About Gary Rodrigues

Gary Rodrigues is the author of What the Island Asked of Me, a work of narrative nonfiction that examines Anguilla’s 1967 revolution and the unresolved question of independence that followed.

He first traveled to Anguilla in 1984 to rehabilitate a small seaside property. What began as a short assignment became a decades-long relationship with the island and its people. Over time, he developed close personal ties with individuals who had lived the revolution—men and women whose accounts had never been fully recorded.

Among them was James Ronald Webster, widely known as Anguilla’s “Father of the Nation.” In the final years of his life, Webster entrusted Rodrigues with his private papers and a clear directive: when the time comes, the case for independence must be made. That responsibility became the foundation for What the Island Asked of Me.

The book draws on archival material, firsthand testimony, and sustained lived experience, and was shaped in part through meetings, letters, and conversations with historian David McCullough, who told him he needed to write the book.

Rodrigues’ perspective is further informed by a career spent evaluating risk, negotiation, and power—an approach that informs his examination of how a small island confronted, and ultimately outmaneuvered, a global authority.

He began his career in the United States Navy’s nuclear program, where he was recognized as Honorman of his training company at Great Lakes. He has since spent more than four decades in the risk and insurance sector, including senior leadership roles at Willis Towers Watson, Marsh, and Arthur Andersen, working across some of the most complex and high-consequence environments in the world, including nuclear energy.

He remains active in the nuclear industry, specializing in enterprise risk and human reliability.