The Kikawa/Goeas Group of Raymond James in Honolulu was recognized as one of the top institutional consulting teams in the nation. The firm was ranked No. 58 on Barron’s 2021 Top 100 Institutional Consulting Teams list and was the only consulting group from Hawaii to be included. Three of the group’s 10 partners – Larry Goeas, BBA ’84, Gregg Matsuura, BBA ’86 and Wesley Yamamoto, BBA ’77 – are Shidler College alumni. 

Mark Yamakawa, MBA ’87, was named Career Achievement Honoree in Pacific Business News’ annual Business Leadership Hawaii Awards. This annual recognition honors top business leaders from small, large and nonprofit businesses. Honorees are selected based on the impacts they’ve made on their companies, industries and communities. Yamakawa also retired as CEO from Hawaii Dental Service in 2021 after seven years with the company.

School of Accountancy instructor Manu Ka`iama, BA ’82, MAcc ’88, and Katrina-Ann Oliveira, EMBA ’19, have been working hard to preserve and promote resources for Native Hawaiian learning, while tapping into the Shidler alumni network.

Together, they have co-authored the Noʻeau Program grant, totaling $2.3 million, printing over 94,500 books in Hawaiian for immersion schools throughout Hawaiʻi, as well as creating 52 Hawaiian language audiobooks. Additionally, the grant provided opportunities for Hawaiians to work in graduate research and as teaching assistants across UH. The program also received support from Shidler alumnus Meh'ana Maka`iana`i, MBA ’07, along with help from Shidler Master in Human Resources candidate Morgan Plunkett.

Ka`iama and Oliveira were recently informed that they received the Mai ʻŌ A ʻŌ grant for five years, totaling $5.4 million. This grant specifically addresses technology as a means to education, assisting teachers to capitalize technological applications.

The Kikawa/Goeas Group of Raymond James in Honolulu was recognized as one of the top institutional consulting teams in the nation. The firm was ranked No. 58 on Barron’s 2021 Top 100 Institutional Consulting Teams list and was the only consulting group from Hawaii to be included. Three of the group’s 10 partners – Larry Goeas, BBA ’84, Gregg Matsuura, BBA ’86 and Wesley Yamamoto, BBA ’77 – are Shidler College alumni. 

David Morimoto, BBA ’91, has been appointed as the senior executive vice president at Central Pacific Financial Corp. and Central Pacific Bank. In his elevated role, he remains the chief financial officer of both entities and assumes leadership of the information technology, information security, legal and compliance departments. Morimoto has been with the bank for more than 30 years and most recently served as executive vice president.

Diane Paloma, MBA ’99, has been appointed as the president and CEO of Hawaii Dental Service. In this leadership role, Paloma provides strategic leadership for Hawai‘i’s largest dental health plan. She most recently served as the CEO of Lunalilo Home.

Caroline Anderson, BS ’94, has been promoted to director of planning for the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA). The HTA recently underwent a reorganization of its structure and operations and in this new role, Anderson will oversee the organization’s 2020-2025 strategic plan and 2021-2023 destination management action plans for each county. Anderson has been with HTA for more than 21 years and most recently served as director of community enrichment.

Pacific Business News honored women leaders and news-makers in its 23rd Annual Women Who Mean Business. Congratulations to Jamie Cheng, BBA ’99 for being named to the list for demonstrating a commitment to community service and for her leadership skills.

Kristanto Djuanda, JEMBA ’97, has been appointed global head of Quality & Customer Experience for ABB Robotics, Business Line Electronics in Shanghai. In this leadership role, he is responsible for the strategic direction and implementation of quality and customer excellence for industrial robot products and services. Djuanda previously served in various leadership roles at Philips Lighting in Indonesia and China and Samsung LED in South Korea.

Malcolm Inamine, BBA ’94, has been appointed as the executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Hawaiiana Group Incorporated. In this leadership role, Inamine heads all human resources functions for the company and for the homeownership associations (HOAs). He also oversees the building facilities and serves as the organization's safety officer. Inamine previously served as the vice president and chief operations officer at the Hawaii Foodbank. 

Shelee Kimura, BBA ’95, has been named CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries. In her elevated role, Kimura is responsible for the company’s operations on five islands. Since joining Hawaiian Electric in 2014, Kimura has held numerous senior leadership positions, including senior vice president for customer service and public affairs and senior vice president for business development and strategy.

Grant Kubota, BBA ’99, MBA ’05, has been named to Forbes magazine’s 2021 list of America’s Best-in-State Wealth Advisors. Kubota is a vice president and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, where he has worked for 15 years. He was recognized with this honor for his superb wealth management services and his commitment to his clients and company.

Rachel Sokugawa, BBA ’09, MBA ’15, has been hired as assistant director of development and donor relations for the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. She oversees gift administration and stewardship of donor relations for Shidler College. Sokugawa also works as an operations specialist at Apple. Most recently, she served as an administrative assistant at Pono Pacific, LLC. 

Sara Cheuk, MBA ’00, has been promoted to executive officer at the PolyU Academy for Research Institute of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In this elevated role, Cheuk is responsible for enhancing the visibility and repetition of the university, where she has worked for the past 16 years. Cheuk most recently served as an assistant manager in Alumni Affairs.

Cara Sawai-Mangan, BS ’08, program manager for the Family Business Center of Hawaii, welcomed baby girl, Kaia to the family on August 20, 2021.

Greg Young, MBA ’07, has been named president and CEO of HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union. In this leadership role, Young leads the company’s effort to make obtaining loans easier and faster for businesses and individuals, as well as continuing to stay up to date with digital trends. Young most recently served as their chief lending officer.

Congratulations, Dr. Pokiʻi Balaz, EMBA ’20, for being selected for Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40: Class of 2021!

Balaz was named to the annual list through a competitive nomination process based on demonstration of business excellence, contribution to the overall success of her organization and community involvement. 

Ian Clagstone, BBA ’07, has been named CEO of SC Capital LLC. In this leadership role, he leads the company’s efforts to acquire multifamily apartment buildings, office, retail and industrial properties in Hawai‘i. Clagstone is also the president and co-founder at Standard Commercial LLC, SC Capital’s sister company.

Congratulations, Nicole Galase, BBA ‘09, for being selected for Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40: Class of 2021! 

Galase was named to the annual list through a competitive nomination process based on demonstration of business excellence, contribution to the overall success of her organization and community involvement. 

Gavin Masuda, BBA ’05, was named to the prestigious 40 Under 40 honor roll list, which is published by The Daily Journal in California. This list celebrates California-based lawyers who are making significant contributions to the field. Masuda works as a partner at Latham & Watkins in San Francisco.

Congratulations to Natalie Werts, BBA ‘05 for being selected for the 6th cohort of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance in August 2021. The program is designed for emerging women leaders to develop management skills in order to advance their personal growth, professional impact and community change.

Del Mochizuki, BBA ’00, has been promoted to director of finance and human resources at UHA Health Insurance. In her elevated role, Mochizuki oversees all financial and human resources activities for the organization and works with the executive leadership team to establish objectives and policies. She has been with the company for more than seven years and most recently served as controller.

Pacific Business News honored women leaders and news-makers in its 23rd Annual Women Who Mean Business. Congratulations to Kawena Beaupre, BBA ’00 for being named to the list for demonstrating a commitment to community service and for her leadership skills.

Catherine Orlans, BS ’09, has been appointed as the destination manager for the Oahu Visitors Bureau (OVB). In this new position, which is funded by the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority, Orlans is responsible for the Oahu Destination Management Action Plan and Oahu’s Community Enrichment Program. Prior to joining OVB, she served as a program coordinator with Honeywell.

Grant Kubota, BBA ’99, MBA ’05, has been named to Forbes magazine’s 2021 list of America’s Best-in-State Wealth Advisors. Kubota is a vice president and financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, where he has worked for 15 years. He was recognized with this honor for his superb wealth management services and his commitment to his clients and company.

Pacific Business News honored women leaders and news-makers in its 23rd Annual Women Who Mean Business. Congratulations to Pamela Nitta, MBA ’06 for being named to the list for demonstrating a commitment to community service and for her leadership skills.

Brian Helgerson, BBA ’13, was appointed asset manager at Hunt Development Group. In this role, he will monitor asset management activities within the company, including profit maximizing and closely monitoring the leasing, property management, and tenant management activities through the company’s portfolio of assets. Helgerson previously served as a senior real estate associate for Kamehameha Schools. 

School of Accountancy instructor Manu Ka`iama, BA ’82, MAcc ’88, and Katrina-Ann Oliveira, EMBA ’19, have been working hard to preserve and promote resources for Native Hawaiian learning, while tapping into the Shidler alumni network.

Together, they have co-authored the Noʻeau Program grant, totaling $2.3 million, printing over 94,500 books in Hawaiian for immersion schools throughout Hawaiʻi, as well as creating 52 Hawaiian language audiobooks. Additionally, the grant provided opportunities for Hawaiians to work in graduate research and as teaching assistants across UH. The program also received support from Shidler alumnus Meh'ana Maka`iana`i, MBA ’07, along with help from Shidler Master in Human Resources candidate Morgan Plunkett.

Ka`iama and Oliveira were recently informed that they received the Mai ʻŌ A ʻŌ grant for five years, totaling $5.4 million. This grant specifically addresses technology as a means to education, assisting teachers to capitalize technological applications.

Patrick Quintos, BBA ’16, has been appointed as a deployment strategist at Socotra in San Francisco. In his position, Quintos works with clients to implement and strategize technological solutions to leverage the company’s open application programming interface (API) based platform. He previously served as an advisory senior associate - cloud engineering and security at PwC.

Alissa Kelly, BBA ’18, has been named senior accountant at The Farmer’s Dog in New York. Prior to this role, she worked at HelloFresh as a senior accountant.

Congratulations to Teresa Hamabata, BBA ‘11 for being selected for the 6th cohort of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance in August 2021. The program is designed for emerging women leaders to develop management skills in order to advance their personal growth, professional impact and community change.

Christine Quach, BBA ’19, has been named alumni, communications and events coordinator at the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. In this role, she supports the college alumni associations, communications and events at Shidler College. She was previously with the talent management team at Hawaiian Host Group.

Matthew “Manakō” Tanaka, BS ’12, was named a senior specialist in the Community and Cultural Relations department at Hawaiian Airlines. In his role, Tanaka is responsible for planning and facilitating internal and external programming and events rooted in local and native Hawaiian culture, as well as for Team Kokua, the airlines’ employee volunteer program. He was previously a sales manager with the Oʻahu Visitor’s Bureau.

Lina Le, BBA ’11, MHRM ’13, has a new role as vice president of human resources and administration at Meadow Gold Dairies Hawaii. Le previously served as the director of human resources at Y. Hata & Co., Ltd.

Congratulations to Jadyne Yomono, MHRM ‘17 for being selected for the 6th cohort of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance in August 2021. The program is designed for emerging women leaders to develop management skills in order to advance their personal growth, professional impact and community change.

Kyle Kinman, MBA ’19, MAcc ’21, and Tiffany Yoshida, MBA ‘19 were engaged in July 2021 and married on Nov. 14.

Jessica Yamamoto, BBA ’18, has been appointed as a community manager at Yelp. Prior to this role, she worked as an executive assistant at Rick Bartalini Presents.

Derek Lin, BS ’17, has been named as an IT technician for Autoclerk. He previously served as a front desk manager for Marriott International.

Pacific Business News honored women leaders and news-makers in its 23rd Annual Women Who Mean Business. Congratulations to Cristina Schenk, GCER ’10 for being named to the list for demonstrating a commitment to community service and for her leadership skills.

Rachel Sokugawa, BBA ’09, MBA ’15, has been hired as assistant director of development and donor relations for the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. She oversees gift administration and stewardship of donor relations for Shidler College. Sokugawa also works as an operations specialist at Apple. Most recently, she served as an administrative assistant at Pono Pacific, LLC. 

Jadyne Yomono, MHRM ’17, was named human resources program manager at American Savings Bank. In her position, she guides and supports the execution of human resource programs and initiatives. Yomono previously served as a client partner/strategic account manager at ProService Hawaii.

Keone Nakoa, JD/MBA ’15, was appointed as deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. In this role, Nakoa works to strengthen insular economies through strategic investments in environmental justice activities, clean energy deployment and infrastructure improvement. The OIA office also promotes policies and works to restore trust with territorial communities. He previously worked as a bureau chief at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in Washington, D.C. 

Madison Behnen, BS ’18,  has been appointed senior manager of conference services at The Curtis Hotel in Denver. In this position, she is responsible for planning, managing and executing hotel events. Behnen previously served as a field sales and marketing representative at Techtronic Industries. 

Priscilla Zheng, BBA ’18, was named as the 2021-2022 president of Ad 2 Hawaii. In this leadership role, she manages the communications, programs, events, public services and membership development of Ad 2 Hawaii. Zheng is also a digital marketing community relations specialist at Hickam Federal Credit Union.

Ha Nguyen, BBA ’19, was named as the 2021-2022 membership development chair of Ad 2 Hawaii. In this leadership role, she helps recruit prospective members, create team synergy and ensures that members are apprised of the latest industry news. Nguyen is also an assistant account executive at MVNP.

Dustin Borromeo, BBA ’17, has been appointed development coordinator in the Office of Estate and Gift Planning (OEGP) at the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. In his new position, he is responsible for assisting with the functions of OEGP and providing administrative support to the development team. He previously served as client service association at Yim Investment Management, LLC.

Congratulations, Ashley Takitani Leahey, MBA ‘13, for being selected for Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40: Class of 2021! 

Leahey was named to the annual list through a competitive nomination process based on demonstration of business excellence, contribution to the overall success of her organization and community involvement. 

Rachel Odumu, BBA ’19, has been promoted to senior software engineer at Capital One in Virginia. In her role, Odumu is responsible for communication and collaboration on a multidisciplinary team of engineers, product designers and stakeholders. She also gathers feedback from customers to develop, maintain and support new features for the Capital One mobile app.

Congratulations to Dr. Pok‘i Balaz, EMBA ‘20 for being selected for the 6th cohort of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance in August 2021. The program is designed for emerging women leaders to develop management skills in order to advance their personal growth, professional impact and community change.

Valerie Lam, MBA ’20, is now the community & employee engagement manager at the Bank of Hawaii and Bank of Hawaii Foundation. In this role, she is responsible for the planning, development and execution of marketing and communications programs to advance BOH employee, community and philanthropic goals and objectives. Lam previously served as the business development coordinator at local nonprofit, Pacific Gateway Center.

Tammy Lee, EMBA ’21, is now an assistant development manager at Hunt Development Group. In her role, she assists with planning and development needs for the company’s 530 acres of land in West Oahu. Lee previously served as the marketing manager for AHL.

Justin Puckett, MBA ’21, has been named Hawaii market leader at Humana. In this role, he is responsible for the development, expansion and management of the company’s business presence and success in Hawaii. He also plays a key role in working with local providers. Prior to his current role, Puckett served as director of value-based care transformation and performance at Hawaii Pacific Health.

Congratulations, Colette Masunaga, MBA ’20, for being selected for Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40: Class of 2021! 

Masunaga was named to the annual list through a competitive nomination process based on demonstration of business excellence, contribution to the overall success of her organization and community involvement. 

Gregory Barajas, BBA ’20, has been named as staff auditor at Porter & Lasiewicz, CPAs in California. 

Congratulations, Kristen Konishi, MBA ’20, for being sworn into the Honolulu County Committee on the Status of Women in August 2021. Konishi was appointed by Mayor Rick Blangiardi based on her interest, knowledge and ability to advance the status of women in the county. The committee recognizes contributions by women, assesses changes in women’s status, and promotes equality of the sexes. They also work closely with city agencies to eliminate sex discrimination and provide support to affirmative action programs.

Kyle Kinman, MBA ’19, MAcc ’21, and Tiffany Yoshida, MBA ‘19 were engaged in July 2021 and married on Nov. 14.

Congratulations, Valerie Lam, MBA ‘20, for being sworn into the Honolulu County Committee on the Status of Women in August 2021. Lam was appointed by Mayor Rick Blangiardi based on her interest, knowledge and ability to advance the status of women in the county. The committee recognizes contributions by women, assesses changes in women’s status, and promotes equality of the sexes. They also work closely with city agencies to eliminate sex discrimination and provide support to affirmative action programs.

Vinka Boediman, BS ’21, has been appointed as an office administrator/design manager at Gourmet Events Hawaii.

Congratulations, Colette Masunaga, MBA ’20, for being sworn into the Honolulu County Committee on the Status of Women in August 2021. Masunaga was appointed by Mayor Rick Blangiardi based on her interest, knowledge and ability to advance the status of women in the county. The committee recognizes contributions by women, assesses changes in women’s status, and promotes equality of the sexes. They also work closely with city agencies to eliminate sex discrimination and provide support to affirmative action programs.

Kapilialoha Kidder, BBA ’20, has been appointed asset management secretary for the State of Hawaii’s Hawaii Community Development Authority.