New engineering company sees opportunities for its expertise

BY KATIE AIZON
Journal Staff

Lue-Tek Engineering & Consulting LLC is Guam’s newest engineering firm specializing in corrosion and asset protection.

The company, established in October 2025, is searching for opportunities to address corrosion challenges throughout the region, conduct research, and provide mentorship for upcoming and established structural engineers on island.

Anissa-Valene Senior, president, Lue Tekola, vice president and principal structural engineer, and Jordan Fejeran Megofna, general manager, founded the company due to their shared interest in addressing the negative impacts of corrosion on infrastructure in the region.

Tekola, who worked previously in the mainland United States and Ethiopia, moved to Guam five years ago to work as a contractor at MacDonald-Beford LLC to support construction at Marine Corps Camp Blaz where he met Megofna who was employed as a contract specialist under Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific.

Tekola said he was exposed to how corrosion can cause significant challenges to Guam’s infrastructure after encountering an issue of accelerated deterioration of one of the buildings, despite only having been commissioned to the Marine Corps for less than two years.

“We did an assessment [of a tower] and we were shocked because the building had been commissioned for a year and a half and it was significantly degraded,” he said. “We went all the way to the top of the roof and by time we reached the roof the silicone coating had been severely damaged.”

According to Tekola, the building had been built to last up to 50 to 75 years or more, which caused concern for the team as it had been a $100 million investment. This prompted the team to consider bringing in a corrosion specialist from off-island and conduct research on corrosion exposure in Guam, as materials shipped to Guam may not be able to handle the high levels of corrosion exposure on island.

“In Hawaii, we have a scale called Environmental Severity Category and it has five different levels. Guam is between C5 and CX … which is between the highest [level of corrosion exposure] and extreme,” he said.

Therefore, Megofna said they sought to provide corrosion expertise and look further into the issue locally.

“Going into this company we decided to focus on that niche and also whatever other engineering solutions [clients] may need our services for,” he said.

Megofna said Lue-Tek also seeks to potentially establish a mentorship or research relationship with the University of Guam School of Engineering, in hopes to invest in corrosion research and mentorship for engineering students.

“In the future we are planning to have some kind of joint venture with UOG, so we are writing a grant proposal for research,” Tekola said.

He said the proposal, which includes a budget and detailed write up, is 95% complete and suggests establishing a four-year research program from 2027 to 2030.

“The corporation is not only about the buildings; it’s more about giving back to the community and that is one thing Lue-Tek is all about,” Megofna said. “When we actually sat down and spoke about it, we asked what we can give back to Guam, and education is a very important aspect of all three of our lives.”

“At the end of the day, we said, ‘Let’s do research.’”

Other than research, the company is currently ensuring it has all the licenses and documentation it will need for future projects, such as System for Award Management registration, which would allow the company to conduct business federally. mbj