Board Member

The last 32 years has been a blessing. I’ve had the opportunity to grow and work within the communities of Boys and Girls Club of Garden Grove, UCP-OC and Ted Talks. I started with FACCOC late 2018 as a student representative through Irvine Valley College. There I met Jeffery Bautista, a mentor, boss and
now friend.

I am proud and grateful for the opportunity to represent FACC Cerritos and look forward to once again represent a community that strives to excel and give back. With my extensive knowledge in business financing I know I can help provide a better insight for businesses by providing value not only through my expertise but also being a business owner myself.

As the Business Counselor for SIPA, Dave gives assistance to business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in Historic Filipinotown and beyond.

Born in Quezon City, he has over 15 years of marketing and events experience working with The Boys & Girls Clubs of LA County, American Cancer Association and Disney to name a few. Passionate about philanthropy, his goal is to elevate our community with fresh ideas that will set the foundation for future generations.

Mr. Gerry Palon, two (2) time President of the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles (2015 & 2017) and previously the Executive Vice President of the Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce (a conglomeration of Fil Am Chambers all over the US), holds two (2) Masteral degrees with Distinction awards – MBA from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and Master in Accounting & Finance Management from the Keller School of Management of DeVry University. He took his Bachelor of Arts in Economics “Cum Laude” from the University of Santo Tomas.

Currently, he works full time as a Staff (Sales) Manager of Western & Southern Life Insurance Co., a Fortune 500 Financial Services company dealing with life insurance, retirement solutions and financial investments. Prior to moving to the US in 2008, Gerry came from a successful General Management career leading various top food service firms in the Philippines for almost 28 years. Gerry was instrumental in leading an international trade & investment delegation from the USA to the Philippines last Oct. 2016 and eventually forged various Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) which eventually led to joint venture trades between the US and Philippine companies garnering more than 500 million dollar worth of investments. This year, Gerry was again a major contributor to the successful undertaking of FPACC’s International Trade Conferences held in Scottsdale, Arizona (Nov. 10-12) and in Los Angeles (Nov. 14-15) resulting to tripling of MOU accomplishments last year. Locally at the chamber chapter level, he has steered his team to be a dynamic contributor to the local economy by encouraging the creation and helping to set up more FilAm Chamber of Commerce chapters, facilitating the creation of effective platforms for Fil-Ams to start their own businesses, coordinating with local city government agencies in supporting start-ups and small businesses and all the accompanying support mechanisms a Chamber of Commerce could do for its constituents.

His great passion, work ethics, and lifestyle are centered around bringing back to the community whatever he has achieved in life capitalizing from his wealth of experience in the corporate business world.