Exciting changes are happening at Hawaii Employers Council to realign the organization and our staff expertise to better serve you.

Our Learning & Development and Organizational Effectiveness departments have been combined into a newly formed Talent & Organizational Development Department. This restructuring enables Hawaii Employers Council to better serve the needs of our members by centralizing the strategies and solutions for the development of both your people and organization. Led by department manager Leslie Gibo, she will diagnose and then design the strategic solutions needed to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, culture, and structure of your organization to better adapt to new technologies, markets, and challenges, to achieve the desired organizational effectiveness. Leslie is joined by trainer Tina Leger, who will develop, design, and deliver training solutions to enhance and support growth of your employees’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes. This will cultivate their engagement, enhance their performance and productivity equipping them to deliver the results needed to help an organization succeed and grow.

Leslie Gibo

Tina Leger

Our focus remains on providing exceptional assistance to our members while delivering the latest, up-to-date news, resources, and trainings. To this end, we made staffing changes and transitioned some responsibilities to best align staff’s experience and expertise to better serve you, our members.

Jennifer Padre transitions into a newly created role of Member Experience Manager. In her new role, Jennifer will onboard new member companies to become acclimated to HEC’s offerings, services, and programs and educate them on how to maximize these services as they relate to their business. She will be a resource for current member companies to ensure they are informed of new programming and services, providing on demand service orientation when member companies have had a change in personnel, maintain member account information, and ensure that members are maximizing their HEC benefits. Jenn previously served as HEC’s Office Manager.

Taryn Nishijo Kimble, Executive Administrative Assistant, will assume many of the responsibilities handled previously by Jennifer Padre in her role as Office Manager. Taryn will continue to provide executive support to HEC President & CEO Bonnie Pang, serve as a liaison to HEC’s Board of Governors, and lead onboarding of new HEC employees. She will also handle the reservation and booking of on-site meeting rooms once COVID-19 restrictions are eased.

Kim Thepsenavong has transitioned into the role of Labor Relations Administrative Assistant. Kim will be providing dedicated administrative and support services for the Labor Relations team led by VP & Director of Negotiations Services Ken Kawamoto. Kim will be responsible for the preparation of department-related documents, correspondence, agreements, and serve as a resource for any member inquiries or requests for assistance.


Robert Fung joined HEC as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and Francis Choe as Director of External Affairs last month and rounds out the organization’s recent changes.