By Meghan Hickey
Photos by Victor Consaga

Frances O. Baumann
Owner and president
Baumann Advertising

Frances O. Baumann has worked in the advertising industry for almost 40 years. Moving to Guam from Oregon in 1974, she served as development director and television producer of KGTF-TV/PBS — bringing Sesame Street icons such as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch to the island — and as advertising director for Garrison & Associates and partner for Brown & Baumann Advertising and Buamann & Castro Advertising before becoming owner and general manager for Baumann Advertising in 1987, working with clients such as Calvo’s SelectCare, Staywell Insurance, Bank of Guam, Citibank and more. She has won more than 70 major awards for outstanding print, TV and radio advertising and marketing, including 10 national and international awards and more than 30 blue-ribbon first place local awards.

Baumann was born in Seattle, Wash., and holds a 1969 bachelor’s in political science with a minor in psychology from the University of Michigan/Ann Arbor.

She served in a variety of community positions since 1974, including as publicist for the Opera of the Pacific, board member of Horizon Travel, founding member of the Communications Arts Guild of Guam, member and scholarship co-chairwoman of the Guam Marketing Association, two-time president of the Guam Press Club, member of the board of trustees for St. John’s Episcopal Prep School, co-founder and board member of the Hagåtña Pool Foundation and head of the Consortium to Fight Childhood Obesity. She is a member of KPRG National Public Radio and the Guam Chamber of Commerce.

Baumann and her husband, Ladd Baumann, have two children: Lesley Baumann Miller Crafton, 42; and Gabrielle Baumann Adams, 39.

Jessica R. Leon Guerrero
President and owner
M80 Systems Inc.

Jessica R. Leon Guerrero invested in M80 Systems Inc. and joined her husband Carlo Leon Guerrero in their shared passion for design in 2018. For approximately six months before switching to M80 Systems full-time, she served a dual role as president and owner of M80 as well as full-time brand manager for Island Wines & Sprits, a subsidiary of Mid-Pac Distributors Inc. and a company she has been with since 2006.

Leon Guerrero was born in Germany and grew up on Guam, where she graduated from George Washington High School in 2002. After graduation, Leon Guerrero and her sister moved to Majuro, Marshall Islands for volunteer missionary work, where they also partnered with a Marshallese friend to open a small wholesale business before coming back and delving further into the sales, marketing and wholesale industry.

She served/s as secretary for the Food and Beverage/Marketing-Communications Committee of the Guam Hotel & Restaurant Association, a member of the Calvo Marketing Group, board member and treasurer of the Tourism Education Council, a member of the Guam Memorial Hospital Volunteer Association and a board member at the Guam Children’s Museum.

She was recognized with the 2019 Guam Chamber of Commerce Reina A. Leddy Guam Young Professional of the Year Award in January.

Leon Guerrero and her husband, Carlo Leon Guerrero, have five children: Kyle, 23; Tessa, 19; Kiara, 18; Dashton, 6; and Carina, 4.

Chen Yu Mack
President and CEO
StayWell Insurance
Owner
Evergreen Health Center and Evergreen Pharmacy and Supplies

Chen Yu Mack has been a director and shareholder of StayWell Guam since 1986. In 2008, she took a more active role in managing StayWell to form IHIAC Inc., the holding company, and Island Home Insurance Co. After becoming the sole owner in 2015, she also established Yu Property, Evergreen Health Center and will open a new pharmacy in Spring 2019. Under Mack’s leadership, StayWell embarked on a major rebranding that saw the company move to new and expanded headquarters, update its branding and develop its social responsibility platform.

Mack was born in Taiwan and moved to Guam in 1972. She represented Guam in the 1977 American Model Association competition in New York and was awarded two Grand Titles for Fashion Fair: Make Up and Runway. She has a 1984 associate’s in interior design from San Bernardino Community College in California.

In 2015, she established the StayWell Guam Diabetes Foundation to give back to the community through its mission. StayWell also supports the Charlie Corn Scholarship Golf Tournament; sponsored the Guam Department of Education’s Elementary schools’ three-day training on nutrition and physical activity; donated $30,000 to the Guam Tano-Ta Branch Club, a branch of the Guam Sunshine Lions Club, for a Mobile Health Screening Van Project; and contributes to numerous other community programs that are aligned with its vision. Mack is a member of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, the Guam Chamber of Commerce, the Guam Contractors Association and many other nonprofit organizations.

She has three children: Cierena D. Mack, Amanada J. Cesario and Alyssa J. Cesario.

Caroline H. Sablan
Vice president and relationship banking manager
Bank of Guam

Caroline H. Sablan began in the banking industry with a part-time job at a bank in California where she found she enjoyed meeting and helping people from all walks of life — and has developed and risen in banking as a career. Starting with Bank of Guam Santa Cruz in 1984, she has steadily progressed during the past 26 years from new accounts representative to assistant cashier-consumer loan officer to assistant vice president, operations manager and business development to her present position as vice president and relationship banking manager.

She was born on Guam and holds a 2007 degree from the American Bankers Association School of Bank Marketing and Management from Northwestern University in Chicago, as well as a 2018 certificate of completion from the ABA Commercial Lending School at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Tex.

Sablan is president of the Guam Women’s Club; past president of the Soroptimist International of the Marianas and Guam Council of Women’s Club; board secretary of the American Red Cross, Guam Chapter; and treasurer of the Rotary Club of Guam. She serves as the board treasurer for the Federation of Asia-Pacific Women’s Association and is a member of the Guam Chamber of Commerce, Guam Visitor’s Bureau, Rigalu Foundation, Guam Running Club and Guam Triathlon Federation.

She and her husband, Mark J. Sablan, have three children: Christine R. H. Quinata, 48; Mark J. Sablan II, deceased; and Lauren R. H. Sablan, 27.

Rose A. Soledad
General manager
IT&E CNMI

Rose A. Soledad has served for 27 years in the telecom industry and oversees the staff and all operational and administrative functions of IT&E and its subsidiary, PTI Pacifica Inc., in directing the profitable growth of the corporation’s CNMI operations. Since 1992, she has helped guide IT&E to be part of the first undersea fiber-optic cable system that connected Saipan, Rota, Tinian and Guam, as well as helped build a network of more than 60 miles of buried fiber that can survive forces of nature like storms, delivering internet access directly to neighborhoods throughout the CNMI. With the recent natural disasters, Soledad helped lead in the recovery of Saipan — immediately donating devices, services and funds to local organizations for relief efforts as well as $100K to the American Red Cross and LED solar lamps to bring light during a time of recovery. She also helped lead relief efforts for IT&E associates that lost their homes and coordinated shipping containers of food, clothing and other much needed items.

Soledad was born in Ilocos Sur, Philippines, and has a 1982 bachelor’s in accounting from the Philippine School of Business Administration in Manila. She is also licensed as a 1983 Certified Public Accountant in the Philippines.

She is a board member of the Northern Marianas Humanities Council and the Finance Council of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, and is a member and supporter of the Commonwealth Advocates for Recovery Efforts CNMI, Marianas March Against Cancer/Commonwealth Cancer Association, CNMI Aging & Disability Resource Center, NMI Museum of History and Culture, The Ben Lorenzo Foundation, MP United Football Club and the American Red Cross CNMI Chapter.

Soledad and her husband, Jorge Soledad, have one son: Sam Soledad, 20.

Pacita A. Tomada
President and general manager
National Car Rental
Owner
SureStay Hotel by Best Western

Pacita A. Tomada has significantly generated community employment through her various roles as president and general manager of Emerald Pacific Group, which does business as Alamo/National Car Rental, Guam; president of Pacific Trinity Corp, which does business as EZ Auto Guam; president of Taga Pacific, which does business as Alamo/National/Enterprise Car Rental, Saipan; co-owner of Drive Services LLC, which does business as Enterprise, Guam and Cebu, Philippines; co-owner of Palau Trinity Corp., Palau; owner of Tent Corp., which does business as SureStay Hotel by Best Western, Guam; and president of Tent Corp., which does business as PhilGuam – USA Travel & Tours, Guam.

Tomada was born in Baguio City, Philippines and has a 1976 bachelor’s in accounting from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, is a 1978 certified public accountant and has a 1978 master’s in business administration from the University of Santo Thomas in the Philippines.

She is a member and supporter of the Guam Chamber of Commerce, Pacific Islands University, Faith Bookstore, Varo, the Salvation Army Guam, Guam Cancer Care, the Small Business Focus and Development Committee of the Guam Chamber of Commerce, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Committee and Feed Community, Philippines.

Tomada and her husband, Danilo Cepeda Tomada, have three children: Mia Tomada Doerksen, deceased; John Abuan Tomada, 40; and Jamie Tomada Masuda, 32.

Vanessa L. Williams
Attorney at law and owner
Law Office of Vanessa Williams PC

Vanessa L. Williams has served for 15 years in the legal industry and began her own company of the Law Office of Vanessa Williams PC just one year after graduating from law school. She advises and represents businesses, non-profits and government/quasi-government entities in range operational and transactional matters, representing clients such as ExxonMobil, Gershman, Brickner & Bratton Inc., the Guam Regional Medical City, Korando Corp., International Bridge Corp., the Guam Solid Waste Authority as Special Assistant Attorney General, Guahan Academy Charter School and the Government of Guam Civil Service Commission.

Williams was born on Guam and holds a 2005 bachelor’s in management science from the University of California, San Diego and a 2010 juris doctorate from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

She has contributed to four published research publications and is a member of the California Bar and the Guam Bar & Guam Federal District Court, director of the board for ANZ Guam Inc., member of the Rotary Club of Tumon Bay and is a commissioner of the board for the Hagåtña Restoration & Redevelopment Authority. She is a founding member of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce and served as president for two years.

Williams has one daughter: Audrey Williams, 3.