AGA Guam Chapter Newsletter Editor Debbie Ngata published the July 2021 AGA Guahan Gaseta, your source for all things AGA!
First Coffee Klatch of CGFM Committee - July 24, 2021
In celebration of and in line with CGFM's 25th Anniversary, the AGA Guam Chapter's CGFM Challenge was 25# of canned goods. We exceeded the 25#! Si Yu'os Ma'ase to all our March training attendees for your donations! All goods collected will be donated to Guma San Jose as part of our association's community service.
AGA Guam Chapter Newsletter Editor Debbie Ngata published the July 2021 AGA Guahan Gaseta, your source for all things AGA!
WELCOME!
Important Links
The Association of Government Accountants (AGA) Guam Chapter serves professionals in the government financial management community by:
-
providing quality education;
-
fostering professional development certification; and
-
supporting standards and research to advance government accountability.
Message from the President
Events & Announcements
2021 Professor John M. Phillips Excellence in Government Accountability Award
Nominations are due August 27, 2021.
Email agaguamchapter@gmail.com or visit our Awards page for details.
-------------------------------------------------------
July 2021 General Membership Zoom Meeting
July 28, 2021 at 11:45 a.m.
Topic: "Practical Intro to People Analytics"
Speaker: Daphne Leon Guerrero, Society for Human Resource Management - Guam Chapter President
One (1) CPE will be provided to AGA Chapter Members who participate during the 50-minute session with polls. The Non-Members fee is $15 and a separate email will be sent.
-------------------------------------------------------
June 2021 General Membership Zoom Meeting
June 23, 2021 at 11:45 a.m.
Topic: "A Look at Leadership: Why You Should Be Interested"
Speaker: Dr. Albert "Al" Valentine, Ph.D. , U.S. Air Force (Retired), Assistant Professor of Management
-------------------------------------------------------
May 2021 General Membership Zoom Meeting
May 26, 2021 at 12:00 p.m.
Topic: We will be presenting the AGA Guam Chapter Awards, Accountability and Transparency in Citizen-Centric Reporting Award for GPD, and CGFM Scholarship.
-------------------------------------------------------
Buenas yan Hafa Adai!
Welcome to our AGA Guam Chapter Website! It is a great honor for me to serve as your Chapter President for program year 2021-2022, which started on July 1st. I would like to congratulate our new AGA National President Gerry Boaz who will be leading us through 2022. During the Passing of the Gavel ceremony at the 2021 Professional Development Training, Gerry shared his platform and the vision for AGA during his term. Key objectives included seeing opportunities and not obstacles; inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility; and doubling our size and impact by having every members recruit one new member. Our president also wants to focus on holding up AGA members as though-leaders and problem solvers. In line with our National President's key objectives and focus, our Guam Chapter's theme for 2021-2022 is "Resilience: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities."
The changes around us—"the new normal"—require that we become more resilient and navigate through new and increasingly complex environment, which impacts our workplace, communities, and the accountability profession. Our chapter and national organization is a vast network of robust resources and provides a great asset when facing these new challenges. I draw the theme of resilience in 2021-2022 as most attention turns to post-COVID recovery. This could translate to less support by employers to our members. Resilience can help us get through and overcome hardships. It will be a trait that will help our chapter going through the difficult times ahead.
Turning obstacles into opportunities is withstanding difficulties and bouncing back and growing despite the downturns. Your Guam Chapter will embrace this new normal and continue to fill the need for more communication and collaboration on strategies as we adapt. We are planning to offer hybrid meetings this program year where we'll have face-to-face General Membership Meetings every quarter (September & December 2021 and March & June 2022). The meetings will be limited with the applicable capacity and with appropriate social distancing. Leveraging the very talented pool of our members and other professional organizations, we will continue to have guest speakers to present on various topics for continuing professional education credits.
I am proud of our Chapter's successes over the last year. Despite the pandemic, our chapter did an excellent job delivering high-quality guest speakers; hosting a very successful virtual Professional Development Conference for the first time; and reaching out to our students by being guest speakers in their classes or general meetings. Our chapter also remained true in advancing accountability by ensuring that government agencies prepare their Citizen-Centric Reports and provided guidance to comply with the reporting requirements. The CGFM certification committee continued its various outreach programs and conducted several virtual meetings in efforts to continue to encourage our accountability professionals and advance the CGFM as the certification of choice. We also gave back to our community through 50 minutes of community service, beach and village clean-up, tutoring, presenting at career days, and donating food at the homeless shelters.
I am very proud and blessed to have a great and dynamic team this program year. Your committee leaders are dedicated and will continue to hold a wide variety of events, including more opportunities to engage with each other face-to-face and online. Your Membership Committee are looking to create an incentive program that would benefit both the members and the chapter. Some incentives include free monthly meals for sponsoring a member or free training opportunities. The Certification Committee has a full slate of various outreach, scholarships, presentations, and get together events for all CGFM’s. They are also working on safe ways for opportunities to mentor and encourage other AGA members to take the CGFM exams. Other exciting activities planned include more frequent mentorships and coffee klatch meetings.
Engaging more with our future accountability professionals at the University of Guam (UOG) and Guam Community College (GCC) is a collaborative effort being planned by our Young Professional and Standards Committee leaders. The committee's plan is focused on cultivating and supporting the career paths of our young professionals through networking, career presentations, and offering educational opportunities. This is further enhanced by our Scholarships Committee where they will continue to offer academic scholarships to our UOG and GCC students. Also, our Accountability Committee plan is focused on ensuring that our Government of Guam agencies prepare Citizen-Centric Reports that are informative, pertinent, timely, and meets the established reporting guidelines. This key objective is one of the cornerstones where AGA helps to improve our government's accountability and transparency to its citizenry.
Creative and frequent communications strategies are being developed by our Communications Committee. They will continue to communicate timely chapter business, events, and training opportunities through various outlets. Our members are our significant assets and celebrating our members through member features and their achievements is in the works. Moreover, we are a very caring and community-conscious group. Our Community Service Committee has a line-up of various community service events, like feeding the homeless and school supplies and canned food drive—which addresses genuine community needs. Members are also highly encouraged to volunteer at least 50-minutes of their time in giving back to the community by road or beach clean-ups, tutoring, or educational presentations.
As we start our Guam Chapter's 51st year, I would encourage you not only to join our association, but also to volunteer by contributing to the newsletter, participating in our committees, and assisting us in advancing government accountability. Please let me know of you have any questions or if you would like to get involved in a committee for our chapter. You may send us an email at agaguamchapter@gmail.com. We look forward hearing from you.
Our chapter is comprised of many talented, diverse, and dedicated professionals. We thank you members for your continuous support and participation in our association and to the accountability professional community. I look forward to working with you all. Let's make 2022 another one of our best year as we turn obstacles into opportunities!