A hesitant leader rises up to the challenge

Many Commonwealth residents were surprised when the Marianas Visitors Authority board of directors decided to end Vicky Benavente’s employment as MVA managing director in December 2005. But nobody more so than MVA chief accountant Ma. Teresa P. Castro, who suddenly found herself tasked with leading the islands’ official tourism agency.

Having been handling MVA’s finances for the past seven years, Castro knew that running the agency and selling the islands as a tourist destination in these hard economic times would be tough. She took the job anyway.

“I am honored by the board’s confidence in me,” she says in an interview.

A native of the Philippine city of Caloocan, this reluctant leader has now served as acting MVA managing director for three months.

The job, as she expected, caused some headaches, what with all the VIPs she has to entertain, the vendors demanding payment, the employees she has to manage, the correspondences she has to maintain, and of course, the press people she has to deal with.

Fortunately, Castro says, she did not have a difficult time of getting herself familiar with MVA operations outside the accounting division. She relates that Benavente involved all MVA managers in the decision making process during her stint as head of the agency. “We knew what everybody else is doing,” she says.

Castro also says that constant communication with the MVA board and the staff’s support and cooperation make her job easier.

Although she is too modest to admit it, her dedication to her job obviously helps a lot, too.

Castro’s position with the tourism agency is the longest one she has held in her nearly 20-year career. “I like this job. It’s different from anything I’ve done before because it’s not just an accounting job. It allows you to get out there to promote the islands, rather than limiting you to office work,” she says.

Castro has a wide range of accounting experience, having worked for both private businesses and government in the Philippines and in the Northern Marianas.

She had her first formal job with the prestigious SGV and Co. accounting firm, immediately after she received certified public accountant status in 1989.

She also tried her hand at private practice before she came to Saipan to work as accountant for Niizeki International in 1990. After one year, she got a job as senior accountant at J.Scott Magliari accounting firm. She held the job for five years before she moved to Verizon.

Her first government job was with the NMI Retirement Fund, which she joined in 1997 and served for two years. She joined the MVA team in 1999. She became the agency’s first recipient of the annual Leadership Award in 2004.

Castro, more commonly known as Tess, is married to Agustin Castro.