Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Faith M Tasi Availepule has been named to the Executive Development Leadership Program for 2021. Ms Availepule currently serves as the senior accountant for the American Samoa Government (ASG) Department of Treasury in the Finance Division. She began her career in the Finance Division as a staff accountant and grant analyst in 2018.

During her first year, she was in charge of monthly bank reconciliations for various programs. The programs included all cash accounts for grants funding, Customs Revenue collection, as well as the American Samoa Economic Development Authority (ASEDA) trust bank accounts.

As a Grant Analyst, she was assigned two main grants funding belonging to the ASG Department of Education School Lunch Program and the ASG Governor's Office Medicaid Program. Her daily responsibilities consisted of bank reconciliations, providing technical support to the department finance officers, preparing complex analyses of revenue and expenditure reports, reviewing and ensuring compliance with grant specifications and appropriate reporting for financial statement presentation. In addition to serving as a staff accountant and grant analyst, she assisted in preparing daily cash reports and all bank related functions for the American Samoa Government Department of Treasury.

Faith was a business teacher for the American Samoa Government Department of Education from 2012-2015. As a teacher, she invested most of her time hosting informative college and Career Fairs at both Samoana and Fagaitua high schools. Faith was also actively involved with both high schools' accreditation where she was the secretary for the Focus Group A (Organizational and Leadership) and played a big role in both successful accreditations.

She was appointed as the department head for the Business department while at Fagaitua, during which she conducted college preparatory sessions to include college application awareness and training, Financial Aid (FAFSA), and Scholarship trainings. Her experience teaching business elective classes, hosting informative sessions on College Preparation and Career Fair prepared her better serve ASG’s Department of Treasury.

Faith is a proud alumnus of Chaminade University of Honolulu, earning both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in business administration, with emphasis in Accounting.

The ELDP Class of 2021 held its Kick-Off Session with a virtual meeting on September 4, 2020. Participants got to meet each other, their instructors, and their support team for the first time. They also received a high-level overview of the year’s activities and their assignments for their next meeting. Most sessions will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.