BALDYGA RE-ELECTED AS GVB CHAIRMAN

GVB Elects New Officers

(Tumon, Guam) The Board of Directors of the Guam Visitors Bureau unanimously re-elected tourism executive Mark Baldyga today as the Chairman of GVB. Baldyga, a resident of Guam for over 20 years, has previously served two years as Chairman and two years as Vice Chairman in addition to serving in other capacities.

Bruce Kloppenburg, who was re-elected as Vice Chairman at the board meeting and chairman of the China Marketing Committee, has served as a GVB Director for 22 years and called Baldyga, “an extremely strong chairman.”  Kloppenburg said, “We are very fortunate to have him returning to lead the bureau.”

Bart Jackson, head of the Guam Hotel & Restaurant Association, was elected to chair the Korea and Russia Marketing Committees with Kloppenburg and Hong Soon Im as vice chairs.  Jackson said, “Mark is very action oriented. He was instrumental in leading the bureau for the past two years and is a well-respected business leader who is passionately committed to the industry.  We are pleased and appreciative to have GVB continue under his leadership.”

Sam Shinohara from United Airlines was elected to the position of director and Treasurer, Theresa Arriola was elected as Secretary and head of the Cultural & Heritage and North America & Pacific committees. Shinohara and Arriola join Champ Calvo as members of the Executive Committee.  Clifford Guzman will lead Membership and Community Development. Mayor Robert Hoffman will chair Destination Management with Guzman and Im as vice chairs. Milton Morinaga of Ken Corporation will lead the Japan Marketing Committee together with Shinohara and Norio Nakajima.

GVB General Manager Karl Pangelinan said, “The board of GVB are all volunteers and most are very busy tourism executives, presidents and owners. The time and commitment they make to lead the bureau is remarkable. GVB is humbled to have their leadership and we are especially happy to have Mark Baldyga returning as chairman of GVB. Under his leadership, the bureau has added direct flights from China and Russia, achieved record numbers of visitors and grew the annual Tourist Attraction Fund revenues by 40%.  Mark is a very goal driven leader and I have no doubt that under his leadership and that of Nate Denight, we can expect the bureau to reach even greater heights in 2015.”

Baldyga said that his priorities for 2015 will include a continued focus on increasing arrivals and the quality of visitors, development of more hotel rooms, establishment of a Guam Tourism Academy, and a focus on improving the quality of the destination. He said. “We also need to do a better job of ensuring that we connect tourism with the community and that we put the Chamorro culture in the forefront of everything we do.”  Baldyga thanked the board and management as well as the Governor, the Legislature and tourism oversight chair Senator Tina Muña Barnes for their continued support of GVB and the industry.

Media Contact: JOSH TYQUIENGCO - Public Information Officer