HONOLULU – The Pacific Century Fellows program has announced the selection of its 15th class of fellows, comprised of 36 men and women.
The program identifies, encourages and helps to develop and strengthen island leaders.
Modeled after the White House Fellows Program and founded in 1996 by former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, the Pacific Century Fellows are chosen on the basis of written applications and personal interviews conducted by a blue-ribbon panel of judges.
Chosen individuals have shown strong intellectual and leadership abilities in the early and midstages of their careers, and demonstrated the potential to make significant contributions to the community in the future.
The Pacific Century Fellows program will provide participants with direct contact with senior community, social and government leaders.
A goal of the program is to nurture relationships among individuals who are committed to exploring creative and constructive solutions to far-reaching challenges facing the state and nation. They also will interact with other emerging leaders in the Pacific through its working relationship with the East West Center and alliance with the Marianas Chapter of the Pacific Century Fellows.
The program will begin with a two-day retreat Sept. 25-26, featuring a series of seminars and discussions.
Those selected, their ages and titles include:
Henry Aquino, 38, representative, State House of Representatives.
Walden Au, 29, compliance specialist, Pacific Resource Partnership.
Lisa Ayabe, 33, associate, Cades Schutte LLP.
Joy Barua, 38 director, Community Benefit and Health Policy, Kaiser Permanente.
Doris Bitonio, 41, director of human resources, SpeediShuttle.
James Chan, 35, partner, Locations LLC.
Jin Chang, 41, co-manager of Ka Pa‘alana Program, Partners in Development.
Ryan Char, 30, associate, Group 70 International.
Calvert Chipchase, 39, partner, Cades Schutte LLP.
Daniel Cody, 41, chief investment officer, MW. Group.
Andrew Coffin, 33, staff judge advocate, Joint Interagency Task Force West.
Ryan Donn, 36, principal, Trinity Investments.
Kevan Gregory Gaug, 34, vice president, Ulupono Initiative.
Dana Gusman, 42, assistant manager, government relations, Alexander &Baldwin.
Elia Herman, 35, co-manager, Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Michael Iosua, 37, director of government affairs, Imanaka Asato.
Kisan Jo, 36, vice president, Prince Resorts Hawaii.
Malia Ka‘aihue, 35, partner and vice president of strategy, DTL.
Michele Kurihara-Klein, 34, legislative officer, Hawaii Government Employees Association.
Caleb Lisenbee II, 33, branch chief, Executive Comms &Navy-Marine Corps Intranet Services, U.S. Air Force, HQ USPACOM.
Chris Lovvorn, 39, vice president of commercial development, Castle &Cooke Properties.
Jesse Markham, 44, managing partner, AJA Benefits Consultant.
Scot Matayoshi, 30, attorney, McCorriston Miller Mukai MacKinnon.
Reiko Matsuyama, 34, director of finance, Grove Farm Co.
Jaime Oliveira, 39, vice President, Upspring Media.
Trevor Ozawa, 32, council member, Honolulu City Council.
Diane Paloma, 41, director, Native Hawaiian health programs, Queen’s Health System.
Laura Reichhardt, 31, interim director, Hawaii State Center for Nursing.
Mahealani Richardson, 42, director of public relations, Shriners Hospitals for Children.
Tiffany Tanaka, 35, partner, Fresh Cafe.
Jason Thune, 37, director of network planning, Hawaiian Telcom.
Dane Tonaki, 37, vice president, and branch manager, Central Pacific Bank.
Thanh Tu Tran, 38, vice president/strategy and analytics, Bank of Hawaii.
Matthew Wagner, 40, director of sales, Armstrong Produce.
Noelani Yamashita, 39, executive director, Ka Honua Momona International.
Kimi Yuen, 41, senior associate, PBR Hawaii and Associates.