CPA’s Salas retires from top exec post

Commonwealth Ports Authority executive director Carlos Salas culminated his eight-year career as the authority’s top executive by electing to retire effective this Friday.

Salas, who has witnessed global events that impacted on the aviation and travel industries during his term as executive director, said the CPA continues to be in sound financial condition despite the occurrence of the Asian economic crisis, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak, the 911 terrorist attacks, and the Iraq war.

Salas has been with the CPA for 15 years, where he was once treasurer-comptroller and administrative assistant to the executive director before catapulting to executive director on Jan. 8, 1998.

Seaport manager Lee Cabrera will replace Salas as executive director beginning Dec. 10. The CPA’s board yesterday approved Cabrera’s nomination to the top executive post in a meeting.

In a letter to CPA board chair Joe Lifoifoi, Salas said he opted to retire to take advantage of the opportunity.

“This has to be one of the most difficult decisions for me to make as my family and I have truly become part of the CPA family on a daily basis for many years. Unfortunately, the time has come for me to elect to retire from CPA,” Salas said.

“We have been extremely fortunate to be part of a great agency in the CNMI as we have enjoyed the learning experience and benefits of hard work in the field of aviation and maritime over the last 15 years. Although we all had our ups and downs, and the tough issues we all had to deal with, it has been truly a very rewarding experience for me,” he added.

During his term as executive director, the CPA managed to obtain funding of up to $16 million yearly from the Federal Aviation Administration to improve airport infrastructure and services. The annual funds obtained by CPA from the FAA have exceeded the CNMI’s entitlement that has been pegged at about $5.4 million yearly.

Despite his retirement, though, the CPA’s board yesterday decided to retain Salas as independent contractor for at least one year. As consultant, Salas will assist the CPA in tracking the status of federally funded projects and in carrying out other projects that will increase the authority’s revenues through non-aviation sources, such as land development, seaport expansion, and the construction of a drydock facility.

Meanwhile, Salas said the CPA board also renewed the one-year contracts of its deputy director, Regino Celis, and staff engineer John Sablan. The term of the new contracts will begin in January.