Board of Regents endorses NMC president’s 2024-2025 evaluation 

08/14/2025 - The Northern Marianas College Board of Regents endorsed the evaluation of NMC president Galvin Deleon Guerrero for the school year 2024-2025 during its board meeting last Aug. 13 at the college’s As Terlaje campus.

The Board of Regents needs to endorse the president's evaluation to ensure accountability and transparency in the leadership of NMC. The endorsement also ensures alignment with the college's strategic goals. 

In addition, the endorsement provides a formal stamp of approval, signifying the Board of Regents’ agreement with the evaluation's findings and recommendations, and confirms that the NMC president's performance is in line with the Board of Regents’ expectations and the college's mission.

Deleon Guerrero thanked the Board of Regents for unanimously voting on his evaluation.

“I just want to thank the board for moving forward with a very unique and very sort of effective way of evaluating. You've done a 360-Evaluation, and that is a very difficult process. I want to recognize HR director Polly Masga, who basically had to do a lot of that manually, and thank [HR Committee] chair [William] M. Cing for leading that process,” he said. 

Deleon Guerrero said it's also important to note that the Board of Regents has consistently evaluated him for four years in a row, and that is an incredible resource when it comes to accreditation.

“Because one of the recommendations was to support the president and the president's ongoing development and growth, and having that feedback, that annual feedback in setting the goals and following the national standards set forth by the American Association of Community Colleges is very, very helpful. So, I just wanted to thank the board and acknowledge that, because it's really quite rare. I think you've done more evaluations of your president than any previous board ever has, so I think that should be noted,” he said.

Aside from endorsing Deleon Guerrero, the Board of Regents also tackled its three vacancies following the exit of former chair Charles Cepeda and regents Irene Torres and Jeannie Mafnas.

Board of Regents chair Dr. Jesse M. Tudela updated the board by sharing that last Aug. 12, the members of the Board of Regents were formally introduced to Gov. David M. Apatang and Lt. Gov. Dennis C. Mendiola. Both assumed their new posts following the untimely passing of the late governor Arnold I. Palacios. 

Tudela, who was presiding over his first meeting as chairman, said during the said meeting, he sought Apatang’s assistance in reviewing the submitted names to fill in the vacancies. 

“We do have three vacancies that are being advertised on our NMC website, and we are hoping that the names submitted will head to the Senate for deliberation and hopefully confirmation of those candidates. And that's where we're at. The names will be reviewed by our governor and sent to the Senate,” he said.

Aside from chair Tudela, the Board of Regents currently is made up of vice chair Elaine Hocog Orilla, Michelle Lin Sablan, and William Cing.

Last Aug. 13’s Board of Regents meeting also saw the approval of NMC’s teach-out plans and agreements to ensure students can complete their education if a program or the institution itself closes. 

These plans outline how students will transfer to another institution or complete their degree requirements at NMC. NMC is also accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, which also reviews teach-out plans. 

“We are just ensuring continued diligent compliance with accreditation standards, policies, and procedures. So, a teach-out policy just lays out the steps that would be taken if, for whatever reason, a program needs to be phased out or needs to be closed or, God forbid, the institution needs to close. It basically lays out procedures to ensure that students are not left high and dry, that we will ensure proper custody of their records, and that we will ensure that if they transfer, their credits will be transferred,” said Deleon Guerrero.

NMC vice president for Administration and Advancement Frankie Eliptico also provided an update on the college’s infrastructure projects. 

“One of the highlights of the last couple of weeks is that our project manager from EDA, the Economic Development Administration, visited Saipan. As you know, there are several EDA-funded projects throughout the CNMI. Two of them are here at NMC, so we met with him, we did a one-to-one meeting with him here at the college, and he was able to tour our campus and also got to see the impact that the two buildings funded by EDA will be making,” he said. 

Eliptico said the representative from EDA was taken over by the impact of the programs that NMC continues to run despite some of the compromised facilities that the college consistently had to deal with, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency pods.

Another good news for NMC is that it received its 18th clean audit in a row and its second straight year of no findings, as reported by NMC chief financial officer David Attao. Lastly, Board of Regents member Michelle Lin Sablan was elected treasurer during the meeting.

Report by Mark Rabago