After a lengthy public service career working in Guam’s executive and judiciary branches, recently elected Sen. Eulogio Shawn Gumataotao (R) has begun serving in the 38th Guam Legislature after being sworn in on Jan. 6.
The Center for Homeland Defense and Security alum and subject matter expert on policy and crisis communication was elected in November as one of 15 senators to win office for a two-year term. He also recently visited Washington, DC, to attend the inauguration of Pres. Donald Trump.
Gumataotao (Pacific Executive Leaders Program cohort 1802) noted that he will now serve in the third branch of government in the western Pacific island, a U.S. territory. He has already been appointed to serve as chairman of the Legislative Committee on Public Safety and Emergency Management.
After being elected, Gumataotao was required to step down as the Managing Partner of GET, LLC, a consulting and specialty construction materials and supplies firm based in Guam that serves local and federal government and private sector organizations in Micronesia, but will remain an Adjunct Instructor in the Division of Communications, Media, and Fine Arts at the University of Guam.
He said he was inspired to run for office by a “challenge sent across Guam by a local leader to get out of our comfort zones and do what we need to do and step up for our people in the U.S. Territory and all of Micronesia.”
“Public service is an important vocation,” Gumataotao said, adding that it “was a bit of a challenge to get out of my comfort zone” to run for office but that “this is a great opportunity to serve the public as one of only people to serve in all three branches of government in Guam.”
And he said he feels his CHDS education and support “has prepared me for this moment to provide the important policy support at this critical time in our Island’s history.”
Gumataotao, who was born in Guam but attended high school and college in California, said he was inspired to join public service and emergency management when he was an award-winning TV reporter and interviewed former FEMA administrator and CHDS subject matter expert Bill Carwile during the recovery from a major storm.
That helped prompt Gumataotao to join former Guam Gov. Felix P. Camacho’s administration in 2003 where he served as Director of Communications and Deputy Chief of Staff, establishing the island’s first Joint Information Center and helping write the first Guam Emergency Response Plan.
“I have always had a strong interest in emergency management from my early days of government service,” he said.
Gumataotao subsequently served as Director of Policy, Planning and Community Relations for the Judiciary of Guam where he was asked by then-Chief Justice Katherine Maraman to update the Branch’s Emergency Response, Recovery and COOP Plans, which he said hadn’t been done in years, as threats from North Korea had the Judiciary “preparing our Branch employees for a missile threat and working with the U.S. District Court of Guam on attacks on courthouses.”
That’s when Gumataotao attended PELP, which he called a “career-changing event.”
“The discussions on complexity specifically helped me rethink how we all should approach emergency management,” he said. “It has driven much of my work since, to include support of Guam and the federal government during the COVID pandemic.”
As a Senator, Gumataotao said he’ll bring his experience to bear on understanding the needs and limited resources available for island residents, noting that Guam is still in post-pandemic recovery especially with regard to the tourism industry. And he also pointed to the expansion of the U.S. military presence on the island, which hosts a naval base and an air force base, as important issues.
“I cannot overstate the fact that the whole of the island is watching not only how we defend the country but how we use resources to benefit the kind of community we have,” he said. “It’s exciting.”
