6 vying for 4 board seats in Chamber polls today

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce will hold its monthly general meeting today at 11:30am at the SandCastle of the Hyatt Regency Saipan and one item on the agenda is the board election to fill up four vacancies for the director positions. This is in line with the Chamber’s bylaws that require election for new directors should be conducted every November.

There are six nominees vying for four available director positions. The candidates are Joe Ayuyu Jr., Perry Inos, Michael S. Johnson, Velma Palacios, Alex Sablan, and Janel V. Pangelinan.

Ayuyu is the general manager of McDonald’s Middle Road on Saipan. He is a 2013 graduate of Miami University of Ohio, with a bachelor’s degree in Business (concentration in Economics). He currently serves as a board member for the Saipan Zoning board and is a graduate of the 2016 Class of the Pacific Century Fellows-Marianas Chapter.

Inos is the operations manager of Triple J since 2015. He graduated from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is currently enrolled at Southern New Hampshire University, pursing his master’s in Finance and Accounting. Inos is a member of the Rotary Club of Saipan and a member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce

Current Chamber president Palacios is the director of Network Operations at IT&E. Palacios graduated from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a bachelor’s degree in Engineering. She also graduated from Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, Hawaii, with an MBA.

Prior to joining IT&E, Palacios was employed by the CNMI government as an engineer. She also taught math at Northern Marianas College’s Adult Basic Education Program.

Johnson is a managing partner of Deloitte & Touche on Saipan. Johnson holds a master’s in Business Administration and bachelor’s at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He is a certified public accountant. Johnson was selected by Bishop Tomas A. Camacho to serve on the financial advisory committee of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, is a past chairman of the CNMI Board of Accountancy, and a past treasurer of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

Sablan is a vice president of TanHoldings Corp. and has been involved with the Chamber for nearly 20 years. Sablan was the Chamber representative for the regional Exclusive Economic Zone forum and has served as chairman of both the Government Relations and Economic Development Committee and the Events Committee.

Pangelinan is a claims processor at Pacifica Insurance Underwriters Inc. and a co-chair of the Events Committee of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. She graduated from Northern Marianas College in 2011. She was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society where she was also named as an officer. For the duration of her studies at NMC, she worked at the Adult Basic Education department as a tutor. Pangelinan was named the 2016 Saipan Young Professional of the Year.

The winners must meet the minimum requirement to serve for the years 2018 to 2019.