1) Throw Back 2) In the Now, and 3) Take Away

Josephine 'Josie' Guico Villanueva served as President of the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) Guam Chapter for the 2022-2023 program year. This article is adapted from her President's Message, published in AGA's Guahan Gaseta.

Throw Back

July has always been a special month for me which reminds me of the month I was born and when my father passed away 5 years ago. There are two quotes that resonate with me as it relates to this significant event in my life. The first one is “The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible.” by Richard Devos and “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” by Charles R. Swindoll. As I celebrate my birthday, I always have a habit of making a diary of what happened to me in the past year and what I hope to accomplish for the following year. Becoming your AGA Guam Chapter president was not really part of the bucket list because of my competing commitments but I extend credit to the person who nominated me and believe that I can make a difference. I had been with AGA for the past 10 years in various capacities as Treasurer and served on various committees and do volunteer work. As my favorite quote from Spiderman’s movie says, “Great Power comes with great responsibility.” Being entrusted with a position means you have the opportunity to make a positive and lasting impact, but the challenge lies in balancing effectiveness over popularity. It is my hope that I continue to build a team that is passionate about the mission of the AGA through all your support. This year we have 17 committees and 43 officially listed Chapter Executives Committee members who I am counting on to continue to build a team that is committed to giving back to the profession.

Photo taken on April 12, 2019, 67th Annual Commencement Exercise, giving Keynote Speech at San Miguel Elementary School.

In The Now

Last Saturday, July 27, 2022, AGA Guam Chapter successfully added to its history books its 19 th Annual 5K as our Young Professional Committee Chair - Rachel Cubacub noted as she energetically hosted the raffle games and raffle prizes during the event. My heartfelt thanks also go to our committee chair – Ms. Vanessa Valencia with her co-chairs Steve Terlaje and Romar Tapeceria. Their bold moves of pulling together a live Annual 5K event after two years of stand-still due to COVID was a success. It was also made possible through the guidance and mentorship of the former community service committee chair – Margie FranciscoCastro and the collective efforts of the rest of the CEC, sponsors, and other volunteers. Kudos to all! Through the event, we can continue to provide scholarships to UOG and GCC students and we hope to continue to extend them to other students pursuing higher education in finance and accounting. We also take pride in the AGA Guam Chapter’s achievements for the last program year 2021- 2022 under the leadership of Ms. Maripaz Perez. It was indeed the outcome of “Resilience: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities.”. Again, the AGA Guam Chapter received the highest recognition for the Achievement in Chapter Excellence Award as we receive the Platinum Award. Two top recruiters were also awarded to Jojo Guevarra and Pilar Pangelinan, and PDT Awards Distinction – in Education was awarded to Dr. Doreen T. Crisostomo-Muna, and I am also humbled to receive one of the Volunteers of the Year Award. For more photos of the events, please read our newsletter.

Photo taken on June 30, 2018, one of my favorite Annual 5k photos with Dr. Billy Morehead, Floregine, and Jojo.

Take Aways

I was fortunate to be part of the Travel Expo that represented Guam in the Philippines last June 2022. It was my first hands-on experience. Traditionally, we have business cards to pass along to prospective business contacts. To my surprise, one of our in-country marketing representatives was sharing this QR Code which automatically populates contact information to the phone’s contact list of the recipient. Initially, I was taken aback by his perceived lack of preparation. When I try to understand it more to appreciate his paperless style of the sharing business card, I see the added value, it saves time, saves cost, and saves trees. Out of curiosity, I googled how it works, and just recently I took my business card to the next level and digitized it. Here is my contact information in a form of QR code. To create a business card like this, you need to Create a log-in profile at Canva at https://www.canva.com/design/DAFHSTKFhFI/_TA3CEN W9D7108Gh_M42qg/edit . To create a Vcard - QR code go to https://www.qr-codegenerator.com/ and populate your information. After completing the VCard QR Code, copy the QR code and paste it to your new business card created in Canva. Snip it, and there you have it ready to be shared. The lesson I’ve learned is that people make initial assumptions without knowing, understanding, and exploring ideas and be open to learning new things.

I would like to close my message with my two favorite quotes from Steve Jobs, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” and “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So, you have to trust that the dots somehow connect in your future.” If you have any topics that you would like me to cover in my future message or any suggestion to better engage our members and prospective members, please do not hesitate to email me at agaguamchapterpresident@gmail.com or call or message me at my new contact info.

Business card with the Vcard QR Code.

AGA1stPresidentsMessage.pdf

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