Michael E. O'Neal is Senior Research Fellow at Island Resources Foundation, an organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and the Caribbean, whose central mission is to assist small islands to meet the challenges of social, economic and institutional growth while protecting and enhancing their environments.An anthropologist by training, Dr. O'Neal served as third President of the H. L. Stoutt Community College (British Virgin Islands), having previously also served as Vice President of the institution, a tenure, altogether, of some fifteen years (1993-2008). Before joining the College, Dr. O'Neal served as the first Resident Tutor/Head of the University of the West Indies, BVI Centre. O'Neal's primary area of academic research is concerned with the political economy of development. His other research interests include medical anthropology and family business studies. He is a member of the Family Firm Institute and holds its Certificate in Family Business Advising. He currently serves as a director of a family business in the British Virgin Islands.Dr. O'Neal is the author of Slavery, Smallholding and Tourism: Social Transformations in the British Virgin Islands (Quid Pro Books 2012). His previous publications on Virgin Islands social history include "The Slave Rebellion of 1823 in Tortola, British Virgin Islands: The Socio-Historical Context", in Negotiating Enslavement, edited by Arnold Highfield and George Tyson (Antilles Press 2009), and "The Historical Context of Medical Practice in the British Virgin Islands", in Caribbean Perspectives: The Social Structure of a Region, edited by Joseph Lisowski (Transaction 1991).