Chamber holds elections today

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce will hold its general membership meeting today at 11:30 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency Saipan’s Giovanni’s restaurant. The meeting will be the last formal general membership meeting of the year.

The main agenda item will be the election of officers and directors for the 2001 Chamber Board of Directors. All officer positions are open and two director positions are open.

While nominations may be taken from the floor, candidates who have expressed their interest in running for the 2001 Board of Directors are: for president — Tony Mosley of GTE Pacifica/MTC; for vice-president — Richard Pierce of SGMA/Safety First; for treasurer — Mark Thomson of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; for secretary — Tami Talalemotu of Moylan’s Insurance; for directors — Marian Aldan-Pierce of DFS Saipan Ltd. and Lynn A. Knight of Sunset Advertising Group, Inc., who currently serves as Chamber president.

Continuing directors who have one more year to serve on the board are: Attorney David Wiseman, Jay Jones of Triple J Motors, and Alex Sablan of Saipan Shipping Company. Retiring board members who are not seeking re-election are Joe Chiles and Jim Stowell.

“Serving as president this year and being an advocate for the business community has been rewarding and challenging. As a small business owner, it’s been an honor to have the confidence of such an important organization, not to mention the opportunity to work closely with CNMI leaders from both the government and private sectors for the good of our community,” said Chamber president Lynn Knight. “Although I still have two months to go on my term, I’d like to take this time before the election of 2001 officers to say that it has been a sincere pleasure working with the dedicated Chamber staff and such an experienced board of directors this year. Every one of our current board members is from a different industry and they have all contributed greatly of their time this year. Running this organization takes teamwork and I’d like to thank them for their hard work and support.”

Any Chamber member that cannot attend the meeting can vote in the election by proxy; however, they should have their representative present an original executed proxy form at the Chamber office or at the registration desk at the meeting.

The Chamber also announced today that it will hold an informal gala evening dinner on Nov. 17, 2000 called “International Crossroads 2000.” The event, which will be held at the Pacific Islands Club, will be open to the community and will help the Chamber raise funds for an educational scholarship fund. The theme “International Crossroads” was chosen to help the Chamber celebrate its 40th Anniversary as an organization representing a highly international business community. Member companies have provided exciting products and services to auction that night, according to the Chamber Executive Director Sue Singh.