PROFILE Manglona leaves a big shoe to fill in
His touch is drawing comparison to that of Midas — that legendary Phrygian king endowed with the power to turn whatever he touched into gold.
And that’s how Edward Manglona, the administrator of the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund, will be best remembered by.
After 11 years of serving the Fund, Manglona is leaving on Dec. 24 to be in the private sector.
The Fund’s deputy administrator, Fred Camacho, said Manglona is going to be best remembered as the man who enabled the retirement system to double its assets in just four years — from $162 million to more than $350 million.
Manglona joined the Fund in 1987 as administrative officer. Former administrator Tom Aldan wooed him over while he was working as federal programs coordinator in the Office of the Resident Representative in Washington D.C.
“At first, I was kind of hesitant. I didn’t think that it was something that I really wanted to do. It took me several months before I finally accepted the job,” Manglona said.
And when he did join, his rise to the top was no-less-than meteoric. After a year, he became the Fund’s deputy administrator.
In 1994, he was nominated as administrator following Aldan’s retirement.
The rest is now history.
Besides being credited for the Fund’s good financial condition, Manglona is also praised for making it possible for the NMIRF to have its own $3.4 million building in Capitol Hill.
“The success of the Retirement Fund is basically the work of many people. I really don’t like to credit myself for the success that we’ve earned,” Manglona said.
“Sure, I have led the retirement fund for the last four years and we’ve grown our assets, but that’s because we’ve got members who are diligent and understanding of what a trust fund should do. Sure, we’ve argued almost to the point of throwing ash trays at each other, but in the end we agree” he added.
Manglona declined to say what exactly he’ll do next. But he did say that he’ll relax a bit before plunging into “something profitable” in the private sector.
Manglona holds a degree in business administration from the University of Guam.
