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
Major military exercises are often assigned as bundled contracts for companies that put the necessary logistics together – to include accommodation and catering services.
Gov. Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero vetoed the nearly $1.4 billion fiscal year 2026 Government of Guam budget bill on Sept. 5, stating that the proposed measure underfunds the Guam Memorial Hospital and provides tax cuts to the “favored few.”
The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Springfield returned to its homeport in Guam on Aug. 31, after completing a routine deployment in the Indo-Pacific, according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command
Due to potential tariffs on the contents of mail to the U.S., and no policy on how any tariff would be levied or paid, various countries are declining to mail parcels to the U.S.