Four young leaders from American Samoa are among forty new participants of the Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) for the Pacific and Caribbean insular areas who were welcomed this week by Director of the Office of Insular Affairs, Department of Interior, Nikolao Pula by video teleconference.
The four local participants of the 2021 cohort are Faith Availepule, Jasper Tuiasosopo, Marcella Fitisone and Mikaela Saelua.
The 2021 Cohort is comprised of mid-level management public servants from American Samoa (4), Guam (4), the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (6), the U.S. Virgin Islands (9), the Federated States of Micronesia (7), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (4), the Republic of Palau (6).
“On behalf of the Office of Insular Affairs and the Department of the Interior, I’d like to welcome each of you,” said Director Nikolao Pula to the incoming ELDP cohort. “Each of you are leaders in your respective governments and come with impressive backgrounds of formal education and work experience.
“Through the ELDP, we endeavor to build upon the competence of young professionals to help them grow and give them the tools they need to succeed as future leaders in the U.S. territories and in the freely associated states.”
Competitively selected from a pool of over one hundred applicants, the members of the 2021 Cohort demonstrated steady career growth with increased levels of responsibility, as well as an expressed commitment to public service. They work primarily in finance and budget, education, health, commerce, and the environment sector.
