The Nominating Committee of the Hawaii Employers Council has filed with Corporate Secretary Michelle Kim Stone the names of seven nominees for election to three-year terms on HEC’s Board of Governors beginning in January 2025.
- Sunny Donenfeld, Vice President and Treasurer, Punahou School
- Brandt Farias, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Central Pacific Bank
- Brandon Kurisu, President & COO, aio Family of Companies
- Carol Ono, Senior Vice President & Workforce Services Division Manager, First Hawaiian Bank
- Vivian Yasunaga, Director of Financial Planning & Analysis, Kamehameha Schools
- Jenny Walker, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, HMSA
- Cheryl Walthall, Executive Director, General Contractors Association of Hawaii
The names of the Board nominees will appear on the proxy ballot, which will be sent to the primary HR contact of each HEC member company via DocuSign. Election results will be announced at HEC’s 81st Annual Meeting on November 15, 2024.
Candidate Bios:
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.
Brandt Farias is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Central Pacific Bank. Brandt runs the day-to-day operation of the Hawaii Marketing Division and oversees product marketing for Deposit and Fees as well as Loans. He joined CPB in July 2021 as Senior Vice President & Marketing Director, managing the development and execution of the Bank's comprehensive marketing initiatives. He currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Brandt serves a key role in expanding the bank’s brand awareness, along with an aggressive digital marketing strategy and loan and deposit product development, while reinforcing CPB’s relationship banking approach.
Prior to coming to CPB, he served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Hawaii Pacific Health where he was responsible for oversight of the marketing and communications functions for HPH, its four medical centers and more than 70 locations statewide.
Brandt has over 30 years of bank marketing experience in Hawaii, the last 2 years at CPB. Previously, he also served as Executive Vice President and Marketing Director at First Hawaiian Bank. There, he was responsible for advertising, e-marketing, social media, direct mail, event management and product management. He was also director of brand identity and marketing for ʻAhahui Koa Ānuenue, the nonprofit fundraising arm of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa Athletics Department.
Brandt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from UH Mānoa and is a graduate of the Stanford School of Executive Management. Active in the local community, Brandt is the incoming Chair of the American Heart Association – Hawaii Chapter Board. He also serves on the board of the Hawaii Employer’s Council.
Brandon Kurisu is President & COO of the aio Family of Companies firmly rooted in Hawaii's local values with holdings in media, technology, sports, and food. In this role, Brandon oversees all of aio's media brands and digital companies. Media brands include HONOLULU Magazine, Hawaii Business, HAWAII Magazine, Hawaii Home & Remodeling, Watermark Publishing, ESPN Honolulu and CBS1500AM. Prior to this role, Brandon was the President of aio Digital, where he founded and managed aio's digital companies - Upspring, Library Creative and aio Marketing & Communications. In addition to the Hawaii Employers Council's Board of Directors, Brandon serves on several non-profit boards including the Holomua Collective, Hawaii Literacy, Pacific & Asian Affairs Council, the University of Hawaii Alumni Association and the Downtown Athletic Club Hawaii. Brandon is a graduate of the University of Hawaii Shidler College of Business.
Carol Ono is Senior Vice President & Workforce Services Division Manager of First Hawaiian Bank. 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.
Vivian Yasunaga leads financial strategy and long-term planning for Kamehameha Schools, a private charitable trust committed to advancing education and well-being across Hawai’i. Prior to this role, Vivian led finance, operations, and strategy for Child & Family Service, a Hawai’i nonprofit, and its affiliates. Vivian serves on the boards of Elemental Impact, Domestic Violence Action Center, and Financial Executives International, Hawaii Chapter. Vivian graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a master’s in public policy and administration and a bachelor’s in economics.
Jenny Walker is Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Assistant Secretary of the Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), She joined HMSA in 2010 and plays a major role in HMSA’s mission to advance the health of Hawaii. Jenny is a strategic leader and top problem solver for the executive team. Originally from Kansas, she earned her law and medical ethics degrees at Case Western Reserve University and her career has taken her across the country. She lives in Kaneohe with her husband, Matt, and their two dogs, Larry and Henry. Jenny chairs Navian Hawaii’s board and also serves on the board of Hawaii Foodbank.
Cheryl Walthall is Executive Director of the General Contractors Association of Hawaii (GCA), the state’s largest construction association. The first female executive in the organization’s 92-year history, Cheryl joined the GCA in 2019 and is responsible for fulfilling the GCA’s mission to elevate Hawaii’s construction industry and strengthen the foundation of our community.
In collaboration with the GCA’s Board of Directors, Cheryl sets the strategic direction for the association and oversees all aspects of the GCA’s operations, including government relations, programs and training for members, workforce development initiatives, and strategic partnerships.
Cheryl also serves as the executive director for the General Contractors Labor Association, an organization that provides labor relations services to the unionized contractor members of the GCA, and the GCA Education Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the GCA, which supports workforce development and educational activities for the construction industry.
A graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Cheryl is active in several construction industry and community organizations. She is one of the founding members of Hawaii Construction Career Days, serving on the board of directors and as co-chair of the sponsorships committee. Cheryl also serves on the board of directors for the Associated General Contractors of America Executive Leadership Council, Oahu Transit Services, Child & Family Service Real Property Board, Aloha Society of Association Executives, Pearl City High School Tech & Design Advisory Board, and as a member of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply Commercial Stakeholder Advisory Group.