GVB Board has formed a Presidential Search Committee

The Guam Visitors Bureau’s board of directors had several important decisions to make Thursday, with discussions on a leadership transition, the appointment of an interim CEO, the need to hire a chief executive officer and the Tourism Recovery Plan on the agenda.

The board jumped into action by discussing the election of a 12th board member, who the board had previously recognized would be female and would serve only until a new board was elected on January 7, 2025.

Although a decision will not be made until the Dec. 5 board meeting, Marie Guerrero and Jovina Lujan were nominated before the board entered executive session.

Guerrero is the first vice chairman of the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association and the chief executive officer of the B&G Pacific dba Three Squares restaurant.

Lujan is the Chairman of the Guam Travel and Tourism Association and the Sales Manager for DKSH Guam.

Immediately after the executive session, the board discussed the need to begin recruiting for the position of GVB president and general manager, a position left vacant by former Gov. Carl Gutierrez, who abruptly resigned last week.

“So we need management action to change leadership,” said Chairman George Chiu.

Director Robert Hofmann, mayor of Sinahana, proposed the creation of a selection committee, which the council agreed to.

“I am proposing to create a GVB Presidential Search Committee consisting of one member from each of the groups represented at the table that will include gubernatorial appointees, legislative appointees and members,” Hofmann said.

Although Chiu wanted to fill the positions, director Geoff Jones cautioned that the composition of the committee could present problems.

“Careful because it’s hard to form a search committee and have any meetings, all public meetings, since we have all the board members, they have to be public (seen) meetings,” Jones said.

Chiu said he intends to continue the search committee’s discussions with legal counsel.

To save time, the board approved the start of a request for proposals process to hire a president and general manager.

“So there is a proposal to initiate a request for proposals process. This is just a framework that will be used by the selection committee or can be created now. This is part of the agenda,” Chiu said.

Vice Chairman Joaquin Cook’s proposal to initiate a request for proposals process to recruit a new president and general manager, who would be overseen by a search committee, was accepted.

GVB’s leadership, meanwhile, is led by Jerry Perez, a travel retail executive who joined GVB after retiring as DFS president in 2003 after 23 years, according to GVB.

After passing the hiring motion, the board turned its attention to the GVB Tourism Recovery Plan, which it continues to work on, as well as the recent airline mission that a GVB delegation took to South Korea to increase the number of seats by incentivizing the airlines.

The delegation returned with a memorandum of understanding with Shinhan Card, as well as a commitment from Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero to provide $5.5 million in additional funding to stimulate airlines.