WAIPOULI — Marynel Valenzuela was elected the 2013 president of the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce during its Annual general membership meeting Nov. 1 at the Courtyard by Marriott at Coconut Beach. Valenzuela is joined by Eddie Topenio as the Fil-Am
WAIPOULI — Marynel Valenzuela was elected the 2013 president of the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce during its Annual general membership meeting Nov. 1 at the Courtyard by Marriott at Coconut Beach.
Valenzuela is joined by Eddie Topenio as the Fil-Am Chamber’s vice president, Cindy Ayonon as its secretary, Cris Owan as the assistant secretary and Emil Remigio as its treasurer.
Joining the carry-over directors, Vonnell Ramos, Scott McFarland, Phil Tacbian, Bobby Ayonon, Mike Martinez and Michael Miranda fill the elected director positions.
Oscar Portugal, the evening’s host, said the new officers and directors will be installed during the Annual Gala on Jan. 26, 2013, where in addition to the installation, Distinguished Service Awardees will be honored.
Valenzuela, carrying over from the presidency in 2012, outlined the numerous achievements marked by the Fil-Am Chamber starting with the Awards and Installation Gala last January at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club where more than 350 turned out to see the 2012 officers installed.
“With the help and assistance of our fellow officers and directors of the board, I survived the first 10 months of my position as your president,” Valenzuela said. “It has been quite an interesting and busy year with sustainability being the focus of the organization.”
Members and non-members are invited to the quarterly meetings where updates from the Executive Board Meetings, held every two weeks, are presented and new areas of concern can be fielded.
During the June 12 meeting, five graduating high school students were honored as scholarship recipients, Valenzuela said.
“We also recognized three Filipina women in business for their outstanding role and contribution to the business sector and the Kaua‘i community,” the president said. “These included Casey Quel, publisher for The Garden Island newspaper, Kim Lord, the CB Richard Ellis senior managing director of the Hawai‘i region, and Sonia Topenio, the Bank of Hawai‘i senior vice president, Kaua‘i regional and island manager. It is an honor to have more Filipina become successful in the business world.”
A benefit for members of the Fil-Am Chamber is the “Business on Da Weekend,” a networking event at either Keoki’s Paradise or JJ’s Broiler where members “Show and Tell” over lunch.
During these events, the Fil-Am Chamber invites between 30 to 50 members, business owners or non-members to share the latest about their business with prizes, donated by the participating businesses, being distributed.
Valenzuela was joined by Randall Francisco, president of the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce, Bradley Maruyama, Mark Phillipson of Syngenta Hawai‘i, Quel and Rep. Jimmy Tokioka in attending the 162nd Annual Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i Membership Luncheon where more than 900 members, business leaders and guests learned about the Chamber’s plans and goals for 2013 while listening to Elliott Mills, general manager for Disney’s Aulani Resort.
Kaua‘i Fil-Am Chamber members have a free opportunity to participate in a workshop about starting a business on Kaua‘i at the Kaua‘i Community College. The second part of a social media workshop is also tentatively scheduled at the college. Participants can register through the Fil-Am Chamber.
Eddie Topenio, newly elected as the Fil-Am Chamber vice president, spearheaded a successful 11th Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament on Labor Day at the Wailua Golf Course.
“This scholarship golf tournament was started in 2012 and has gradually grown into a very successful event because of everyone’s continued and loyal support,” Valenzuela said. “Over the years, the scholarship program has awarded more than $80,000 to deserving Kaua‘i students. Due to the success of this program, we will start our vocational students scholarship program.”
Valenzuela said coming on the heels of this successful golf tournament, the Kaua‘i Fil-Am Chamber is planning a mini golf tournament “to cater to those who can’t golf as good as the rest.”
Registration for this event, which enjoyed a “trial run” on Oct. 13, is currently being accepted by the Fil-Am Chamber.
Efforts for the Kaua‘i Philippine Cultural Center was launched on April 12 at the first fundraising event at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort and Beach Club, where more than $82,000 filled the coffers.
This was joined by a legislative Grant-in-Aid award of $1.5 million being approved during the spring of 2012, setting the stage for the Kaua‘i County Administration and approval by the Kaua‘i County Council on July 25 when a 99-year license agreement for 3.5 acres of land next to the YMCA swimming pool was approved.
The action triggered Rose Churma to facilitate a discussion with several community stake holders representing different Filipino organizations, the business community and other nonprofit organizations on Aug. 18.
John Latkiewicz of Small Business Development Corp. was hired to do a feasibility study in September with the final report being due February 2013.
Valenzuela welcomes anyone who is interested in helping to contact the Fil-Am Chamber.
Kristine Long of Kaua‘i Skin Clinic, Muriah Aquino, a registered nurse, Denise Tripoli, sales manager for EZ Island Pages, Kanani Kagawa Fu, a program specialist with the County of Kaua‘i, Stanley Tokunaga of Pacific Web Creations and Mary Kagawa Garcia of Napali Explorer and Lifevantage Kaua‘i represented the new members present since the previous quarterly meeting.
Ray McCormick, the Kaua‘i highways engineer for the state’s Department of Transportation, hosted a discussion of the work done on Kaua‘i’s highways, including the impact of the heavy rains in March as well as the continuing work to contain the erosion threatening Kaumuali‘i Highway due to beach erosion in Kekaha.
Visit the website www.kauaifilipinochamber.org for more information.
