Hafa Adai.

This year, GTA will reach a historic milestone—seventy-one years of service to our island! There is so much to say about GTA’s rich history and commitment to keeping our community connected all these years through the latest technology and investments in infrastructure. Think about how many millions of phone calls and now emails and messages GTA supported during that time.  We have seen you through typhoons, natural disasters, and now this ongoing pandemic, and we will be here for you for years to come.

All organizations are made up of people and it is the people who make the organization what it is. When I reflect on our legacy, I can’t help but think about the thousands of men and women who have worked tirelessly to make GTA what it is today.

When I took the lead as CEO of our company, I committed to developing our local workforce by providing our team the experience and exposure to compete globally. Our vision is to inspire our island in everything we do, and that vision starts with our people. One of GTA’s four strategic pillars is to make our organization the Best place to work, because happy employees will make happy customers. Developing our workforce includes:

  • Creating a positive and impactful workplace culture.
  • Enhancing our recruiting journey through partnerships with higher institutions of learning.
  • Elevating our Learning and Development experience for productivity and efficiency.

Our People Operations team is doing a terrific job leading this effort. You can’t improve without measuring, and we so regularly survey our employees and conduct “pulse checks” to gather real feedback on everyday work life. I want our people to feel comfortable sharing their experience and to know that their leadership hears them. So far we have been able to delight our team and win Best Place to Work in 2020. I really hope we win again.

We are deeply rooted in this island, with generations of families proud to be part of the GTA familia. Take, for example, those who have dedicated almost 40 years of service, seeing us through exciting transformations: Nacrina Mendiola (38 years) and Corina Lizama (39 years). They are part of our GTA DNA.

Then there are members of our GTA familia who inspire other family members to build a career alongside them: The Bukikosa, Ibanez, Rozanski, Davis, Jesus, Lizama/Portodo, Dixon/Paulett, Gentapan/Hopkins families- just to name a few. 

While it’s important to reflect on the past, I’m super bullish on the future of GTA. We recently promoted four local rockstars to our executive team, and these are the next generation of young professionals that will lead GTA into the future. Let me finish with a great quote from Sir Richard Branson that really inspires me: “Train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t have to.”