Pacific Insurance Underwriters Inc.’s existence in the last half-century is built upon the needs of the Commonwealth.   

The strong business foundation of Pacifica Insurance Underwriters, Inc. (PIUI) facilitated the islands post-war growth and development, and the boom and the downturn of the local economy in the past 50 years.   

As one of the largest institutional investors, it maintains a position that cannot be overlooked: a key institutional player that helped spur economic growth that augured following the islands’ cessation from the United Nation’s Trusteeship Administration to its eventual union with the United States as a Commonwealth.  

With the Covenant of the United States and the Northern Mariana Islands, which ushered in the implementation of development programs and benefits for the people, the founders of Pacifica Insurance Underwriters, Inc. began the company’s journey.

PIUI started with a shared vision by a group of men who were determined to find ways to help the islands develop economically by way of insurance. The late Jose ‘Joeten’ C. Tenorio, Joseph ‘Joe’ Screen, with the help of the Kuribayashi Family through their company Nanyo Boeki Kaisha (NBK), were instrumental in the establishment of a business partnership with Nanbo Insurance, the Managing General Agent (MGA) of Japan’s oldest insurance carrier Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Limited (TMI) in Guam at the time.  

They triumphed. The partnership led to the appointment of the newly formed PIUI as TMI’s exclusive MGA in the CNMI, and, eventually, the beginning of what would later become a full-fledged full line insurance agency offering coverage beyond the standard property and casualty.    

Today, the founders and shareholders of PIUI include the late Jose ‘Joeten’ C. Tenorio along with his wife the late Soledad “Daidai” Tenorio and their six children (Annie, Clarence, Patricia, Frances, Norman and Priscilla), the late Joe Screen (shares passed on to his son Stephen Alex Screen), Nanyo Boeki Kaisha (Kuribayashi Family), Tatsuru Ariizumi (shares donated to the Joeten Daidai Foundation), the late Pete Ada Jr (share passed on to his son P. Sonny Ada) and the late Edward Terlaje, Esq.

Fifty years later, PIUI’s current corporate officers continue to move beyond the founders vision by continuing to bring in newer services and opportunities to adapt to the growing needs of its stakeholders in an era of growing competition.

Corporation directors, officers and recorders include Norman Tenorio, Annie Sablan, Stephen Alex Screen, P. Sonny Ada, Hiroyuki Kuribayashi, Roman “Bo” Palacios, Shirley Sablan, and Mike Terlaje.

Past corporation directors, officers and recorders include Edward Terlaje, Roman S. Palacios, Patricia T. Palacios, Yukio Kuribayashi, John Terlaje, Clarence T. Tenorio, Akira Inoue , Yoshie Screen, Tokugoro Kuribayashi, and Michael S Demapan.

Past and present presidents and chief executive officers of PIUI include Roman S. Palacios, Norman T. Tenorio, and Shirley Ann T. Sablan.  

Past general managers include Tatsuru Ariizumi and Estanislao “Stan” Waki.  

The single step pursued by the founders 50 years ago would later bring about opportunities and benefits for the development of the Northern Marianas and its people.  

Following the eventual establishment of the islands relationship with the United States, PIUI provided the needed assurance, and boosted confidence for future investors who began looking at the islands as a potential investment hub.  

The viability of the founders’ plans and vision for Pacifica Insurance Underwriters, Inc. to provide for insurance services, encouraged investors, including insurance companies, to open shop in the Northern Marianas. This movement became part of the post-war economic transition to modern-day growth of the islands.  

Jose ‘Joeten’ Camacho Tenorio, Joe Screen, Tatsuru Ariizumi, Pete Ada Jr., Edward Terlaje, and Tokugoro Kuribayashi (Nanyo Boeki Kaisha) are credited with the development of the insurance industry in the Northern Marianas. Their vision supported the opening up of economic development by providing that needed investment protection to the government’s economic diversification direction – which was on top of the newly formed Commonwealth government’s agenda.  

The company's first office was at Joeten complex, Susupe. It has never relocated since then.  

From its timid development fifty years ago to today, Pacific Insurance Underwriters Inc.'s contributions are immeasurable and commendable.