Hon. John L. Rowe, Mayor, City of Portsmouth
The September General Membership Luncheon meeting was held on Tuesday, September 10, 2019 at the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel. The Guest Speaker was City of Portsmouth Mayor John L. Rowe.
Mayor Rowe thanked the Association for hosting its monthly luncheons in Portsmouth and expressed his admiration of the Ship Repair industry. "It's the ship repair business that put food on the Rowe kitchen table, paid our bills, and put me through VMI and my brother through the University of Virginia," stated Rowe.
Rowe discussed his father's background as an electrician and then production engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. "I grew up at a kitchen table talking about the business that you do," he said.
Rowe then discussed the three major economic drivers of the region: tourism, the port, and the Department of Defense. He expressed concern that the Hampton Roads region has experienced a net out-migration of 46,000 people, many of whom left the area because they were looking for jobs. "We've got a paradox," he said," we've got to make sure that we can create a job, but we also have to have a person whose got the skill, the talent, the knowledge to do that job."
The Mayor then expressed his admiration for the partnership forged between the Association and the Hampton Roads Workforce Council and urged a focus on Workforce Development.
Rowe discussed at length the sub-sea high-speed internet fiber cables being run into Virginia Beach, and its potential impacts on technology in the region. He informed the Membership of Portsmouth's efforts to prepare for the high-speed cable by building a "fiber ring" within the city. The effort is intended to take full advantage of the cable run from Virginia Beach to Ashburn, Virginia, which is a hub for high-speed internet for the nation. "Data is the new currency," stated Rowe. "This is the foundation for the next generation of what will happen in technology."
He concluded by emphasizing to the Membership that there are jobs in Portsmouth, and that the city is the gateway to the heartland for many products that arrive via ships to the port. Mayor Rowe thanked the Membership for supporting the Ship Repair industry, and its tremendous impact on the region and the nation's security.
Hon. John L. Rowe, Jr. was elected Mayor of the City of Portsmouth, Virginia on November 8, 2016 to take office for a four-year term starting January 1, 2017. In a field of six candidates running for the Mayor's seat in November 2016, John received 50% of the vote. He grew up in Portsmouth, and Portsmouth is his hometown.
John has a unique combination of nearly four and one-half decades of public administration experience in the Commonwealth of Virginia – more than three decades in local government management within the Hampton Roads region (on both the Peninsula and the south side of the Hampton Roads) and nearly a decade in public higher education as a college vice president for finance and administration.
John was educated in the Portsmouth Public School System – he attended James Hurst, John Tyler, Harry Hunt, and he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1962.
He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, Class of 1966.
His military awards include the Bronze Star, Air Medal with First Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Commendation Medal with First Oak Leaf Cluster and “V” Device, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, the Vietnamese Armed Forces Honor Medal (First Class), the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Parachutist Badge.
John also served for a decade on the Board of Directors for Portsmouth Volunteers Homeless, and he was Board President for three years. He has served on the Board of Directors for Future of Hampton Roads and the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement. He is the President of Western Tidewater Chapter of the VMI Alumni Association, trustee/deacon/Sunday School teacher (for the past 15 years) at Calvary Baptist Church.
John is married to Carol Evangelo Rowe of Portsmouth, Virginia. Carol is a native of Portsmouth, and she is a 1965 graduate of Wilson High School and a graduate of James Madison University (JMU). They have two adult children and three grandchildren.
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