{"id":292176,"date":"2019-01-21T06:06:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-20T20:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=292176"},"modified":"2019-01-21T06:06:50","modified_gmt":"2019-01-20T20:06:50","slug":"velma-encourages-more-women-involvement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/velma-encourages-more-women-involvement\/","title":{"rendered":"Velma encourages more women involvement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
IT&E\u2019s Network Operations and Engineering director Velma Palacios is all smiles after winning the 2018 Business Person of the Year award while addressing the crowd in last Saturday\u2019s Silver Lining Gala at the Hyatt Regency Saipan Ballroom. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Velma Palacios is hoping that more women would soon hold prominent posts in the local community, noting that the political landscape in the island of Guam has changed the past year with women occupying top positions<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Guam, it is the year of the women. They elected their first female governor and we hope to do that here in the CNMI. They also have 10 women in their Legislature,\u201d said Palacios in a brief speech after being name the 2018 Business Person of the Year award.<\/p>\n

The Saipan Chamber of Commerce held their annual event where they named the winner of the BPOY and the Saipan Young Professional of the Year, this time holding the ceremony\u2014Silver Lining Gala\u2014at the Regency Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Saipan last Saturday.<\/p>\n

Local members of the business community, government officials, and non-governmental organizations attended the Silver Lining Gala\u2014their first event for the year\u2014that wants to convey a message of hope amidst the devastating effects of Super Typhoon Yutu.<\/p>\n

The Guam Legislature also has 10 female senators headed by Speaker Tina Muna-Barnes, vice speaker Telena Cruz-Nelson, and legislative secretary Amanda L. Shelton. The Guam Supreme Court also had their first female Chief Justice, Katherine A. Maraman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [Guam] have 10 women in their Legislature, but I want to say that I work in a company that is run by women. That\u2019s why, your network was up during Yutu,\u201d said Palacios, IT&E\u2019s Network Operations and Engineering director, that drew cheers from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cShout out to [IT&E general manager] Rose Soledad, my boss. That\u2019s why, I encourage you all to continue to promote women in your companies because women run the organizations much better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palacios is the 23rd recipient of the Chamber\u2019s highest award and the sixth women after now local Labor Secretary Vicky Benavente (2014), Bank of Guam\u2019s Marcia Tomokane (2013), Marcia E. Ayuyu of R.J. Corp. (2012), K.B. Communication\u2019 Kathryn Barry (2008), now Fiesta Resort & Spa general manager Wendi Herring (2000), and Marian Aldan-Pierce of DFS (1999).<\/p>\n

Benavente and Herring were named when each of them were still with PIC, while Ayuyu shared the award with the late Anthony Pellegrino of Saipan Sea Ventures.<\/p>\n

Palacios jokingly told the past recipients Ayuyu, Benvavente, Herring, Jim Arenovski, Ivan Quichocho, Mike Sablan, Dave Sablan, Jerry Tan, Ben Babauta, and Alex Sablan that she\u2019s humbled to be the youngest to join the illustrious list.<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I the youngest among all of you guys?… I look forward to learn from you and learning from you. That\u2019s what I\u2019m asking if I was the youngest, I know I\u2019m younger than Alex. We are classmates,\u201d said Palacios that drew laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut seriously, I really look up to you and I am honored to be here amongst all of you. I worked with most of you but really thank you for this award. To all the nominees, you all are deserving of this award. You have contributed to our community in one way or another. Service has always been part of my life and the company that I work for. I thank IT&E for supporting me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palacios is also a known community advocate as she serves as the chair of the Kagman Community Health Center board, the secretary\/treasurer of the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, member of the State Workforce Development Board, Northern Marianas Business Alliance member, and has served on the Chamber board since 2012 and president since 2016.<\/p>\n

The other nominees were Pacific Islands Club general manager Gloria Cavanagh, Xerox marketing representative Nola K. Hix, The Shack owner Glen Hunter, American Red Cross-NMI Chapter executive director John Hirsh, MARPAC Beverage & Tobacco Division sales manager James K. Lee, Ron Smith of Angil Design Inc., and IT&E Customer Service and Government Relations manager Janice Tenorio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Velma Palacios is hoping that more women would soon hold prominent posts in the local…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":292177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-292176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}