She also served as the Assistant Commissioner of Health 1996-1998. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. 

She is married to Dr. Sidney Comissiong, and the couple has four daughters, four granddaughters, and one grandson.