ABE Utu Malae is the new executive director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial selected the former top executive of American Samoa’s electric utility as the successor of Antonio S. Muna who resigned last June.
“In an effort to move CUC ahead in its progress to meet the highest quality standards, I am pleased to inform you that I hereby select Mr. Abe Malae as executive director for CUC,” the governor said in his letter yesterday to Frankie Cepeda, CUC’s human resources manager.
Malae, who has been CUC’s assistant executive director since Aug. 2009, confirmed receiving a copy of the governor’s letter.
The list of the qualified candidates for the position was evaluated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and CUC.
The job vacancy announcement for the executive director was opened on July 2 and closed on Aug. 2.
Malae will get a two-year contract with a salary ranging from $120,000 to 150,000 annually.
The following biographical information came from Malae’s Wikipedia entry:
A banker, politician and businessman in American Samoa, Malae has bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and English from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. He has a master’s degree in physical chemistry from Iowa State University’s School of Science & Technology. He also obtained two separate master’s degrees in public works administration and civil engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
He was bestowed the Samoan chiefly title of Utu by his family in the early 2000s.
In American Samoa, Malae worked with the territorial government for over 25 years. He served as executive director of the American Samoa Power Authority, and was later appointed to oversee the LBJ Medical Center and the Port Administration.
In April 2001, Malae was named one of the “Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year” by the American Public Works Association. He served as chairman of the Pacific Power Association,
In Nov. 2004, Malae become president of the government-owned Development Bank of American Samoa and received praise for his management, which included a “clean” audit of the bank’s finances in 2007.
In 2008, he resigned as head of the bank to run for governor, but he lost to incumbent Gov. Togiola Tulafono.
