FHB’s Dacanay is ’08 Executive of the Year

[B]TUMON, Guam[/B]—Laura-Lynn V. Dacanay, senior vice president and Guam and NMI region manager of First Hawaiian Bank is the 2008 Guam Business Executive of the Year. Dacanay was announced the winner at the 26th annual Guam Business Executive of the Year gala, which took place on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Guam. The announcement—held secret by Guam Business each year—was greeted with an approving roar from a crowd of about 300.

This year’s theme— “Executive Idol Season 2”—was a continuation of last year’s hugely popular format, modeled after the reality TV show, “American Idol”. The emcee for the evening was Ray Gibson from News Talk K57 radio. Gibson hosts The Breakfast Show on that station and is also the vice president – director of radio operations.

Dacanay is the first female region manager for First Hawaiian and the first person from Guam to hold her current position. In her job, she oversees the profitability and production of the Guam and Saipan region, which include five branches—two on Saipan and three on Guam.

Dacanay started out working in retail and tourism, as a cashier at Gibson’s Department Store and a front desk clerk at the Guam Hilton Hotel. She then joined the Chase Manhattan Bank as a telephone switchboard and telex operator, working her way up the ranks, through the different departments of the bank. She joined First Hawaiian’s sister company, First Hawaiian Credit Corp. as an assistant branch manager in 1991. She started with FHB when it merged with First Hawaiian Credit Corp. in 1998. She became vice president and manager of the FHB Maite Banking Center in 2002, before being promoted to her current position in 2006. She celebrated 10 years with FHB and 29 years in the banking industry in 2008.

Dacanay is the chairwoman of the Guam Chamber of Commerce. She also sits on the Strategic Economic Development Council on Saipan, Guam Visitors Bureau Chairman’s Strategic Advisory Council and the USO Advisory Council. She is also a member of the Guam Hotel & Restaurant Association and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. She has been a member of Soroptomist International of the Marianas, and the Pacific Jaycees. She is a former AWANA leader and the former treasurer for the Yigo General Baptist Church.

Through the bank, Dacanay supports Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society, the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Guam Nurses Association, Rainbows for All Children, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Filipino Community of Guam, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and many other organizations.

Dacanay holds a 1996 bachelor’s in economics from the University of Guam. She also completed a master’s-level extension program from Pacific Coast Banking School in Seattle, Wash. in 2001.

She and her husband Hank have a daughter, Melanie, 29.

The Guam Business Executive of the Year gala is a major fundraiser for the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross. The January/February 2009 issue of Guam Business, with a portrait of Dacanay by Armand Germar on the cover, was unveiled that evening. [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]