HEC Board of Governors Nominees for 2022 Announced
The Nominating Committee of the Hawaii Employers Council has filed with Corporate Secretary Robert Fung the names of 11 nominees for election to three-year terms on HEC’s Board of Governors, beginning in 2022.
Oahu
Samra Broderick, Vice President of Health Coordination, AlohaCare
Sunny Donenfeld, Vice President and Treasurer, Punahou School
Edward Hudson, Executive VP & Chief Human Resources Officer, Central Pacific Bank
Cheryl Itagaki, Attorney at Law, Cades Schutte LLP
Kisan Jo, President, Prince Resorts Hawaii
Brandon Kurisu, President, aio Digital
Lina Le, VP of HR & Administration, Meadow Gold Dairies Hawaii
Roy Nafarrete, Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development & Effectiveness, HMSA
Carol Ono, Senior Vice President & Workforce Services Division Manager, First Hawaiian Bank
Thao Tran, Director of Human Resources, Hawaiian Electric Company
Hawaii
Craig Anderson, Vice President of Operations, Mauna Kea Resort
The names of the Board nominees will appear on the proxy ballot that will be sent to members. Election results will be announced at HEC’s 78th Annual Meeting on November 18th.
Oahu
Samra Broderick is Vice President of Health Coordination at AlohaCare. Samra is a highly motivational leader with over 38 years of health care experience and 21 years at a nurse executive level. Samra is a licensed registered nurse with a post-graduate business degree. She is experienced in medical management of commercial and government-based managed healthcare operations. Samra is talented in leadership development and has forged many collaborative relationships to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness.
Sunny Donenfeld is the Vice President and Treasurer at Punahou School, where he has oversight of the school’s administrative functions, including finance, human resources, facilities management and information technology. Prior to joining Punahou, he worked for 25 years in strategic business roles at Stanford University, Cornell University, and the University of Southern California. Sunny earned a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He served on the boards of the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes, Ithaca City of Asylum, and Argyle Executive Forum.
Ed Hudson is Executive Vice President and CHRO at CPB where he oversees all areas of Human Resources. His primary focus will be the hiring and retaining of the best talent to drive success, in addition to providing strong professional development for employees. Hudson was most recently an HR consultant to CPB. Prior to that, Hudson was CHRO at Bank of Hawaii and led HR teams in global technology companies in Silicon Valley for over 20 years. Hudson received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Business Administration from Cal State Long Beach and the University of Southern California respectively.
Cheryl Itagaki is an associate at Cades Schutte LLP, a full-service law firm in Hawai‘i. Her experience in public accounting and employee benefits provides her with invaluable insight for her clients’ legal issues. Cheryl advises and counsels clients in Employee Benefits, ERISA, and Executive Compensation, including the design, establishment, maintenance, and compliance of qualified retirement plans. Cheryl obtained her B.B.A. in accounting, with distinction, from the University of Hawai‘i Shidler College of Business. She received her M.B.T. from the University of Southern California Leventhal School of Accounting, and her J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law with a Certificate in Business Law. As a law student, she served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Derrick H.M. Chan, Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawai‘i. She was also the recipient of a USC Law Merit Scholarship and served as a Production Editor of the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice. Prior to attending law school, Cheryl worked in public accounting as both an auditor at an international firm and a tax accountant at a local firm. She is also licensed as a CPA in Hawai‘i (not in public practice).
Kisan Jo, President, since 2018, is responsible for the entirety of operations and strategic direction for Prince Resorts Hawaii and its subsidiaries. With a solid financial and operational background, Kisan has managed to quickly improve revenues and outlook for all three Hawaii luxury hotel properties including the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and Prince Waikiki in a relatively short time. With an MBA from University of Hawaii – Shidler College of Business, he is also a Board member of the Young President’s Organization (Hawaii Chapter), an executive Board member of HLTA, and active member of Hawaii Business Roundtable.
Brandon Kurisu is the President of aio Digital, overseeing various digital companies, brands, and investments for aio. aio is a diverse family of companies firmly rooted in Hawaii's local values with holdings in media, technology, sports, and food. Prior to aio Digital, Brandon founded Upspring, a web/software development firm that has since evolved to become a successful digital consultancy working with many of Hawaii’s Top 250 businesses. Brandon serves on several non-profit Boards including the American Heart Association Hawaii Division, Kohala Institute, Hawaii Literacy (current Board President), the University of Hawaii Alumni Association (current Board President), the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council (PAAC), and HAPA Leaders. Brandon is a graduate of the University of Hawaii Shidler College of Business.
Lina Le is currently the Vice President of HR and Administration at Meadow Gold Dairies Hawaii and most recently served as HR director at Y. Hata & Company, Limited. She has over 10 years of experience in human resources in various industries including hospitality, airline, education and warehouse distribution. Lina received her Bachelor in Business Administration and her Masters of Human Resource Management from UH Manoa. She holds several professional designations from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and speaks fluent Vietnamese. Lina is a corporate board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii, and she was a former board member of the Hawaii People’s Fund, SHRM National Young Professional Advisory Committee (YPAC), SHRM Hawaii Chapter Young Professionals Committee and SHRM Hawaii Board of Directors.
Roy Nafarrete is Vice President of Human Resources and Organizational Development & Excellence at Hawaii Medical Service Association. Roy oversees all Human Resource and Organizational Development functions and initiatives at HMSA. He has over 30 years of experience in HR and OD, 28 of which was as an HR Officer in the US Navy, serving as a Commanding Officer of a Talent Acquisition command, Director of the Navy’s Executive Education program, CHRO for a global command, and Employee Relations Director for the US Pacific Fleet. He has also served as the Director of VP in both the education sector and the healthcare industry. Roy is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources, and Prosci© change management practitioner. He holds a BS in economics from the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, a Master’s in management, and a Doctorate in organizational leadership.
Carol M. Ono is First Hawaiian Bank’s Senior Vice President & Workforce Services Division Manager. She oversees the operational human resources key functions of payroll, compensation and benefits and manages Employee Services for over 2,000 employees in Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. Carol joined the bank in 1988 and has 33 years of experience in talent acquisition, HR information systems, information technology infrastructure and transformational IT projects. Carol holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Management Information Systems and an MBA degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Previously, she served as the Finance & Administration Chairperson for the Board of Directors for Family Programs Hawaii, a non-profit agency helping Hawaii’s children and families involved with the Foster Care System.
Thao T. Tran is currently the Director of Human Resources at Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. She oversees the day-to-day management of HR and is actively supporting the Company’s Incident Management Team in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to her current role, Thao was a Senior Associate General Counsel in the Legal Division at Hawaiian Electric, focusing on labor and employment matters. Before joining Hawaiian Electric, Thao worked for the University of Hawaii as an Associate General Counsel in the Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs and University General Counsel. She was also a Partner at the law firm of Kobayashi, Sugita & Goda, practicing in the areas of labor and employment law and commercial and construction litigation. She was on the Saint Francis School and Palama Settlement’s Boards of Directors. Thao is a member of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance, Cohort 5, and the Class of 2013 Pacific Century Fellows. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Classical Studies, summa cum laude, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and earned her Juris Doctorate from Northeastern University School of Law.
Hawaii
Craig Anderson is the General Manager and Vice President of Operations for Mauna Kea Resort, on the Island of Hawaii. Craig has served in the hospitality industry for the past 37 years in a variety of roles and has been a general manager for the past 22 years leading resort teams on all the major Hawaiian Islands. Craig has been actively involved with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau serving in various roles from board member to board Chair while working on Kauai, Maui and Oahu. Currently, he is Chair of the Hawaii Island chapter of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. Craig also serves as Treasurer for the Kohala Coast Resort Association and represents the Big Island on the Hawaii Employers Council board of governors. In his current role, Craig is responsible for the day-to-day operations for Mauna Kea Resort including Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, The Westin Hapuna Beach Resort and two championship golf courses. He also oversees the Club at Mauna Kea on member and homeowner relations.