A true business leader; a committed corporate citizen
By Letitia Law-Byerly

Jerry Cho Yee Tan, 48, president of Tan Holdings, was born into a business family. After moving to Guam from his native Hong Kong in 1972, he started to get involved in the family business, L&T (Guam) Corp., as a young teenager when he and his siblings would help at the company’s office in Maite after school. The younger Tans were tasked with checking the condition of reels of 16mm film and repairing damaged films in the family movie distribution business division.

Tan is the fifth of six children. He has lived on Guam and Saipan since his family left Hong Kong more than 37 years ago. He attended Barrigada Junior High School where one of his favorite subjects was mathematics. He was the valedictorian of the class of 1979 at John F. Kennedy High School, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Guam with bachelor’s degrees in accounting and management. Because he had spent time working in his family’s business, “it was just a natural thing to pursue business degrees when I enrolled in the University of Guam,” he says.

It was also natural that Tan joined his family business operations after graduating from UOG and that throughout his career, his father, Tan Siu Lin, continued to mentor him. “[My father] taught me the value of hard work, patience and obedience,” Tan says. “He also showed me how to work with other people to achieve the goals of the majority, not just the individual.”

Tan also looked to his older twin brother, Raymond, as advisor and collaborator. “My brother Raymond, other than being my twin brother, is also a mentor to me,” he says. “In recent years I’ve called upon him to collaborate and brainstorm on issues relating to the company.” Of his younger twin, Raymond Tan says, “Besides being my brother, Jerry is also my best friend. We share similar values and have the same passion towards soccer, a sport we still play regularly until now. Jerry had always shown his leadership quality throughout his life. As a teenager, he was the president of Chinese Student Association on Guam and captain of our soccer team. He doesn’t settle for anything less than being No. 1; thus making him the valedictorian of Barrigada Junior High School and JFK High School. Although he is very competitive, he is [also] truly a team player –– I guess this is what we learned from soccer. He believes in team spirit and this is how he drives Tan Holdings to become what it is today. Being a leader in the business world, Jerry sets a grand vision for Tan Holdings ‘being the GE of Micronesia’ with a set of corporate values such as honesty, transparency, teamwork etc. Each division of Tan Holdings is either No. 1 or No. 2 in its market and Tan Holdings is the ‘employer of choice’ under Jerry’s leadership.”

Jerry Tan is now looked at as a mentor and business advisor by the community he works with and lives in. “Jerry is a friend, a mentor, and an astute business adviser,” says Susan L. Macario, general manager of Dynamic Core Group Inc. which does business as Shirley’s Coffee Shop in Saipan. “For a person to reach the executive level, one must have the brains, the right training and a wealth of experience. Jerry without a doubt has a brilliant mind and has been working for [his family’s] businesses for most of his life. But more than that, he has the attitude and a magnanimous heart that makes him a great leader and a great person and which makes people gravitate towards him in general.” Macario and Tan are business associates and friends who have known each other for 17 years.

In addition to being president of Tan Holdings, Tan is president of Asia Pacific Hotels, which oversees the management of the hotel group that includes the Fiesta Resort hotels in Saipan and Guam, the Saipan Grand Hotel and Century Hotel Saipan. Tan also presides over CTSI Logistics, a transportation and freight company that originated in Saipan and now has offices in 17 cities in 11 countries. CTSI will open its Airport Industrial Center in Tiyan in February. Tan is a director of Luen Thai Group, an international conglomerate specializing in apparel manufacturing, logistics services and software development.

Other companies in the Tan Holdings group are Dickerson and Quinn LLC, a food and consumer products distributor; TakeCare Health Systems LLC, a major health insurance and health care services provider on Guam; Century Insurance Co. on Guam and Saipan; Tango Theaters which operates the cineplexes in Micronesia Mall and the Agana Shopping Center; Asia Pacific Airlines; Century Travel and Tours in Saipan; Cosmos Distributing Co. Ltd., a wholesaler/distributor of consumer goods and general merchandise in Guam, NMI and Micronesia; and Blue Bay Petroleum, a company that markets the Mobil terminal and fuel products in Palau following the purchase of Mobil Oil of Micronesia Inc. assets by Tan Holdings in 2009.

Alongside his corporate responsibilities, Tan is committed to innumerable civic engagements in the community. “Community work is so interesting to me that if I did not have to work today, and this business was able to operate without me, I would actually like to be a community worker,” he says. “I enjoy helping people and am very satisfied when a project becomes a success.” Tan has carried that outlook into the company. “There is one thing that has given me great personal happiness, and that is the successful creation of a companywide culture of volunteerism. I’m very pleased with our executives, managers and employees with efforts in Guam and the CNMI. They’ve done so many projects and have donated their personal time and efforts to benefit both communities. It is very satisfying when I see our management staff cleaning beaches and rehabilitating parks in Saipan, or planting trees and flowers in Guam. I intend to continue our projects through 2010 and beyond.”

Vickie N. Izuka, assistant vice president and business banking officer for First Hawaiian Bank’s Oleai branch, is a friend who has known Tan and his family for more than 10 years. She says, “He is a proven and confident community leader serving on various public and community nonprofit boards. This too has shown his selfless service to the people of the CNMI and his uncanny ability to balance community service and philanthropy while simultaneously running one of the largest private companies in Micronesia.”

Among his civic positions, Tan is vice chairman of the Tan Siu Lin Foundation, the philanthropic nonprofit organization formed in 2002 and named after his father. The foundation’s aim is to improve and uplift the quality of life and wellbeing of every community that it serves. The foundation’s beneficiaries span the Western Pacific region. In 2007, Tan Holdings celebrated its 35th anniversary of doing business in Micronesia and commemorated that event by donating more than $2 million to educational institutions in the region.

Education is highly valued and regarded by the Tan family. The key recipients of the foundation’s donations of building funds and yearly scholarship disbursements are the UOG Endowment Foundation and Northern Marianas College. Other educational institutions that have received donations and other support include Palau Community College, College of Micronesia in Pohnpei, College of the Marshall Islands, Saipan International School, 19 public schools in the NMI, and the Chinese Schools of Guam and Saipan.

The foundation is also a major supporter of sports organizations throughout the region and sponsors baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis, paddling and sport fishing derbies in the Federated States of Micronesia. “He strongly supports campaigns, drives and activities involving sports and a healthy lifestyle for the community, especially the youth,” says Macario. “Because of the genuineness of his desire to help and his likeable personality, sharing not only his resources but his time, he is able to build positive relationships with the community, be it of different ethnicity. He has that great ability to create unity and trust among the groups, and his ability to work with different people from all walks of life is just admirable.”

Tan is an avid soccer fan. When he was a child in Hong Kong, he remembers, “Everyone around me would follow soccer. I used to love kicking the ball around, and still do,” he says. “I don’t have time to browse a lot of Web sites, but I have to admit that there is one Web site I check every day –– Soccernet.com. This is where I get all the global soccer news.” Says Izuka,“At a school board meeting about five years ago, casual discussion centered on a then recent news ad about interest in the revival of youth soccer in Saipan.

Jerry, who grew up playing the sport in Guam, is very passionate about soccer and was able to turn a few-minute conversation into an instant commitment from four individuals to help organize and launch what today is the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association.” Tan is president of the football association and an executive committee member of the East Asia Football Federation.

His other civic titles include chairman of the Marianas Visitors Authority, past president and current board member of the Northern Marianas College Foundation, president of the Chinese Association of Saipan, and president of the Saipan Bowling Association. He is a past director of the NMI Chapter of the American Red Cross and of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

Tan was named 2003 Businessman of the Year by the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. He was also recognized for his commitment to corporate social responsibility in resolutions presented by both the Saipan Municipal Council and the NMI Legislature in 2004. In December 2004, Tan was named 2004 Employer of the Year by the CNMI chapter of the Society for Human Resources Management for CTSI Logistics’ global employee care practices and his personal endorsement of the HR function.

Tan subscribes to a personal credo of “be humble” despite his professional and community achievements. “As difficult as it is, this is something that I always remind myself. The more successful people become, the more they tend to change. I have met a lot of people who are successful and remain humble, and I believe their humility, in turn, plays a role in their success,” he says. Those who are familiar with Tan look at his leadership style as inspiring. “He may not know it but by being who he is –– understanding, a great listener, slow to anger, patient, encouraging and sincere –– he inspires me and a lot of other people to be better,” Macario says. Izuka says, “Collectively, his attributes sum up to what I would characterize as a great role model for our islands. He is a respected leader in both private and public sectors and a good friend and colleague to many. Additionally, he is a dedicated family man who was raised in the Northern Mariana Islands and calls it his home.”

Tan is married to Lydia Tan and they have one daughter, Nathania, age 8.