Candise Nacole M. Lizama Aragon Grant Specialist Guam State Clearinghouse Office of the Lieutenant Governor
Candise Nacole M. Lizama Aragon is the daughter of Mark Anthony Gumataotao Lizama and Celeste Ann Santos Lizama. Candise is the granddaughter to Defunto Pedro “Pete” Leon Guerrero Santos and Rosario San Nicolas Santos (Familian Maca of Chalan Pago) and Juan Cruz Lizama and Ana Gumataotao Lizama (Familian Kondo of Mangilao/Barrigada)(adopted paternal grandparents) and Teresita Fejeran Iriarte Dungca of Tumon (biological grandmother). Candise married Aaron Teriong Aragon of Santa Monica, California. She is a Grant Specialist in the Guam State Clearinghouse, under the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, where she oversees compliance between federal grantors and their local entities equated to hundreds of millions of dollars in the areas of infrastructure, administration, legal, economy and military for the Government of Guam. Candise’s most recent accomplishment was securing $720 thousand in competitive federal funding for digitalizing the Office of the Governor’s records and converting microfilm and microfiche files to digital format for record retention. In addition to the securing of funding she is now managing a total of $2,607,000 in technical assistance funding. Her most recent projects are to seek funding and a strategy to address Guam’s Invasive Species, the Chain of Love (Kadena) and to seek funding and strategies for Guam’s Veteran State Home Community Project. In addition to grant work, Candise also has other duties inclusive of coordinating events and projects for the Islandwide Beautification Task Force (IBTF) and the permitting of the Great Seal of Guam. Candise is a proud gecko for life, who graduated from George Washington High School with a concurrent Guam Community College Marketing Mastery Certificate. Her mastery certificate also included internships for high school credit at the Under Water World Guam and the Small Business Pacific Development Center. After high school, she proceeded to achieve her Bachelor of Business Administration, concentrating in Entrepreneurship from the University of Guam. Before starting college classes, in 2012, Candise interned at the District Court of Guam under the Chambers of the Chief Justice. In between attending classes at the university, Candise served as a Procurement Intern at Alvarez and Marsal, LLC (A&M, GDOE Third Party Fiduciary) in 2014 and worked at Ross Stores Incorporated, TuRe’ Café, and the Bank of Guam Mangilao and Harmon Branches. Since working at the Guam State Clearinghouse, Candise has received certification for Guam’s Procurement Technical Training in Modules I-IV in and a Verified Certificate of Achievement (VCA) for Academic Engagement in Public Policy with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MITx).
17 | 50 Under 40: Emerging Leaders in the Government of Guam
