Guam - The Legislature's Public Hearing Room was packed to capacity, as four people up for confirmation for the Guam Education Board appeared before lawmakers. Dr. Anita Enriquez, Paul Pineda, Barry Mead and former senator Francis Santos stood ready to field questions from the committee.

Santos is currently the associate administrator at Staywell Insurance Guam. He also worked as a manager at the Bank of Guam and served in the Guam Legislature from 1993 to 1998.

Pineda has been an educator in public and Christian schools for more than ten years. He is currently the president of Empower, Inc. and is the president of St. Paul Christian Schools.

Mead has spent the last two decades as a high school teacher and college professor.  He is well-known for his involvement in encouraging the development in tourism and hospitality skills for high school students, leading several groups to national championships in the field. He is also a former treasurer for the Guam Tourism Education Council.

Finally, Dr. Enriquez is the dean of the School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Guam.

Sitting GEB member and chairperson Ron Ayuyu testified in support of all four of the appointees' confirmation and looks forward to the experience and background they bring to the table. Ayuyu said, "As all these four nominees has a strong background and this will give us more opportunities working with them and to service our stakeholders within the Department of Education, enhance more improvements and work closely with the superintendent, administrators and the staff."

It's crucial the nominees are confirmed as soon as possible, because the current members aren't able to meet due to a lack of quorum. Additionally the board must begin dialogue on DOE's $287 million budget request for next fiscal year. There's one more appointee that will have to appear before senators - May Camacho's confirmation hearing is scheduled for Monday. She has been an educator on Guam since 1986, having worked as a public school teacher, speech pathologist, and most recently retired as the assistant superintendent of special education.

Meanwhile, more of the governor's appointees will be appearing before lawmakers for their confirmation hearing on deck tomorrow morning. The appointees to the Port board are Michael Benito, Eduardo Ilao and Dan Tydingco; that hearing starts at 9am. Then at 2 in the afternoon, the governor's appointees to serve on the Guam International Airport Authority's board will undergo their confirmation hearing. They are Francisco Santos, Chun Yun Tai, Rosalinda Tolan and Michael Ysrael.