Guillermo "Gerry" M. Austria

The meteoric rise of Guillermo “Gerry” M. Austria to pinnacles of community service in the Filipino and Filipino-American community of the Northeastern United States was finally capped by his election, without opposition, as President of the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI), the elite corps of volunteer organizations whose raison d’être is to mount the annual commemoration of the Anniversary of the Declaration of Philippine Independence.

Gerry had been blazing a trail of prominence as a community leader when he was chosen Grand Marshall of the 2008 Philippine American Friendship Committee’s (PAFCOM) Friendship Day and Festival in Jersey City, New Jersey’s premier Fil-Am Parade and Festival.

He is very active in Filipino and Filipino-American organizations such as San Josenians of the East Coast; Batangas Association of Eastern Seaboard, USA; The Garden State Filipino- American Associations, Inc., Batangas City Association, USA; Federation of Philippine Societies of New Jersey, Inc., PACEC; Philippine American Friendship Committee, Inc., Order of the Knights of Rizal, New Jersey Chapter; Jersey City Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce, Inc. of which he is a founding member. In 2007, he chaired the PAFCOM Friendship Night Ball. After being elected to the Board of Directors of the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc., Gerry chaired PIDCI’s Diwa ng Kalayaan Search, Selection and Coronation Pageant and Gala Committee and a year later, the Philippine Independence Day Thanksgiving Mass Committee.

Gerry has two Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in Manila, Philippines: one in Civil Engineering and another in Architecture. He became a registered Architect in 1968. He attended seminars, such as the Professional Management Program and Problem Solving/Decision Making both in 1977. Before migrating to the United States, Gerry worked for several companies in the Philippines: Octavio A. Kalalo Associates, Herminigildo I. Mandanas Management Group, Inc. and The Manila Banking Corporation, to name a few. Six years after migrating to the U.S., he had served as Project Architect with two leading New York architectural firms: Dermont Reddy, P.E. and Castro-Blanco, Piscioneri and Associates, P.C.

He was the Catholic Action of Mary’s 2006 Santacruzan Hermano Mayor. In 2007 Gerry was a Twenty Outstanding Filipinos Abroad (TOFA) awardee of the Filipino Image Magazine in Washington, D.C., and a Community Leadership and Service awardee of the Federation of Philippine Societies in New Jersey, Inc.

Gerry is a highly successful entrepreneur being the President and CEO of the American Pinoy Food Mart, Inc., in Bayonne, Jersey City, and Bergenfield, all in New Jersey. As such, he has also been heaped with much-coveted business leadership awards, e.g. the Business Leadership Hall of Fame National Award from the Philippine Reports TV and VIA Times Newsmagazine of Chicago, Illinois; and the Leadership Award in Business from Pan American Concerned Citizens Action League, Inc. (PACCAL). This native of San Jose, Batangas is a loving husband to the lovely Imelda Endaya Austria, a Registered Nurse at the New York University (NYU) Langone Medical Center.

He is a proud father, blessed with four beautiful daughters: Katrina, 26, who is on the first year of her Medical Residency; and this spring (2009), Pia, 24, will have obtained a Master’s Degree in Forensic Science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; while Lucia, 22, graduates at Boston College’s Carol School of Management. The youngest, Laura, who is 14, is a freshman at New Jersey State’s Number 2 ranked High School, McNair Academic.