Crowne Plaza, NMTech sign MOA  to beef up local capacity

The Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, under the brand of the InterContinental Hotels Group, and the Northern Marianas Technical Institute have started a partnership that aims to build local capacity in the fields of hospitality and tourism.

Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan general manager Robert Coates, NMTech’s CEO Jodina Attao, Island Training Solutions’ Jim Arenovski, along with Crowne Plaza’s executive and leadership team, joined the signing ceremony for the memorandum of agreement yesterday morning at the hotel resort’s Azucena room.

The agreement starts the partnership with Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, NMTech, and ITS that would result in students undergoing training at the Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.

Prior to the signing, a presentation was made by Crowne Plaza on the IHG brand and IHG Academy, which pertains to different aspects of training and development, with the end goal of working within the IHG brand. They offer Early Experiences, which include work experience, internships, apprenticeships; and Leadership Programs, which include Future Leader Embark and Future Leader Aspire.

In this trio of partnerships with ITS, NMTech, and IHG, “ITS is responsible for training the 75 students in the Trading Up Program within the CNMI Public School System and filling the pipeline so that they get pumped into the IHG Academy,” Attao said.

Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan general manager Robert Coates, seated left, Northern Marianas Technical Institute’s CEO Jodina Attao, seated right, Island Training Solution’s Jim Arenovski, standing right, and Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan’s executive sous chef Zenn Tomokane take a photo after Coates and Attao sign a memorandum of agreement between NMTech and IHG yesterday morning at Crowne Plaza’s Azucena Room. (LEIGH GASES)

NMTech’s mission is to invest in students by providing advanced trades, career, and technical education to produce skilled individuals and strengthen the CNMI workforce. With this program, “we are ready and willing to work with the hotels in the CNMI to have a place for students to work” after they’ve completed their hospitality certification.

“The hotel industry is not just about customer service. It’s already a full-blown operation and everything that NMTech offers can be enhanced through additional partnerships with hotels such as IHG,” added Attao. Not only will students be filling gaps in the front of the house jobs such as front desk and waitstaff, but also engineering, culinary, IT, and other jobs in the hospitality industry, she said.

NMTech has so far partnered with different organizations like ITS, Northern Marianas College, CNMI PSS, and now IHG, which “are coming into play so that we can expand our services and continue to build our capacity as a community… Ultimately, we’re trying to build NMTech as the hub,” said Attao. NMTech is looking at partnering with organizations as well.

Coates is grateful to be partnering with NMTech and, in a bid to inspire students, recounted that he himself started out as a night porter and grew from there to where he is now—the general manager of Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan.

“It’s great to be partnering with great institutions. We need your people—they need us and that’s what it’s all about… that’s what we want to do. It’s all about giving people opportunity. It doesn’t matter where they come from. It doesn’t matter about their educational background. It’s not about money. It’s about a person who wants to grow, learn, and build a career,”  he said.

Seated from left, Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan general manager Robert Coates, Northern Marianas Technical Institute CEO Jodina Attao, Island Training Solution’s Jim Arenovski, and Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan’s executive sous chef Zenn Tomokane are joined by Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan executive and leadership staff yesterday morning after Coates and Attao signed a memorandum of agreement between NMTech and IHG yesterday morning at the Azucena room. (LEIGH GASES)