Meeting Marie Cunning, President of FPACC

Marie Cunning, FPACC president with Zeno Martinez of Nextmedia

Marie Cunning is the president of the Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce, Inc.  It consists of 35 chapters all over the United States. Here in the Philippines, FPACC’s counterpart is the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the US, the FPACC is the largest Filipino-American business organization.

On the business side, Marie Cunning is a developer.  She owns a construction company. She builds shopping centers and high-rises in Arizona. She also owns several flooring stores, cabinets and countertops shops, and a real estate business. Recently, she bought a door shop in Mexico. Topping all these businesses is her own fashion boutique which is a personal interest business because Marie herself used to be a model.

FPACC is a regular attendee of the PCCI's Philippine Business Conference & Expo. Their members have been coming to PCCI’s event for the past 20 years. They try to do it every other year. Next year, the FPACC will be hosting the US business conference in Arizona, Marie's home state. Arizona is one of the original members of the federation. It was 20 years ago when it started. Marie’s group was one of the first chambers to join. “I have 180 Filipino businesses in Arizona - just Arizona. That’s just one state. Texas is even bigger, and California, of course," said Marie.

She further revealed that in their 20 years, it is actually the first time in their federation's history that they are doing a humanitarian mission. She wants the federation to be known as social entrepreneurs. Marie further said “You know, it’s not just the almighty dollar. I want people to know that we’re also an organization with a heart. I just didn’t want us to be known as business people.” 

According to her, they have raised over $300,000 for this mission. They are going to Calapan, Mindoro on Sunday where they will help 2,500 Mangyan families. “We’re doing free plastic surgeries for cleft palates. We’re doing cataract surgeries. Right now, it’s a trade mission. Next week, it’s a medical mission.” Marie added.

With regard to FPACC’s trade mission, she explained that they bring businesses from the US that want to do business in the Philippines. They are in constant communication with PCCI who looks at the mix of the businesses that they are bringing and matches them with PCCI members with the same businesses. With this, Marie said, “We have generated  over 6 billion dollars worth of business.”

Meeting Marie Cunning was indeed a great pleasure. She is a living proof that Filipinos remain Filipinos regardless of the heights and miles that they have reached. They will always find their way back to their roots. And wherever they may be, they can excel if they wanted to.