SPJA Board Appoints New Executive Team

Santa Ana, CA – October 20, 2016 – The SPJA Board of Directors is pleased to announce that it has appointed two long-time members of its leadership team to move forward together as its executive team.  Ray Chiang, who has served as interim Chief Executive Officer since April 4, 2016, will resume his role as Chief Operating Officer. Mark Manansala, who had been serving as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, will take on the role as Chief Executive Officer.

Since volunteering for Anime Expo 2009 in the Access Control department, Manansala continued to become more involved in SPJA throughout the years. After being elected to the SPJA Board in 2012, he served two consecutive terms until October 16^th, 2016, when he resigned from the Board to join the SPJA.

Outside of his volunteer service, Manansala has had a long and successful track record of overseeing commercial banking at US Bank and Wells Fargo, where he played an integral part in growing companies in a variety of industries.  In addition, he has served as a community advisor to many local nonprofits over the years.

“The Board is delighted to welcome Mark as the new CEO of SPJA,” said John Roadarmel, Chairman of the Board, “we look forward to Ray and Mark taking SPJA into the future, with the rest of SPJA’s outstanding directors and staff.”

“Ray and I aim to improve the SPJA by investing in our infrastructure, enhancing the quality of the attendee experience at our events, and continuing focus on further development of our employees and volunteers,” said Mark Manansala of his new position at SPJA.