No surprises at GVB election – board now awaits nominees
Given the drama of previous gatherings with the board and management of the Guam Visitors Bureau, the breakfast meeting and election on Jan. 7 at the RIHGA Royal Laguna Guam was a quiet affair.
Still, member attendees got the job done – which was to elect four board members – and did so by a swift show of hands.
GVB staff at the election at the RHIGA Royal Laguna Resort. Photo by Maureen N. Maratita.
Re-elected were George Chiu, current chairman and vice president of Tan Holdings; Joaquin P.L.G. Cook, president and CEO of the Bank of Guam; Jeffrey B. Jones, president and chief operating officer of Triple J Enterprises Inc.; and Ken Yanagisawa, president of P.H.R. Ken Micronesia Inc. and general manager of The Tsubaki Tower.
All but Yanagisawa were off island.
Four holdover members of the board are Peter P. “Sonny” Ada, president of Ada's Trust & Investment Inc.; Milton Morinaga, longtime tourism expert and consultant; Michael A. Sgro, general manager, Paradise Fitness; and Michelle Merfalen, paraeducator at the Guam Department of Education and youth director.
The board now awaits a further nominee from Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, and the 38th Guam Legislature. After that, the board can add one more director. mbj
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced in a Nov. 10 release in Washington, D.C. “key developments in its offshore critical minerals planning, with the completion of Area Identification offshore American Samoa and the release of a Request for Information and Interest for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.”
The Mariana Islands is now without any Hard Rock Cafes, following the closure of the Guam close to the Dusit Beach Resort in Tumon on Nov. 9. According to Journal files, the restaurant opened on May 10, 1998. According to its site, Hard Rock International Inc. was acquired by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2007.
The Applied Science & Technology Research Organization of America held a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 6 for its Guam Additive Materials and Manufacturing Accelerator — the island’s first commercial 3D printing facility.
As the U.S. federal government shutdown continues, a variety of organizations in the islands and nationally have stepped forward to offer aid to affected U.S. military personnel, some of whom have been furloughed.
