Commonwealth Ports Authority Board Chairman Jose C. Ayuyu, center, speaks during a special board meeting on Thursday in the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting classroom at the Francisco C Ada/Saipan International Airport.
THE Commonwealth Ports Authority board of directors on Thursday unanimously voted to hire retired U.S. Postal Services area manager Leo B. Tudela as the new CPA executive director.
Tudela is one of the five individuals who responded to CPA’s job vacancy announcement last month.
The previous CPA board initially voted to offer the job to Marianas Visitors Authority Managing Director Chris Concepcion, who declined the offer. In a subsequent meeting, the board then offered the position to former CPA comptroller Derek Sasamoto.
However, the board was not able to execute a contract with Sasamoto as the terms of former chairwoman Kimberlyn King-Hinds and board member Pete P. Reyes expired on Oct. 7, 2023.
Army veteran
Tudela, a retired U.S. Army soldier, earned a degree in sociology with a minor in business administration from California State University, followed by graduate studies in public administration.
He also completed a Senior Executive International Business Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
After joining the U.S. Postal Service in 1967, Tudela rose to the position of area manager in the early 1990s, overseeing operations, policy, and customer service for 97,000 employees in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi.
Before he retired in 2018, he was the U.S. Postal Service director for Asia-Pacific global business. He was based in Washington, D.C. and was also the postal ambassador to the Freely Associated States.
New board officers
During their meeting on Thursday, the CPA board members also elected Antonio B. Cabrera as the new vice chairman, Steve Mesngon as the new treasurer and Dolores P. Kiyoshi as the new secretary.
Cabrera will also chair the CPA board’s airport facilities committee; Mesngon, the personnel affairs committee; Kiyoshi, the financial affairs committee; and board member Ramon A. Tebuteb, the seaport facilities committee.
Also present in the meeting were board members Thomas “Kiyu” Villagomez and Joseph Diaz.
Leo Borja Tudela
