At an October event on the lawn of the Royal Hawaiian, legendary Hawaiʻi business leader Dennis Teranishi stood alongside his daughter Ann, freshly named CEO of the year, mingling with other executives over drinks.

When I congratulated him on his accomplished daughters – Ann and Lori, founder of the strategic communications firm iQ 360 – he smiled modestly. “That’s because of my wife,” he remarked, before stepping back to let Ann have her moment.

Humility clearly runs in the family, and so does quiet influence. It was Dennis who helped shape Ann’s sense of direction decades earlier, including during their 6 a.m. walks through Kakaʻako Park before her summer stint as a law clerk.

As they talked about her career, he suggested, “If you decide to work on the continent, I do hope that you’ll consider coming back. You can really have an impact here,” she recalled.

He also told her that he could see her as a CEO or president of a company one day.

“I thought he was nuts. I thought he was crazy. People will see things in you that you don’t see in yourself,” Ann said to a group of UH students during a 2022 leadership virtual seminar.

SHEPHERDING ASB THROUGH TESTING TIMES

Those words from her father, whom she considers a mentor, stayed with her and ultimately guided her toward a career rooted in Hawaiʻi, where she has made a profound impact on the business and community landscape.

As president and CEO of American Savings Bank, Ann has shepherded the institution through some of its most testing times, including the Covid crisis – when she led a 24/7 “war room” on the 7th floor of the ASB Campus in Honolulu devoted to supporting employees and customers – and ASB’s separation from parent company Hawaiian Electric Industries following the Maui wildfires.

Ann has also woven her values into the fabric of the company: Women make up 65% of ASB’s workforce, including nearly half of its executives. With a woman at the helm, ASB stands as a leader in workplace equity and representation – one of only nine woman-led companies among Hawaiʻi’s Top 100 largest businesses by revenue.

Several employees tell Hawaii Business Magazine that Ann is often the first to turn on the lights in the morning and the last to shut them off at night. “If she isn’t traveling for work, her car is always in her parking stall – first person in and last to leave,” one employee says.

It’s no surprise, then, that American Savings Bank has once again been recognized by Forbes as one of Hawaiʻi’s Best In-State Banks, marking six consecutive years for the prestigious honor. Among 213 banks nationwide on the 2025 list, ASB ranks in the top 4% of thousands of U.S. financial institutions, according to Forbes.

ASB manages $9.3 billion in assets and was recently honored at the American Bankers Association annual convention for its innovative Hui Kapili program, an accelerator created in partnership with aio Hawaiʻi to support small and midsize businesses in the vital construction and home remodeling sectors.

Hui Kapili – which means “building together” – coaches local entrepreneurs in strategic planning, financial management, workforce development and technology, thereby helping them address Hawaiʻi’s affordable housing and labor shortages.

You might think going public would be the natural next step for such a successful bank. However, Teranishi says, “I think for now, our focus is: It’s nice to be private. But we’re still keeping all the regular rigor: quarterly shareholder calls, monthly reporting to our board, all the governance you’d expect. The decision about going public really rests with our board, so there’s nothing to share at this time.”

CIVIL RIGHTS ROOTS

Ann Teranishi at far right, with some of her family. From left, father Dennis Teranishi, Brother-In-Law Troy Fujino, mother Brenda Teranishi, niece Sydney Teranishi Dake, and sister Lori Teranishi.

Ann Teranishi’s rise to the top in Hawaiʻi was never preordained. She originally thought she’d make her career on the mainland and never set out to become a bank CEO.

She found her footing after her second year at UC Hastings College of the Law (now UC Law San Francisco) when she clerked at the Honolulu firm of Kobayashi Sugita & Goda, working under Bert Kobayashi Jr. and Lex Smith, who became early mentors.

That summer home shifted her perspective. After graduation, she returned to Hawaiʻi and accepted a full-time position at the firm.

If her father inspired a long-term mission, her mother, Brenda, instilled execution and resolve. Ann’s elder sister, Lori Teranishi, describes their mother – a civil rights activist in the 1960s and ’70s – as “the matriarch of our family,” adding that their mother pushes her two daughters to think beyond themselves and their work.

“She’s shaped how we all see our responsibility to make this place better,” Lori says.

Their mother often reminded them that to succeed and to make the world better, they would need two things: courage and compassion.

“Ann exemplifies that,” Lori says, adding that family dinners often revolve around conversations about how to make Hawaiʻi a better place to live.

“Ann looks for the people who aren’t being talked to and tries to bring them into the fold. And that’s just one example of her leadership style. It’s an inclusive style.”

For his part, Dennis Teranishi, an Army veteran honorably discharged as a captain, declined to formally be interviewed for this story, preferring the focus remain on his daughter Ann.

He’s best known for his leadership in agriculture, business and technology innovation in Hawaiʻi. He has served as president and CEO of Hawaiian Host and, since 2011, as chairman and CEO of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR), where he has driven technology commercialization to boost security, safety and economic opportunities across Hawaiʻi and the Asia-Pacific region.

100 YEARS IN AND FOR HAWAIʻI

As American Savings Bank celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, one of its most meaningful milestones is its growing commitment to supporting Native Hawaiian communities.

Ann’s inclusive and caring approach extends to local people, many of whom have been forced to leave their home state because of Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living and limited access to affordable housing and financing. The U.S. Census Bureau reports only 47% of Native Hawaiians now live in Hawaiʻi, while 53% reside on the continent – a reversal from a decade ago.

As Lori Teranishi recalls, “After one of the Hawaiʻi Executive Conferences, she began collaborating with a diverse group of people to create a Native Hawaiian loan program at American Savings Bank. The goal was to provide access to financing for a community that had historically faced significant barriers. It was about truly putting ideas into action. It’s something she’s deeply committed to.”

The bank has since introduced mortgage programs designed to expand affordable homeownership opportunities for Native Hawaiians. In April 2023, ASB received approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to offer HUD 184A and FHA 247 loans – programs that provide affordable financing options for Native Hawaiians purchasing or refinancing homes on Department of Hawaiian Home Lands leased land.

ASB also offers its This is Home program, created to help first-time homebuyers in Hawaiʻi, including Native Hawaiians and everyone else.

ASB also partners with local developers and nonprofits to finance housing and provide essential resources. And in partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, ASB has awarded nearly $2.7 million in grants to nine nonprofits dedicated to expanding housing access across the Hawaiian Islands.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT DURING THE PANDEMIC

In March 2020, Ann Teranishi was executive VP of operations at American Savings Bank, running every aspect of the bank’s day-to-day operations.

When Covid hit that month, she turned an open space on the 7th floor of the bank’s new campus at 300 North Beretania Street into a “war room,” where employees could safely process critical loans while socially distancing.

The bank pivoted swiftly to hybrid and virtual operations, coordinating remote teams, sanitation protocols and essential banking functions such as payroll and wire transfers.

Teranishi also played a central role in processing Paycheck Protection Program loans, ensuring local companies had access to vital federal PPP funding to stay in business.

“We worked around the clock,” she recalls. “We did 24-hour shifts the first couple of days because we were so uncertain how fast the federal funds would run out.

“We were nervous that the funds wouldn’t get to Hawaiʻi because of the six-hour time difference (with the East Coast). I just said, it’s better for us to be here and enter as many applications as we could during the window. We didn’t know if that money would run out in 24 hours, 48 hours – so we entered them as fast as possible.”

Though she was not yet CEO, Teranishi acted like one. “I said, ‘Here’s what I think we should do: 24-hour coverage in six-hour shifts. I’ll take the 12-to-6 shift, but I need at least one executive at every shift to show we’re not asking anyone to do something we won’t do ourselves.’ Everyone signed up. EVPs entered applications alongside the team. It was a mentality of whatever it takes to support businesses.”

WILDFIRE CRISIS WAS “NEXT LEVEL”

Two years later, shortly after becoming CEO, Teranishi faced another high-stakes challenge: the 2023 Maui wildfires.

The disaster devastated communities and intensified scrutiny on Hawaiian Electric Industries, then the bank’s owner. Lawsuits mounted and HEI agreed to contribute nearly $2 billion toward a broader $4 billion settlement to help rebuild and compensate survivors. The utility pledged to finance its share over several years, a sobering reminder of how deeply the fires reshaped Hawaiʻi’s corporate and community landscape.

The crisis tested everything Teranishi had learned. “It’s always interesting to sit down and replay the moments you live through as a leader,” she says. “I thought the epitome of my leadership challenges was becoming an executive, then Covid happened. When I became CEO a year later, which was not expected or planned, I thought: That’s the biggest challenge.”

But when the wildfires struck, she realized it was “next level.” The event felt almost existential: “A challenge for the whole corporate structure.”

American Savings Bank’s leadership team and board moved quickly to stay anchored in serving the bank’s customers and teammates. “The utility had to focus on the utility, and the bank had to focus on the bank,” she explains about HEI. “It was essential to show people that ASB was strong, stable, and independent, especially when many didn’t understand the separate corporate structures of the two entities.”

It was a time when regional bank failures on the mainland like that of Silicon Valley Bank had already shaken investor and customer confidence, so Teranishi and her team doubled down on communication.

“We were laser-focused on reassuring customers and employees that the business of the bank hadn’t changed,” she says. “We made it very clear we were not reliant on HEI for capital; we hadn’t received capital from them in 25 years. In fact, we’d been a dividend provider.”

That approach paid off. American Savings Bank held firm as a trusted community anchor, quietly doing what it has always done: serving customers with consistency and care.

“What got us through was staying close to people – talking one-on-one, emphasizing that we were steady. The human part of leadership mattered just as much as the financial side.”

Looking back, Teranishi sees how both Covid and the wildfires shaped her as a leader.

“As you talk to leaders over time, it’s like each additional hurdle you have to overcome becomes the thing that builds a resilient center. It’s never going to be easy, but it’s not so unfamiliar anymore.”

Following HEI’s sale of 90% of its stake in ASB to independent investors – retaining only a 9.9% non-controlling interest – the bank stands fully autonomous for the first time in decades. The transition was completed on Dec. 31, 2024, in time for the beginning of the bank’s 100th anniversary celebration in January.

“We were very, very focused on wanting it to close at the end of the year, so that we could start the new year of 2025 as a standalone independent company. That was super important to us as a bank because January 8 was our actual 100th birthday,” Teranishi says. “It felt incredible to be able to tell our team: This is how the chapter with HEI ends and this is how the next one begins. We’re starting our second century as a standalone, locally owned bank.”

A CONVERSATION WITH CONNIE LAU

Teranishi was a member of the 2018 cohort of the Hawaii Business Magazine’s 20 for the next 20. In 2019-20 she was an Omidyar Fellow. She is shown with others in the Omidyar cohort. From left, Lia Hunt, Meli James, Omidyar Fellows Director Bill Coy, Brandee Menino, Teranishi, and Rachel Solemsaas.

A pivotal moment in Teranishi’s career came while she was serving as VP and legal counsel at Central Pacific Bank, where she handled contract negotiations, litigation and corporate compliance from 2005 to 2007, including responsibilities under the Bank Secrecy Act and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

“I was tasked with helping them with a very difficult regulatory situation,” she recalls. “And then, a year and a half into that, I was called by American Savings Bank to help them with a similar situation.”

It was demanding, high-stakes work that gave her a front-row seat to the intricacies of regulation and risk in Hawaiʻi’s banking world.

At that point, Teranishi was still at Central Pacific Bank when she was first approached by American Savings Bank. She declined the initial offer, explaining that she wanted to return to practicing law. But then Connie Lau came back to talk to her — and the conversation changed everything.

“I said, ‘Thank you so much, but no. I don’t think it’s the right fit. I’m actually going to go back to practicing law,'” she recalls.

Lau, then ASB’s CEO, heard about Teranishi’s decision and called her personally. “Before you really say no, can you tell me why you’re thinking about going back to law?” Lau asked.

Teranishi explained that while she respected compliance work, she worried about being pigeonholed. “I knew it would be really heavy lifting for two years,” she says. “I knew how to do it, but I wasn’t sure that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. And I also said, if I do this a second time, then you’re the chief compliance officer and that’s the role you have for life.”

Lau, herself an attorney with an engineering degree and an MBA, offered a different view. “If that’s your concern,” she told Teranishi, “come help us build this program and you’ll have opportunities to move into other areas of the bank later.”

Teranishi accepted the challenge and joined ASB as Bank Secrecy Act officer and compliance manager, building the bank’s compliance function from the ground up. Not long after, leadership shifted: Lau moved to the parent company, Hawaiian Electric Industries, and Rich Wacker became ASB’s CEO. But Lau’s mentorship continues to shape Teranishi’s path.

ASB is a regular sponsor of the Hawaii Entrepreneur Awards, which is led by Meli James, shown here with Teranishi.

Lau saw something in Teranishi immediately. “She’s incredibly capable and humble. She didn’t think it should be her, but it was her. She’s one of those people who just has it: the intellect, the integrity, the steadiness. And the other thing is, she’s very respectful. She wants to be sure that she’s not bumping anybody else out.”

Her advice to Teranishi was simple but powerful: Trust the people who see your potential. “You’ve just got to believe that the people who are asking you to take these bigger jobs know what they’re doing,” Lau says. “We knew Ann could do it.”

Under Lau’s leadership, Teranishi expanded her expertise beyond her legal background, rotating through roles in compliance, consumer credit and customer experience – a new strategic initiative designed to embed a customer-first mindset across the organization.

“That’s what women and really, all people have to do,” Lau says. “You tell young people it’s limitless. You can do whatever you want to do if you work hard and stay open to learning.”

Only three women have held the title of CEO at Hawaiʻi’s major banks. Lau was the first: She became CEO of ASB in 2001, before moving on to lead Hawaiian Electric Industries in 2008, then retired in 2021.

Catherine Ngo served as CEO of Central Pacific Bank from 2015 to 2021. And Teranishi became president and CEO of ASB on May 7, 2021, succeeding Wacker, after she had been with the bank for 14 years.

Teranishi served as Grand Marshal for Chinatown 808’s year of the snake parade this year.

When asked what stood out most about Teranishi as a leader, Lau didn’t hesitate: calm.

“CEOs have to be calm,” she says. “I always thought of it as a pyramid – if the person at the top is anxious, that anxiety ripples all the way down. But if you’re steady, the whole organization stays steady. Ann has that inner calm. You can’t really mentor that. It’s something she brings from within.”

That calm comes from a sense of being self anchored in authenticity and community, Lau says. “In Hawaiian culture, we call it knowing your naʻau – your gut, your center. You bring your authentic self to work, you surround yourself with good people, and you lead with purpose.”

When the Covid pandemic and Maui wildfires tested institutions statewide, her centered leadership became Teranishi’s hallmark. “That’s why we chose her,” Lau says simply. “She has the character, the stamina, the integrity, the care for her community. Those things can’t be taught, but they’re what truly matter.”

From the start, Lau saw in Teranishi the makings of a future CEO. “I always knew she’d lead this bank one day. She’s exactly the kind of leader Hawaiʻi needs: grounded, humble and unflappable. American Savings Bank is an important institution for this community, so it needs to be led by someone who understands the community and is committed to the goodness of the community.”

Is it showing up early or staying late at work – or both? Is it leading by example or directing from the top?

At Hawaii Business Magazine, we believe great leadership reveals itself in times of crisis – when calm, compassion and clarity matter most. That’s why we selected Ann Teranishi, president and CEO of American Savings Bank, as our 2025 CEO of the Year.

She was chosen not only for her steady guidance through the Covid crisis, the Maui wildfires and Hawaiian Electric Industries’ divestiture of ASB, but also for her ability to tackle real-world problems, including pressing issues like home affordability.

2025 marks ASB’s 100th year of serving Hawaiʻi, and under Ann’s leadership, the bank has continued to address our state’s most critical challenges.

If her father, prominent business leader Dennis Teranishi, planted the seeds of purpose with his guidance and example, it was her mother who instilled courage, compassion and a deep sense of inclusion – traits that define Ann’s leadership. Dennis, who declined a formal interview, insists the spotlight stay on his daughter, a reflection of the family’s pride in her accomplishments.

CREATING AN INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENT

I interviewed her elder sister, Lori Teranishi, several times, and she is effervescent, insightful and downright determined. Lori is the founder and CEO of iQ 360, a certified woman- and minority-owned consultancy firm, and she describes Ann as neither fully introverted nor extroverted, but “in the middle,” able to observe thoughtfully while still driving decisions. That balance, Lori says, allows Ann to consider multiple perspectives while leading decisively.

“Mom always taught us that when you walk into a room, try to talk to the people that no one else is talking to,” Lori says. Ann exemplifies that lesson in the workplace, ensuring all voices are heard and creating an inclusive environment.

Lori notes, “After one of the Hawaiʻi Executive Conferences, she started to work with a variety of people, and they created a Native Hawaiian loan program at American Savings Bank to really provide access to financing to a group that historically had a lot of difficulties accessing capital.”

Another recent initiative is Hui Kapili, a 10-week accelerator supporting small and mid-sized construction and home remodeling companies that are helping to address Hawaiʻi’s housing and labor challenges.

Ann’s leadership is also reflected in ASB’s financial strength and industry recognition. The bank, which is ranked in the top 4% of U.S. financial institutions (according to Forbes), managed $9.3 billion in assets at the end of 2024 and has been recognized by Forbes as one of Hawaiʻi’s Best In-State Banks for six consecutive years. And her focus on thoughtful, people-centered leadership and connection to local communities ensures ASB will continue to thrive.

For more on Ann and her family, be sure to read our December cover story.

REWIND 2025

This year has been inspiring for all of us at Hawaii Business Magazine. We’ve covered a lot, from the record-breaking Wahine Forum to thought-provoking cover stories on toxic workplaces, Bank of Hawaiʻi’s Peter Ho and local social media stars. And there’s the tale of U.S. Army veteran Sae Joon Park, a green-card holder who felt compelled to self-deport to South Korea, and our online viral ICE map spearheaded by managing editor Ken Wills that brought timely, critical insights to readers across the state.

We celebrated Hawaiʻi’s business excellence and generosity with cover stories on the Top 250 and the Most Charitable Companies, and we launched our inaugural Excellence in Business Awards to honor outstanding local organizations.

With this issue’s 28th edition of the Black Book, which profiles 401 of Hawaiʻi’s most influential business and nonprofit leaders, we continue to spotlight the people shaping our state’s future.

But the true source of our success is you, our readers, whose ideas, feedback and support guide and challenge us. Mahalo for helping us tell the stories that matter most. Here’s to another year of learning, leading and building a better Hawaiʻi together.

Ann has been with ASB since 2007 and became CEO in 2021, guiding the bank through periods of transformation. She played a pivotal leadership role during the COVID crisis, helping ASB manage unprecedented risks while continuing to support customers, employees, and the broader Hawai‘i community. Most recently, she helped lead ASB through its historic transition from Hawaiian Electric Industries ownership to becoming an independent, investor-owned bank in December 2024.

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When Christine Camp was a young girl, Fort Street was a busy shopping district anchored by Kress and Liberty House, with five-and-dime stores and mom-and-pop shops in between. She and her siblings had emigrated from South Korea in 1976 and, after settling into a three-story walk-up in Kaimukī with their parents, Christine would often catch the bus to Chinatown with her mom and siblings to explore her new world.

Each of the kids would get a dollar, she says, and they’d spend it all on clothes or toys at The Salvation Army. At Woolworth’s, Christine bought her first English books, a Sherlock Holmes volume and “Little Women.” Mysteries from the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series fast-tracked her comprehension of a new language. She was only 10, but she had glimpsed the promise of opportunity.

Fifth grade, however, shattered Christine’s grand illusion of America. Kids threw rocks and made fun of her for being a foreigner. “I was this little girl with a broken spirit, wanting to hide whenever classes started,” she recalls.

Her sixth-grade teacher at Wilson Elementary, Mrs. Hasegawa, changed all that. She read aloud a poem that Christine had written about maile lei, singling it out as exemplary.

“Everybody looked at me differently from that day forward, or maybe I just felt that way. It made me stand up,” she says, marveling at the impact one person can have. “I don’t know what I would have been if she hadn’t given me a voice and a presence. That confidence went so far that in seventh grade I ran for class president. That was the beginning. When somebody gives you hope, you have a willingness to try. When you have hope, you’re living for the possibilities.”

That modest spark of confidence has grown over the years. Today, Avalon Group, the company Camp founded, owns or manages 1,100 residential units and 2.3 million square feet of gross leasable floor space across Hawai‘i in partnership with other companies and financiers. On O‘ahu, she, her team and her partners have built for-sale and rental homes, shopping centers, schools and industrial parks.

She has supported 17 nonprofits and served on multiple boards, most notably 20 years at Central Pacific Bank and its parent, Central Pacific Financial Corp. In July, she was selected to be a global governing trustee for the Urban Land Institute, the international think tank for land use and real estate experts. She and her projects have earned countless accolades; in 2016 she was named Developer of the Year by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, and in 2019 and 2020 she received similar awards from the General Contractors Association of Hawaii and the Building Industry Association of Hawaii, respectively. Plus, she is a leading force in efforts to revitalize Downtown Honolulu. For those reasons and many more, Hawaii Business Magazine has selected Christine Camp as its 2024 CEO of the Year.

The 2024 CEO of the Year celebration honoring Christine Camp will take place on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. For more details click here.

“It Can Change a Generation”

After graduating from Kalani High School, her first full-time job was with RK Development, where Rex Kawasaki introduced her to a career that would let her give hope to others.

“He helped people who would have lost their properties. He would subdivide for them so they could sell off pieces or so they could pay their taxes or deed those properties to their children. I realized you could really touch people’s lives with land and housing,” Camp says. “It can change a generation and what their trajectory is.”

Five years later, Kathy Inouye hired Camp as an assistant project coordinator for the Castle & Cooke team that built Mililani Mauka. “She was not just an incredibly fast learner – if she didn’t know something, she sought out the answer to it,” recalls Inouye, herself a pioneering female force in real estate development and a longtime Kobayashi Group partner and chief operating officer.

Inouye saw how Camp developed strong relationships with colleagues in business and government, and how she gained their respect. Recently, Inouye came out of retirement to be a consultant for Camp. “There are investors that come to her and say, ‘I want to invest in your next project,’ because they trust her.”

During the decade after high school, Camp took evening classes at whichever campus accommodated her work schedule — UH Mānoa, Kapi‘olani and Honolulu community colleges, and Hawai‘i Pacific University – ultimately graduating with a business degree from HPU. “The education I received was quite fruitful,” she says, “because everything I learned was targeted to apply to what I was actually doing in my work.”

After five years at Castle & Cooke, where she was promoted to senior project director in development, Camp became VP of development and acquisitions at A&B Properties, further establishing herself as a dynamic powerhouse in an industry dominated by men. In 1999, at 32, she launched her own company, the Avalon Development & Consulting Group. Then, after two years of consulting for others, she changed the name to Avalon Development Co. and committed 80% of its efforts to its own projects. In 2002, it became Avalon Group, a full-service real estate development, consulting and sales company.

Related articles: These 5 Women Are Changing the Face of Real Estate Development

Revived a Hawaii Kai Project

Avalon excels at niche developments that complete communities. Camp offers a surprising fact: The company has done housing projects on O‘ahu, but since it began investing in Central and West O‘ahu about 20 years ago, it completed 19 projects there, none of them involving housing.

“Homes alone don’t make a robust community,” Camp says, explaining that homebuilders like Gentry already filled that role. Instead, Avalon built shopping centers, schools and industrial parks, among them the Shops at West Loch, Kapolei Business Park, Plaza at Milltown in Waipahu, which houses the Hawai‘i Technology Academy headquarters and Ballet Hawaii’s westside location, two Cole Academy sites and the Social Security Administration building in Kapolei.

In East Honolulu, Avalon took over a housing project in Hawaii Kai that developers had tried – and failed – to build three times. Avalon was contracted by Hanwha Engineering and Construction in December 2013 to develop, redesign and obtain financing for the project. Avalon later purchased the property from Hanwha outright.

Avalon Group took over a failing housing project in Hawaii Kai, and after construction was completed, converted 213 units into the Hale Ka Lae condominiums while preserving 56 units as affordable rentals. Many existing tenants applied two years of already-paid rent as credit toward a condo purchase. | Photo courtesy: Avalon Group

When a loan on the property came due and high interest rates forced Avalon to consider alternative refinancing, Camp converted 213 units into the Hale Ka Lae condominiums while preserving 56 units at Avalon’s adjacent Hale Manu building as affordable rentals for the next 30 years. The moves gave existing tenants the option to apply two years of already-paid rent as credit toward a condo purchase, enabling a lot of these families – including many that may not have been able to obtain mortgages otherwise – to become homeowners.

“The buyers were exactly the kind of people we want to build homes for: policemen, firemen, teachers and nurses,” Camp says, adding that living in Hawaii Kai also gives these workforce families access to outstanding public schools.

What Does Your Mother Think?

Her mother, who supported five children as a waitress after Camp’s father died of cancer the year after Camp moved to Hawai‘i, wasn’t sure what to think of her developer-daughter’s job. “She said, ‘So you are a contractor for construction?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t do construction. We hire people for that.’ ‘Oh, so you design, you draw pictures?’ I said, ‘No, we have architects for that.’ ‘Oh, so you sell?’ I said, ‘No, we have sales agents today.’ ‘So what do you do?’ ” Camp says.

“I said, ‘I make decisions, Mom. Every project is a little business. I come up with the idea for the business. I come up with a budget and the schedule. I ask people for money, and I hire people to do the business,’ ” she continues. “She said, ‘That’s not real estate.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s an investment, but you do it through real estate.’ ”

The 2010 documentary “The Lottery,” which features the joy and heartbreak of families of New York City students vying for coveted spots in a charter school, made a big impression on Camp. Later, she discovered that when DreamHouse ‘Ewa Beach opened in 2019, the charter school had space for only 100 sixth graders. The next year, the school moved from Laulani Village to Kapolei Marketplace.

Camp thought about the hundreds of parents who wanted to enroll their kids but there was no space. “They wanted something better for their kids,” she says. “I said, ‘What can I do to help?’ They said, ‘We’re going from one shopping center to another shopping center. We need a school.’ ”

With little expectation of profit, Camp dedicated land that Avalon owns outright for the construction of the DreamHouse Center in Kapolei. Slated for completion this fall, it will be anchored by DreamHouse High School, which will accommodate 400 students.

Here are pictures of groundbreakings for two Avalon projects. Top, Camp dedicated land that Avalon owns for the construction of the Dreamhouse Center in Kapolei, which will be anchored by Dreamhouse high school and its 400 students. Bottom, the crossing at Kapolei Business Park West Phase I offers about 28 warehouse condominiums ranging in size from 929 to 15,645 square feet, which can be combined into larger spaces. | Photo courtesy: Avalon Group

In September, Avalon and Hawai‘i Pacific University opened HPU’s Downtown Science Laboratories, a four-story, 22,000-square-foot complex on Fort Street Mall. Home to the College of Natural and Computational Sciences, the facility includes teaching labs, specialized research labs, a dark room, a security office and a faculty lounge.

“HPU had been looking to build a lab for a decade. It represents an important part of HPU’s core mission and core responsibilities,” says Stephen Metter, CEO of MW Group and a trustee of HPU. “Camp took the responsibilities of the previous developer and agreed to a delivery date of Aug. 19, and she actually delivered the space in advance of that.

“It was a very complex build with all the very specific requirements necessary for a full-scale research and teaching lab. She inherited incomplete plans with an incomplete environmental analysis. Because of the inflation of both raw materials and labor, it’s likely that Camp had additional expenses that were unpredictable in building out the space. But she honored the existing contract fully with HPU. So from HPU’s perspective, she is a superhero.”

Camp’s development acumen has helped many other nonprofits, from the Hawai‘i Opera Theatre to Hale Kipa, a safe haven for at-risk youth. But if there’s an issue that tugs at her heart as much as education, it’s housing. She still remembers cosigning the mortgage for her mom’s house in ‘Āinakoa in East Honolulu, when fee simple ownership became available. She was 18, working full-time, and moved by the sense of security that came from knowing her mother would never be kicked out.

“She fully realizes the critical nature of housing in Hawai‘i. It’s critical at all levels. It’s not just affordable housing. It’s housing for all local residents,” says Inouye, the former Kobayashi Group COO. “She will go after projects that oftentimes people don’t want to touch because they have unique challenges.”

That was exactly the case when the Institute of Human Services sought to build the ‘Imi Ola Piha Triage and Treatment Center, O‘ahu’s first medically monitored drug detox and psychiatric stabilization center for houseless people who are ready to seek help and stability.

“When you think of drug detox, it’s something everybody knows our community needs, but many don’t want it in their backyard,” says Leina Ijacic, who was chief administrative officer at IHS when Camp helped them tackle the project. IHS struck out twice at securing a location, and then struggled to close on the third location. Their grant funding – secured years earlier – fell short because of construction cost inflation, so they lost the contractor.

Camp swooped in with the expertise to finalize the acquisition of the property and aid in its renovation. On her own dime, she assigned a project manager for a year to see the construction to completion.

“Christine would lend her expertise in our small meetings talking about construction finishes because durability and details matter. She would shake up our long term strategic meetings, helping us to dream big and map a clear vision. She would remove roadblocks that seemed insurmountable, then overnight, give you a detailed financial pro forma on how to get there,” Ijacic says. “She kept the team motivated, reminding us we were doing something good for Hawai‘i, and showed us that with innovation, grit and camaraderie, even this tough project was achievable. I am certain that ‘Imi Ola Piha would not exist without Christine.”

“She is also extremely caring and thoughtful on a personal level,” Ijacic adds. “While we were doing all this, I had my ‘last hurrah’ baby, my third child. We were doing so much, yet she checked in to say, ‘Congratulations! Can I send you food to your house to celebrate?’ There’s thoughtfulness in everything she does.”

Inouye has also witnessed Camp’s generosity. They were in a meeting together when Camp received a phone call about the wildfires ravaging Lahaina. “She owns a property on Front Street. This was a commercial building, so she had all the tenant numbers. While I sat there, she started calling people to find out if they were OK,” Inouye says.

After a sleepless night and confirming everyone had escaped safely, Camp told Inouye the building was her own personal investment, something she had planned to retire on. “She told me, ‘I’ve hit rock bottom before. I’ll make it out. I’m more worried about them.’ For the next several weeks she personally reached out to those individuals and said, ‘Don’t worry about paying rent. What do you need?’ And she provided that assistance. That’s not just resilience, that is compassion.”

“I Want to Be a Mom”

Camp explains a change in her mindset when she turned 40. “I think a leader has to understand how to say no. Because we – especially women leaders – we tend to want to say yes. We’re trained to be the accommodators in many ways. Our parents said, ‘Be a good girl. Do what you’re asked. Be liked by others. Don’t make a fight.’ Whereas men can be more bold.

“In my younger days, I said yes to everything, and I did my best. It made me see and learn so much, but also delayed my ability to have children. When I turned 40, I said, ‘Wait a minute, I want to be a mom.’ And I ended up giving birth at age 41.”

It was 2008, and Camp knew she wanted to carve out more time for her son, but she also says she felt obligated to her staff. “As the CEO of the company, Camp carries that weight with her that everyone in this office is ultimately depending on her and Avalon to be successful in our business because all of our families rely on that,” and it’s a traumatic experience for her when she has to let someone go, shares Robby Kelley, executive VP at Avalon.

2008 is when the Great Recession began to unfold. “I was in for a lot of hurt. Everything that I thought I accomplished, I lost it all,” Camp recalls. “I had to lay off half my staff, and I knew that it impacted their lives, but I had to keep the core going.”

“I had my son, my little bright-eyed son. There he is. That was age 2,” she says, pointing to a framed portrait of him by a pool. “I couldn’t even afford to take him anywhere. Somebody invited me to a swimming pool, and they bought him an Elmo, and I felt so grateful. I keep that here to remind me how hard it was back then.”

Gabe Lee, a former executive VP of American Savings Bank, has known Camp for 35 years. He offers his perspective as a lender at that precipitous time: “After 2008, development and residential mortgages and valuations all went down. That’s when I got to see Camp’s ability to scramble and find different sources of capital.”

He describes all of the variables that can topple the multilayered capital stack that goes into financing a property. Obstacles can appear at any stage of the project: cost estimation, design, construction, property management, compliance. Then there’s the flip side of the formula: the customer.

“All those are always changing. Equity investors and bankers – their parameters change based on the economy. If the bank says, ‘No, we want more equity and we want to charge you a higher interest rate and go at a lower loan-to value ratio,’ you have to scramble to the equity investors to try to sell that to them. Then you have to look at your sales team to see if you can raise prices to come out with a return. Same thing when interest rates go up and the stock market goes down and people change their buying habits – that’s another scramble. Nothing is just one phone call.”

Related articles: Wahine Getting It Done

“She’s Quick on Her Feet”

Lee describes some of the attributes that enable Camp to juggle and pivot effectively. “In these types of negotiations, when we come back and say, ‘What about this?’ and ‘What about that?’ she has done her homework. There’s constant feedback. What she’s really good at is following up and closing the loop on things that will help people make decisions. The other thing is she’s quick on her feet. If things aren’t going her way, she can be flexible and possibly even change directions.”

Camp’s investments are informed by a comprehensive understanding of what every stakeholder stands to gain or lose. They’re also bound by her sense of hope and willingness to try. She sings the lyrics of “I Still Believe In Me” from the TV show “Fame”: “When you don’t care, you don’t cry. It won’t hurt if you don’t try.”

“Basically, you have to try. If you don’t hurt, you won’t learn. Learning is such a big part of growth. All of my failures? Those were expensive lessons,” she says. She has even made a PowerPoint presentation showcasing her failures so others can learn from her mistakes.

“What you don’t do in your failures is hurt others along the way. What I mean by that is in a business, if you fail, that means you owe people money. During that time after 2008, I owed people money. I was so happy when I was able to pay everyone back within 10 years, at 9% interest.”

Camp lived in a walk-up apartment until she repaid every loan, even to investors who had knowingly assumed the risk.

“I felt I didn’t deserve enjoying anything nice until I paid back everyone who believed in me – I had their trust,” she explains. She pauses before sharing what she calls the secret to her success. “I was able to raise $135 million last year for investments. I’ve raised over half a billion dollars in my 25 years in business. You cannot do that unless they believe they’re going to get paid back.”

Reimagining Downtown

When Camp talks about the revitalization of Downtown Honolulu, she rattles off numbers with keen anticipation: $1.3 billion invested in Downtown and another $500,000 in Chinatown since 2018. Hawaii State Federal Credit Union spent $60 million renovating its site, which allowed it to bring back 250 employees who had been working remotely. Central Pacific Bank spent $40 million, and next year an additional 150 employees will return to the bank’s Downtown headquarters. Paris Baguette has 4,000 locations worldwide, including 150 in the U.S. The Downtown Honolulu shop ranks among the top 5% in U.S. sales. When the rail line is completed in 2031, it will take 10 minutes to get from the airport to Downtown. The old Downtown Walmart space – site of Liberty House back when Camp was a kid – was acquired by Avalon in February. It has 87,000 square feet – more than 2 acres of floor space on which they can innovate – plus 454 parking stalls. Such numbers are stored away in Camp’s memory, accessible whenever she needs them to make a calculated decision.

“Quietly, people have been buying and investing and making transitions. We’re looking at $1.8 billion moving through. In the next year and beyond, another $783 million,” she says, explaining the rationale that persuaded her to make the revitalization effort her focus for the next 7 years. “What was hollowing out is coming back. We already have a beautiful city. The grids are already there. We just need to refresh it, reimagine it.”

Camp’s company is converting the Davies Pacific Center at Queen and Bishop Streets into a mixed-use building with 352 condos. Now called Modea, it is part of an ambitious effort to revitalize downtown Honolulu. | Photo courtesy: Avalon Group

Mapping out the Downtown and adjacent Chinatown district, Camp recognized that more market-rate housing was needed to balance the concentration of affordable housing in the area. Hence the decision to convert the former Davies-Pacific office building into Modea, a mixed-use complex with 352 residential units. The old Walmart will be transformed into Forté, a social destination with pickleball courts, restaurants and shops where HPU students, Downtown hotel guests, office workers and residents can congregate. Forté, as in Fort Street, strong and loud, Camp explains. “We’re coming in forté at DoHo – Downtown Honolulu.”

Because of her diverse investments Downtown, Camp has become an important player, says Colbert Matsumoto, a fellow longtime CPB board member and chair of Tradewind Group. He praises her energy and enthusiasm and says she’s staked out a strategic position “that will be key to forming Downtown into a different kind of community going forward.”

In pockets where the homeless, drugs, crime and pollution had taken over, new infrastructure is in place, along with a united effort to clean up the streets. Additionally, several developers have chipped in to hire private security.

“You can’t do something like this alone. Christine understands that, and she’s embracing being a partner to everybody,” says Patricia Moad, VP of operations at Continental Assets Management, which opened the new 112-room AC Hotel by Marriott a block from Fort Street Mall.

Moad says she appreciates the standard that Camp has set. “Christine is a successful female who is leading her own company, raising her own capital, consistently closing on these landmark deals and through all of that, she’s changing communities. It’s great to see a female dominate in this space as she has.

“I’ve reached out to her for advice, and she’s always happy to give it,” Moad continues. “She’s considerate of others, patient and a good listener. That’s a woman trait, and maybe I’m shocked by it, because you don’t get a lot of that in this industry. It’s refreshing.”

Related articles: Talk Story: Christine Camp, President and CEO, Avalon Group

“She Will Truly Listen”

Being a developer often carries a stigma in Hawai‘i, where knee-jerk opposition to almost any development can be the norm. “For some folks, it’s difficult to maintain your calm when you’re being accused or criticized unfairly,” says Inouye. “But what Christine will say is, ‘I hear that you’re very upset. Change is very difficult.’ And she will truly listen and try to accommodate their concerns where possible.”

Says Camp: “I try to understand the other side and try to be understood, which means a lot of time communicating. The best defense when someone attacks your integrity is transparency.”

“Downtown is my last big project,” adds Camp, who, as part of that transparency and to hold herself accountable, answers her own calls and makes her own appointments. “I live by goals. I have a peg and I tell everybody about it so that everyone knows where I’m going, and then they help me along the way.”

This lifelong approach makes perfect sense for Camp, who studied accounting before realizing she prefers to keep her gaze forward. “Accounting is backward-looking, finance is future,” she says. “I dream, I project and I use that as a guiding force for putting together our business concepts.”

But she’s quick to point out that any vision is just 1% of the work; the other 99% is in the execution and decision-making. “I enjoy all of it because the peg is always visible to me. The peg is the end. The end is that we’re going to make this community better, because when we finish this project, there will be available services, or there will be completed homes, or there will be a converted office building.”

“I don’t develop on the mainland, because I couldn’t possibly make good decisions for that community the same way I can make good decisions for this community where I’ve been working, living, breathing and having friends, family and associates for the last 50 years,” she says.

“Nowhere else but in Hawai‘i could I have had the opportunities I’ve had. When you ask for help, you’d be surprised how many people just help you. That’s the Hawai‘i way. We all play the long game because we never know how we’re going to be connected to each other.”

Camp’s next visible peg has a date attached to it: Jan. 4, 2033. After finalizing her succession plan, which includes leaving half her company in the hands of four key employees, she shared it with her leadership team on Jan. 4, 2018. In that plan, she sets a 15-year goal with increments of five years. “We all have to make a living, but whatever you do, why not do something you are passionate about, where you can make a difference, do no harm and provide a win-win situation?”

She could have named her company after herself, but she chose Avalon, the mythical island where Excalibur, King Arthur’s magical sword, was forged and where the fictional king himself was taken after his final battle.

“I wanted a name that was evergreen, so even if I left, it could survive and they will continue to do the work I feel is meaningful,” Camp says. “That’s Avalon.”

The 2024 CEO of the Year celebration honoring Christine Camp will take place on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. For more details click here.

If Ken Sakurai had his way, this article wouldn’t be about him at all.

Commercial Plumbing President Randy Hiraki describes Sakurai’s initial reaction when he heard he had been chosen as CEO of the Year. “I happened to be having lunch with him when he got the call. The first thing he said was, ‘Why me? There are plenty of other guys who are more deserving.’ ”

Hiraki disagrees because he thinks Sakurai is very deserving.

“Ken is just so humble and low profile that I bet a lot of people have never even heard of him. But when you learn how many homes his company has built for the people of Hawai‘i, you’ll realize that number is astronomical,” Hiraki says.

Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Sakurai’s company, Coastal Construction, has built close to 33,000 single-family and multifamily dwellings since he joined it in 1973. Working with developers Castle & Cooke, Haseko and Forest City Hawaii, and nonprofits such as aio Foundation and HomeAid Hawaii, Coastal Construction’s projects have included affordable units, military housing and housing for veterans, and even plantation-style villages and respite centers for the homeless.

In a state where one of the biggest problems is a lack of accessible housing, Sakurai’s leadership has accomplished a great deal.

“When I think back to all the homes that Coastal has built, I visualize all of the families and children’s lives that they’ve affected. His work has helped make Hawai‘i more livable for multiple generations,” says aio founder and Chairman Duane Kurisu. “Ken’s the most under-the-radar person in Hawai‘i who’s made significant contributions to our past and our future.”

Says Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of First Hawaiian Bank Bob Harrison: “He’s the quiet guy. He never wants the limelight. Yet he’s been a success story for almost 50 years, starting with nothing, then creating an important business through perseverance and hard work. There simply aren’t enough Ken Sakurais in the world and I can’t think of a better person to receive this honor.”

But don’t let that humility make you think he doesn’t know what he’s doing, says Tim Takaezu, regional sales manager for Foundation Building Materials. “When it comes to business, he can also be a tough guy to deal with and not a pushover by any means. If you get on the wrong side of him, you’re going to hear about it.”

In person, Sakurai is warm, funny, gentlemanly and a wonderful storyteller. He’s sometimes called “The Silver Fox” due to his hair color, twinkling eyes and still-elegant physique at the age of 84. From the moment I step into Coastal’s headquarters in Kalihi, it’s clear how beloved he is as his employees good-naturedly tease him about cleaning up his messy desk for our interview.

It’s also clear from how he decorates his office that he is, first and foremost, a local boy and family man. His walls are filled with photos of his late wife, two children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Near his desk is a black-and-white photo of him in his younger days, holding an eight-and-a-half foot Pacific blue marlin he caught on a fishing trip in Keauhou Bay.

He has an elephant’s memory for not only the specifics of each work project, but also the harmless hijinks he participated in as a “rascally” boy growing up in Honolulu.

When Hawaii Business Magazine Editor and Executive Publisher Steve Petranik called him to say he was chosen as CEO of the Year, Sakurai tried to turn down the honor. When I ask him about that, Sakurai is every bit as humble as his reputation. “I don’t think of myself as being in the same league as the great CEOs,” he says. “I just think of myself as a businessman who likes to build houses.”

A Soul for Building Communities

That passion for building houses can be traced back to the late 1950s, when he got his start building roads for Henry J. Kaiser. Back then, he recalls, Hawai‘i Kai was just kiawe trees and haole koa bushes, yet Kaiser had a vision to build a six-lane thoroughfare. Sakurai remembers sitting down for lunch one day, looking out on Kalama Valley. “I thought, there’s nothing here. Who in the world will ever buy a house in Hawai‘i Kai? Mr. Kaiser, with all his wealth, must have completely lost his marbles.

“Never could I have imagined back then that it could become a community. And never could I have imagined that I’d one day become a resident of that community,” Sakurai says.

His work for Kaiser was only the first step, however.

“One day we were doing some roadwork for the community of Waipi‘o. I remember being covered in red dirt. Man, it was all up in my nose and ears and everywhere else it could get into. And I thought, OK, it’s time to figure out something else to do.”

By 1967, he was working on military residences at what is now known as Wheeler Army Airfield and by 1968, Jack Dubey approached him to work on the framing and drywall for 18 houses in the brand-new community of Mililani. The two formed Sunset Builders, where Sakurai credits Dubey for mentoring him on the administrative side of the business. By 1973, they merged with a company called Coastal Construction, and in 1980, he bought out his partner.

“It’s been 50 years in the making of Coastal. And it’s been one hell of a ride,” Sakurai says.

To work with someone like Sakurai who has deep experience as a skilled carpenter while also having a head for business is rare, says Michael Fujimoto, executive chairman of HPM Building Supply. “Not all contractors have that kind of insight and perspective. A lot of that is because Ken started off running the plates and carrying lumber on the job site. He was a framer who learned in the field and was very good at it, very fast at it. But he was also intelligent and able to take the next step to operating a company. It’s a huge leap from being good at building to someone who can manage customers and people, estimate the cost of the project, and be able to bid in a way that’s competitive but at the same time won’t run you bankrupt.”

That combination of experience and business savvy has led to long-term working relationships with developers, including ties with Castle & Cooke that go all the way back to 1968.

“He’s absolutely one of the best CEOs in the state. We bid out our work so it’s not that we only had one contractor. But he’d always win,” says Harry Saunders, president of Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i. Saunders estimates that Coastal has helped Castle & Cooke build at least 20,000 homes across multiple projects.

The 2023 CEO of the Year celebration honoring Ken Sakurai will take place on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. For more details click here.

“In Hawai‘i, your word is your bond, and when Ken gives his word, it sticks. It happens. I consider him our A team and he stands behind his work. He’s right there to back it up.”

But for Sakurai, building homes is not just a profession. It’s also a calling that comes with a responsibility. “My grandpa always stresses to us the importance of volunteering,” says Kai Masutani, safety coordinator at Coastal Construction. “Building houses is our specialty, he said. Let’s use this experience to give back to families who are struggling.”

Partnering with aio Foundation and other volunteers, Coastal helped construct over 150 homes in Kahauiki Village, located off Nimitz Highway near Ke‘ehi Lagoon. The process involved reusing emergency homes that had been used in Japan after the Fukushima tsunami, then shipped to Hawai‘i. The former paintball site was transformed into a plantation-style community for over 600 homeless adults and children.

“When we first met,” Kurisu says, “we hit it off right away because I could feel his passion for building shelters and communities. And in the process of talking through the vision and the execution, I could feel his soul was in alignment with the vision. We became an assembly of like-minded contractors. Kahauiki Village became a reality because of that trust.”

Without seeking recognition or fanfare, Sakurai has also volunteered his company’s time and resources for several other projects, including a medical respite center in Honolulu that provides homeless patients being discharged from the hospital with a safe place to heal and recover.

“The good ones like Ken are quiet. They are not breaking their arm to pat themselves on the back. We ask him for help and he’s there,” says Saunders, who is among the leadership of HomeAid Hawaii, which helped bring together the resources needed to build the Pūlama Ola medical respite kauhale. “All of us in this industry of building communities want a Ken Sakurai to work with us.”

Unafraid to Leave His Comfort Zone

At the start of the 1990s, a federal court ruling closed most of the woods in the U.S. Northwest to logging in order to preserve the habitat of the endangered northern spotted owl. The ensuing lumber shortage was a turning point for Sakurai: Would he continue working as he always had under the new constraints, or pivot to something new?

He pivoted. In 1993, he built 212 homes with Castle & Cooke using a material that virtually no carpenters in the state had worked with before: light-gauge steel.

In theory, the transition to this metal makes sense in a place like Hawai‘i, as it can deter termites and fire and can maintain its shape, unlike wood, which tends to get twisted and bent as it ages. The problem, however, was that there were no handbooks or expert resources back then on how to use it for framing.

“Wood was in our comfort zone. We were proficient in it, and already had jobs lined up,” says Coastal Construction VP Les Masutani. “For a tradesman, working with wood versus metal requires almost opposite kinds of techniques. Very different tools and hand movements. It took a lot of time for woodworkers to adjust. It was really frustrating.”

Sakurai is more blunt. “It was traumatic. We lost nothing but money then – a total of $568,000,” he says, adding that the figure is forever imprinted in his memory. “All our lead superintendents and foremen thought I had lost my marbles trying to transition from wood to light-gauge steel.”

Sakurai, right, joins estimator and project coordinator Jon Rapisura at a building site. | Photo: Aaron Yoshino

But as difficult as that transition was, Coastal’s work with those first couple of hundred homes put it and Sakurai at the forefront of a building trend that would only grow.

“Coastal was where everybody learned metal framing,” says Ron Taketa, executive secretary-treasurer of the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters. “A lot of new contractors today have supervisors who learned at Coastal. Because Ken is responsible for countless numbers of our union people getting trained, he’s recognized as an icon among residential contractors.”

The desire to learn from Coastal Construction even extended beyond the state. “We had suppliers coming out here, guys trying to figure out what tools would work,” says Masutani. “They would come to our site, interview us. Everybody had ideas on how to make it production based, but we here in Hawai‘i were among the front-runners in figuring it out.”

Sakurai acknowledges that, even with the lumber shortage, it would have been much easier to stick with what the company knew. But he has no regrets, even if the losses he sustained still haunt him.

“I know it was the right decision because as of today, we’ve built nearly 17,000 homes in light-gauge steel. And it was all because we let ourselves go through a process of trial and error, not giving up even when things were at their toughest.”

Hope Even Through Hardship

A third-generation descendant of Japanese immigrants, Sakurai remembers how little his family had growing up. “My father was a cabinetmaker with a very meager income. We ate banana sandwiches. And a lot of avocado sandwiches, which I ate so much that I don’t like it today. I also remember mayonnaise sandwiches with pepper. If we were really, really lucky, there might be some cold cuts.”

And then came Nancy, the girl of his dreams.

“There was this waitress in a restaurant. And I thought, wow, what an attractive girl. But I couldn’t afford anything there. Coffee was the cheapest thing, only 10 cents. So that’s all I’d order. I would drink coffee and talk story with her until I finally asked her out,” he says, a wistful smile on his face.

“The first morning we were married, she made me coffee. And I finally had to tell her, I don’t like coffee. In fact, I hate coffee, but it was the only way to spend time with her. After that, she never made coffee for me ever again,” he says, laughing.

He describes many times in his life when his determination was put to the test, especially in 1982. That year started off with a concrete strike that shut down the industry. To keep the company going and others employed through the strike, he didn’t withdraw any income for himself. Later that year, his wife suffered a major brain aneurysm. She was hospitalized for 88 days, including over a month in intensive care.

“I’ve survived six recessions but that was the most difficult time of my whole life,” he says, recalling how he flew weekly between Los Angeles, where his wife was hospitalized, and Hawai‘i, where he struggled to keep his business afloat.

And when his wife returned home, she needed help with daily tasks. “At night she would get up, and because I didn’t want her to get hurt, I tied a bathrobe belt to her and around my wrist. So when she got up, I’d wake up and get up too. There were lots of accidents that I would clean up. But it’s not because I had to do it, it’s because I wanted to do it.”

Nancy survived another 29 years after the aneurysm. While never fully recovering, she did get 75% there and, says Sakurai, lived a good life for nearly three more decades. “She helped me understand how much strength and determination there can be in the human body. She was a warrior,” he says.

Sakurai’s commitment to the well-being of others extends to his employees. Denise Maihui, longtime secretary at Coastal Construction, describes a time when Coastal was struggling, leading to talk of an acquisition by another company.

“Ken tried to hold it in, but you could see how hurt he was, feeling like he was letting us down,” she recalls. “But he told us not to worry. The deal was that the new owners would have to hire all of us, so nobody would be out of a job. We were so touched because we knew he could just get out. But instead, he was most concerned about making sure we’d all still keep our jobs.”

The 2023 CEO of the Year celebration honoring Ken Sakurai will take place on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. For more details click here.

Yet his employees couldn’t imagine a Coastal Construction without Sakurai. “I told him if he’s not here, then I quit. All of a sudden, everyone said I quit too. He looked at us and said, ‘OK, should we stick it out and see if we make it?’ And we did. And here we are today, stronger than ever,” says Maihui.

As proud as Sakurai is of the homes he has built, he is just as thrilled with how long he’s been able to keep people employed. He’s seen employees get married and have children, and was there when those same employees sent their kids off to college and, later, became grandparents.

“We have a gentleman who has been with us for 46 years. Forty-six years, can you believe it?” Sakurai says. “He told me he’s at an age where he thinks he’s supposed to retire. But he actually doesn’t want to. And I told him he doesn’t have to. He looked surprised, saying really? I can stay? And I said of course! Why not just keep going, like me?”

Chad Karasaki, chairman, CEO and resident managing director at Aon Risk Services, says Sakurai’s deep commitment to his team sets him apart from other CEOs.

“As the owner, the buck stops with him operationally and financially. He risks his personal wealth every time they take on big projects. But he does so unquestionably, unabashedly. There were so many times he could have just said, I’ll just sell the place and ride off into the sunset. But instead, he took some great losses solely to keep his men working. That is how Ken Sakurai is. He has the heart of a lion,” Karasaki says.

He Leads by Example

When talking about the biggest accomplishment of his life, Sakurai points to the wall of photos in front of his desk. “Because of my lack of education, I made it a point to send all of my five grandchildren to college. I’m so proud of that, because all five have graduated, two have gotten their master’s, and one is a veterinarian.”

Along with son-in-law Les Masutani, the company’s VP, two of his grandchildren, Kaz and Kai Masutani, have made their careers at Coastal. In fact, Kaz and Les were having lunch with Sakurai when he got the call informing him he had been chosen as CEO of the Year.

Sakurai, seated next to his wife, Nancy, now deceased, and five grandchildren. Two now work at Coastal Construction. | Photo: courtesy of Ken Sakurai

“I told Ken, this is not a coincidence – this is meant to be,” says Hiraki, the Commercial Plumbing president, who was there as well. “What makes the honor even greater is that we have all three generations of your family working at Coastal here to witness what you’ve accomplished. And you know that with them in leadership, your company will carry on even when you’re gone.”

But just because they are family doesn’t mean they haven’t earned their positions within the company. When it came to his successor, Les Masutani, Sakurai required that he learn the business, from the ground up.

“I started in the field as a laborer. I must have worked at least 10-12 years in the field. To me that was the best training I could ever have had,” says Masutani. “When you’re in the field, there is a daily sense of accomplishment. You get to respect the guys working in the trench and it taught me good work ethics. That definitely helps (me) see the whole picture.”

Kai Masutani, who is Kaz’s sister and Les’ daughter, confirms that her grandfather hasn’t shown any favoritism to her in her 10 years at Coastal. “When I told him I wanted to work for him, I thought he was going to take it easy on me. But he had me go out with the boys with my pouch on and start putting in nails. I was just another carpenter,” she says. “But because of that, I got to build a working relationship with them and learn what needs to be done to work safely. That helps me today in my role as safety coordinator. It was a good way to earn respect instead of just being Ken’s granddaughter.”

Kaz Masutani, who works on the administration side, says that so much of what she’s learned has come from observing her grandfather.

“He’s in his 80s, but he still shows up to meetings and site visits,” she says. “And on top of that, he takes care of employees, treats them well, buys them lunch every day, is interested in their kids, checks in when they’re sick, and asks about the challenges they are dealing with. And then he’s always encouraging us to give back when we can, to volunteer time or money or food and clothing to Maui, for example.

“He truly leads by example.”

Values Character Above All Else

On Sakurai’s desk is an award placard featuring a golf ball.

“After 84 years, I finally made a holein-one,” he says. “I was so happy, I actually jumped for joy.” But like other things he is proud of, it is significant in ways that aren’t really about winning or being recognized. Golf, for Sakurai, is not a competition. It is a way to build trust.

“Me playing golf with him, no matter how bad I was, it was important to him,” says Fujimoto, of HPM Building Supply. “You have that time together, you get to cheer for each other or commiserate. It’s an opportunity to get to know a person outside of work. It allows you to see them very clearly in terms of how they conduct themselves on the golf course.

“And Ken’s character is this: He never brags or boasts. He never gets angry. Never places blame on anyone or anything else. And he’s always encouraging, always positive. Spending time together on the golf course has added a whole other dimension to our business relationship.”

For Sakurai, spending time on a golf course helps build trust and business relationships. He hit his first hole-in-one at age 84. | Photo: courtesy of Ken Sakurai

Fujimoto’s son, HPM President and CEO Jason Fujimoto, says mutual respect, fostered over time, is vital to being as successful in business as Sakurai has been.

“We’re in an island environment and everything goes back to honor, reputation and what you’re doing for the long haul. All of that underscores the importance of community – we are all in it together. You just can’t survive doing things by yourself. That is why it has been so important over the decades to know that Ken is a man of his word, someone who values relationships above all.”

Stanford Carr, president of Stanford Carr Development, has known Sakurai for 45 years, ever since Carr was a 16-year-old installing vinyl carpeting. He agrees there is something traditional and deeply important about Sakurai’s values.

Sakurai on a fishing
trip on the Kasilof
River in Alaska. | Photo: courtesy of Ken Sakurai

“He can be the samurai tough guy but he’s also got a heart of gold. He gives younger people opportunities, which he did with me. But most importantly, he’s a straight shooter, a tell-it-like-it-is guy. His word is his honor. Old-school. And unfortunately, they just don’t make them like that anymore.”

When asked about the qualities that make a great CEO, Sakurai doesn’t mention profit or accomplishments or any of the typical metrics that define modern success. Rather, he talks about character. “There are two golden rules I live by. Treat anybody the way you want to be treated and second, you must have class,” he says. “And what is class? It’s having consideration for others.”

“It’s not what he says, it’s what he does,” says Takaezu, regional sales manager for Foundation Building Materials. “Say we go out to dinner, and I’m catching an Uber back to my house. He’ll always insist on driving me home, even if I’m going way in the opposite direction. He says that if I don’t get in the car, he’ll never buy from us anymore. He’s my customer, but what customer goes out of their way to do that?”

With our visit over, I get ready to leave his Kalihi headquarters – and he waits with me outside until my ride arrives. Later on, he calls to see that I got to my hotel without incident and a few days later, makes sure I’ve flown home safely to Kona. As so many have expressed, Sakurai is an exceptional CEO not only because of the sheer number of homes he has created in Hawai‘i, but because of the quiet, under-the-radar things he does to care for his people.

“Most people leave work around 5 o’clock, but I sometimes stay to catch up on things because it’s quiet,” says Maihui, the secretary at Coastal Construction. “And he always stays with me until I’m done. It’s important to him to be the last one there, the one who sees everyone off, the one that makes sure we’re all headed safely home before locking up after us.”

For Kurisu, the aio founder and chairman, Sakurai represents the very best of homegrown, deeply-rooted local values. “He comes from a time and place where things like trust, responsibility, character and generosity were most important, more so than any amount of money you could make. We grew up that way, and it was like that back then. And it could still be that way again in the future. Ken represents that hope.”

The 2023 CEO of the Year celebration honoring Ken Sakurai will take place on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. For more details click here.

He has led Central Pacific Bank’s bold implementation of digital-first banking: In its first year, CPB saw more than 4,000 new accounts for its 100% online checking platform called Shaka.

Since Yonamine joined CPB four years ago, the bank says, net income has grown 30%, core deposits 50%, total assets 28% and earnings per share 40%.

His in-depth profile will appear in the December issue of Hawaii Business and online at hawaiibusiness.com. He will also be the featured guest at our CEO of the Year breakfast event at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i on Dec. 8. Tickets are available here.

Joining him for a discussion on transformational leadership will be:

• Ray Vara of Hawai‘i Pacific Health, our 2021 CEO of the Year
• Dr. Lynn Babington of Chaminade University of Honolulu
• Su Shin of Hawaiian Telcom
• John De Fries of Hawai‘i Tourism Authority
• Moderator: Steve Petranik, Editor, Hawaii Business Magazine

Ray Vara of Hawai‘i Pacific Health is Hawaii Business Magazine’s 2021 CEO of the Year. You can read his profile here.

Now catch up on past CEOs of the Year.

2020

Micah Kāne, Hawai‘i Community Foundation

Kāne ensures the foundation focuses on both the long-term quality of life statewide and the immediate needs of people who might otherwise be forgotten …Read more

2019

Bettina Mehnert, AHL (Architects Hawaii)

Mehnert is as a nationally recognized architect and architectural leader, especially in sustainable design, and is a leader in helping Hawai‘i face the challenges of climate change …Read more

2018

Mark Fukunaga, Servco Pacific

He grew the family business by selling off sideline companies, focusing on core competencies and excelling on both customer service and employee satisfaction, all while constantly reinventing the company …Read more

2017

Bob Harrison, First Hawaiian Bank

He transformed FHB into a publicly traded company after 15 years as a subsidiary of the Paris-based multinational banking group, BNP Paribas …Read more

2016

Patrick Sullivan, Oceanit

Sullivan leads the pioneering Hawai‘i high-tech company that, in three decades, has created more than 300 products that are helping shape the future …Read more

2015

Henk Rogers, Blue Planet Foundation

The foundation was a catalyst in Hawai‘i’s leading-edge climate change policies and his  business accelerator, Blue Startups, has invested in and nurtured young companies and entrepreneurs from the Islands and around the world …Read more

2014

Art Ushijima, Queen’s Health Systems

Ushijima’s resolute leadership made the difference as Queen’s renovated and reopened the only hospital serving the growing population of Leeward O‘ahu and expanded operations on the Neighbor islands …Read more

2013

Stanley Kuriyama, Alexander & Baldwin

Stanley Kuriyama did something all too rare for a CEO: He put his company’s success ahead of his personal interests ...Read more

2012

John Dean, Central Pacific Bank

He came out of retirement in 2010 to help save the struggling community bank …Read more

2011

Eric Yeaman, Hawaiian Telcom

Yeaman’s stamina and discipline help carry Hawaiian Telcom from bankruptcy and back to profitability, reliability and employee engagement …Read more

2010

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian Airlines

He has guided Hawaiian to become one of the world’s most profitable airlines, even while the rest of the industry struggled …Read more

It was January 2021 and nearly 140 Hawaiʻi Pacific Health employees were stationed at Honolulu’s Pier 2, ready to serve the 890 people 75 years and older who signed up to receive Covid-19 vaccines on the opening day of the state’s first mass vaccination clinic.

Ray Vara, HPH’s president and CEO, recalls seeing the worry on some seniors’ faces. Some even brought beach chairs because they thought they’d have to wait in long lines, like at many Mainland clinics. But they moved through the process quickly, and as soon as they got their shots, he saw their shoulders drop 3 inches.

“It was buried so deep in them, this fear of what could happen to them if they were exposed to Covid. All of a sudden, they had this sense of relief. And our people could see that – it was physically visible,” Vara says.

“It gave (HPH employees) that much more energy, that much more pride. Then they could really feel in a real tangible way – I get chicken skin as I talk about it – they could see the impact they were making.”

He adds: “It was something I’ll never forget during the course of my career and something I take great pride in the work of what our team did and the impact they made in the community in a time when people really needed this.”

Hawai‘i Pacific Health Oahu opened the Islands’ first mass vaccination center at Honolulu’s Pier 2 on Jan. 15, 2021. Standing at the patients’ entrance are, from left to right, Terence Young, HPH’s VP for clinic operations, Melinda Ashton, MD and HPH’s chief quality officer, and Ray Vara. HPH administered over 187,000 doses at that site before it closed at the end of July 2021. | Photo: courtesy of Hawaiʻi Pacific Health

That clinic’s opening marked a turning point in the local pandemic as people could start to feel hopeful about the future beyond Covid-19. HPH administered over 187,000 doses at that site before it closed at the end of July 2021. It now has vaccine clinics at Kapi‘olani, Straub and Wilcox medical centers, plus mobile clinics on Kaua‘i and O‘ahu. As of Oct. 12, the nonprofit had administered 268,000 doses.

HPH was also the first employer in the state to offer free antibody testing to its employees, and among the first organizations to offer drive-thru Covid-19 testing. And it’s helped treat more than 1,200 people sick with Covid-19.

Vara’s passion for fulfilling HPH’s mission of creating a healthier Hawai‘i is unmistakable in his work, whether he’s pushing employees to offer excellent patient care, merging three formerly separate health care organizations into today’s HPH or striving to help the working poor throughout Hawai‘i. For those reasons and others detailed in this story, Hawaii Business Magazine has selected Vara as its 2021 CEO of the Year.

Unified Organization

Hawaiʻi Pacific Health was formed in December 2001 after the merger of three longtime health care organizations, Kapi‘olani Health (which included Kapi‘olani and Pali Momi medical centers), Straub Medical Center and Wilcox Health on Kaua‘i.

Vara joined HPH in 2002 as Straub’s CEO. He became CEO of all four medical centers in 2004 and then president of HPH in 2012. The Hawai‘i Pacific Health CEO title was added in 2013.

Today, the organization employs 7,000 people and has more than 70 clinics statewide, plus the four medical centers.

Dr. Melinda Ashton, HPH executive VP and chief quality officer, says merging the three entities is one of Vara’s greatest accomplishments.

“It’s one thing to write the contracts and say we are now an organization but to actually create the cultural change, the leadership change that means we behave as one, we believe we’re one, that truly is something that Ray is responsible for,” she says.

Vara says HPH is more effective today because it pulls on the strengths, legacies, cultures and commitments of its founding organizations.

“Creating that unifying culture that really puts the patient at the center of the work that we do and makes the broadest impact possible for the community that we serve has really taken every bit of the last two decades to get to where we’re at today,” he says.

HPH is frequently recognized for excellent patient care. Straub Medical Center has received Healthgrades America’s Outstanding Patient Experience Award for 12 consecutive years, and Pali Momi for three. In 2020 and 2021, Straub was the only hospital in Hawai‘i to receive Healthgrades’ 250 Best Hospitals Award, meaning it’s in the top 5% nationwide for clinical excellence.

Straub, Wilcox and Pali Momi medical centers have five-star ratings from the federal government’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which assigns ratings to hospitals nationwide based on mortality, safety of care, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care.

Culture of Care

Vara often talks about touching patients at their souls. Dr. Leslie Chun, CEO of the Hawai‘i Pacific Health Medical Group, says that’s because Vara doesn’t view delivering care as a transaction. Instead, he sees it as a relationship that must be maintained.

“For a non-clinician to understand that and to promote that, it shows his insight and his humanness,” Chun says. HPH Medical Group comprises almost 700 HPH physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health care providers.

Chun adds that the accolades HPH receives point to Vara’s leadership because he provides the environment for excellence to occur.

Art Gladstone, executive VP and chief strategy officer at HPH, agrees: “Under Ray’s leadership, he really helped drive us toward that high world-class quality from a clinical standpoint, but also world-class quality from a service standpoint,” he says.

“The clinical is what people expect. You come to a hospital, you expect you’re going to get the best care you’re possibly going to get, right? But the service quality was sort of that wow factor – that we treat people in a way that is respectful, again, calling them by name, explaining things, etc., because that’s the engagement part. And the more and more we can engage patients, the more they’ll participate in their care.”

Vara credits his daughter, Abigail Faith Vara, for changing the way he leads HPH and the expectations he has for the patient experience. An accident in 2004 left the 2-year-old with a brain injury. The family spent a lot of time at Kapi‘olani Medical Center before Abbie died in 2015.

“I will forever have gratitude for the care that they provided to her, but I also saw what it was like to be a father sitting on the other side of the bed,” he says. “I like to think that I actively and sometimes shamelessly brought those experiences to life to change how we impact other families, not because something was going bad or there was poor care being provided, but because so much of the care we provide has nothing to do with the clinical content.

“It has to deal with how we touch people as human beings, how we touch them at the soul, how we sympathize with what they’re experiencing at that time.”

“Mission First and People Always”

People who know Vara well, say he is intelligent, genuine, reads people well, and has a knack for quickly and clearly understanding complex issues, breaking them into simple terms and articulating them in ways that can bring people to the table to address them.

“He’s one of those rare individuals, executives who can really scale between deeply philosophical, strategic, intellectual types of problems and issues, but then can also get down to the most minute detail in an operation,” says Peter Ho, who is president, CEO and chairman of Bank of Hawaii and serves on the bank’s board with Vara.

“And so he has great subject matter command, not just in the nuts and bolts of his operation but also in the highest strategic issues for Hawai‘i Pacific Health as well as for issues confronting the community.”

Vara’s leadership philosophy is guided by a quote from Colin Powell, who served as national security adviser, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state: “Leadership is the art of accomplishing what the science of management says is impossible.”

Leaders are charged with helping co-workers and employees understand the importance of their collective work, treating them with dignity and respect, and keeping them informed, Vara says. “I’ve always thought of things as mission first and people always.”

He adds that he’ll ask his employees to work hard – probably harder than they ever have before – but he also wants to make sure they have their priorities in the right order. And he tells all new employees that at their orientation.

“We go as far as to tell you what your priorities should be,” he says. “And first, you got to take care of your personal health and your well-being. Second, you’ve got to take care of your family and your community. And then I’m going to ask you to bring every ounce of energy that you have left and leave it on the table for the benefit of our patients. And most of us get that order all wrong unless there’s something that triggers us to change.”

Vara participated in the 15th annual HPH Kids Fest at Bishop Museum, a free event promoting healthy, active lifestyles. | Photo: courtesy of Hawaiʻi Pacific Health

He also believes leaders must be visible and present in their organizations and operate with integrity, which he defines as doing the right thing even when no one is looking.

Hawai‘i Community Foundation is one of HPH’s partners. Micah Kāne, the foundation’s president and CEO, serves with Vara on several local boards. He says Vara is not afraid of being the first person to advocate for something that he strongly believes in, even if it’s unpopular.

In the early days of the pandemic, “he was one of the first leaders that was saying, ‘We have to look at shutting down,’ and that’s a hard thing to say for someone like him,” Kāne says. “I mean he’s a very pro-business guy, but at the same time he’s never going to put those decisions in front of the health of our community, and he was one of the first leaders who was advocating to the governor for that.”

Stability Amid Hardship

Vara was part of Gov. David Ige’s Laulima Alliance Covid-19 advisory panel and serves on the Hawai‘i House Select Committee on Covid-19 Economic and Financial Preparedness.

He says he and other HPH leaders feel a responsibility to help shape policy that balances the risks and threats the community and health care system face from Covid-19, with the other risks and threats faced by the state’s most vulnerable populations.

“One thing we know is in the long view of health care, the greatest enemy of health is poverty,” Vara says, and that perspective must help drive policies and decisions.

Richard Wacker is the former CEO of American Savings Bank and has served on HPH’s board of directors since 2018. He says Hawai‘i is better off because Vara and his organization were a strong voice for keeping the economy going and came up with creative ways to expand HPH’s care for coronavirus patients and to deploy and scale vaccinations.

In addition to the vaccine doses administered, HPH opened four respiratory evaluation clinics that have had 3,820 clinic visits, launched a program that tested 3,607 of its employees for Covid antibodies, tested 136,445 people for Covid at drive-thru sites and converted in-person medical visits to telehealth. Ashton says telehealth appointments still make up about 50% of all visits. HPH doctors also worked with UH engineers to reconfigure a ventilator so it could be used on four patients at once if needed.

Vara says the organization has used the term “poised under pressure” a lot during the pandemic, and that despite having resources and capacities stretched at times, people could always count on the health care system to help them.

Chun says the Pier 2 mass vaccination clinic’s execution, efficiency and customer service was a first-class experience thanks to Vara’s leadership. He says Vara has a talent for seeing around corners, past the current issue and looking at what’s needed next, and he empowers his leaders to make things happen.

“In times of hardship, leaders rise, and leaders show what they’re truly made of,” Chun says. “And he’s done that in so many different facets of health care and the community and beyond.”

Join us as we honor Ray Vara, President & CEO of Hawai‘i Pacific Health at our 2021 CEO of the Year event.

Army Career

Vara was born in Canton, Ohio, to a stay-at-home mother and a father who worked in the gaming industry, so most of his childhood was spent in Las Vegas. He was the youngest of four kids and spent a lot of time playing football, basketball and baseball. But his life was shaken by his father’s death when he was 15. Three years later, he joined the Army.

“My life was in a state of disruption at a young age, and that just seemed like a path that could provide some clarity,” he says.

His first long-term posting was in Honolulu. He took night classes at Hawai‘i Pacific University and later received an Army ROTC scholarship. He earned a business administration degree and became an officer in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps.

While stationed in Washington state, he met and married Tiffany, who was also an Army officer in the Medical Services Corps. They have four sons, who are now ages 30, 29 and 24 (twins).

Vara was only in his mid-20s and a medical platoon leader with the 9th Infantry Regiment in 1994 when many Cuban refugees were being placed at Guantanamo Bay. His role there was to help oversee the care of U.S. soldiers and to help screen the refugees for serious medical conditions.

“I wasn’t the only one doing that work, there were a lot of us there, but given that I was an officer and overseeing medical personnel as part of care process there, it felt like a lot of responsibility at a young age,” he says.

Honoring Family

After two other army assignments, during which Vara learned about health care finance and earned his MBA, he and Tiffany left the Army in 1998. The next stop for them and their four sons was Los Alamos Medical Center in New Mexico, where he was CFO and then CEO. After that opportunity, the Vara family moved to Hawai‘i.

Ho, Bank of Hawaii’s CEO, has known Vara for over 10 years and calls him an “incredible family man.”

“Just a real model family between Ray and his wife, Tiffany, and his kids,” he says. “As a parent and husband myself, he’s someone to really model and emulate.”

Vara’s days are often busy and long, and he remembers having to be selective about the times he spent with his children when they were young. All his children played sports, so he’d block out times for games as if they were meetings.

Ray Vara gathers virtually with his wife and four sons in what he calls a “modern family photo.” Clockwise from top left are Ray Vara, Tiffany Vara, son Kyle with his wife, Victoria, and sons Chase, RJ and Matt. | Photo: courtesy of Ray Vara

“I said, look, we’ve got a lot of responsibility, I’ve got a lot of kids, I’ve got a lot of work obligations, and so here’s what you can count on is if you’ve got a game, a match or something like that I’m always going to be there,” he says. “You don’t ever need to worry about that. But the other side of that is I’ll almost never be at practice. I’m never going to be the coach. I’m never going to be the team parent. But I’m going to be at every game.”

Ray and Tiffany’s sons are now grown and have their own careers. Vara says his proudest accomplishment is that he and his wife successfully raised four tremendous young men who call each other their best friends.

He also says his late daughter, Abbie, was the glue that shaped his family and turned those boys into the men they are today.

“She taught them a lot, and that experience taught them a lot about humility and challenges and about how to overcome those things and how to persevere and how to, frankly, enjoy sometimes the simplest things in life,” he says. “And oftentimes that’s just time together.”

The family continues to talk every day and has group texts. And he knows his sons are watching him and the decisions he makes.

“I wake up every day open to do work that honors my family,” he says. That work includes service on several local boards, like the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative, and he is the 2021-2023 chairman of the American Heart Association’s national board.

Broader Impact

Early in the pandemic, Vara was driving from the North Shore toward town when he came across cars lined up for miles in the far-right lane of the highway. All were waiting for food distribution to start at Aloha Stadium.

“I remember this hollow feeling in my stomach: All these people are sitting here waiting in line for a food distribution at 6:30 in the morning for something that doesn’t even open until 8 a.m.,” he says. “And they just wanted to get in to get food to be able to feed their family.”

Inside and outside of HPH, Vara advocates for food security, better housing and education, and other quality of life issues for Hawai‘i’s people. For instance, those food distribution events were supported by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s Resilience Fund, to which HPH contributed $200,000 in 2020.

For Vara, “health care is just one piece of this equation, a big piece, but there’s much more than just us, our existence in this community to take care of people when they need us,” says HPH chief strategy officer Gladstone. “We have to be taking care of people before they need us.”

Kāne says Vara realizes that housing is a key indicator of well-being and if people aren’t housed properly, they’re going to end up at one of HPH’s facilities.

“By the time it gets to him within his walls, many times it’s too late,” Kāne says. That’s why Vara advocates for wellness factors beyond traditional health care.

Health Care Summer Internship Program: A six-week, paid internship program that allows high school seniors and college students to explore different health industry careers.

For more than a decade, Vara says HPH has been conditioning itself to focus on the health of the overall population: building strong families and resilient children by supporting food security, housing stability, self-sufficiency, and child and family development.

Those commitments require restructuring how the organization delivers care, engages with the community, finances health care and partners with others, he says.

He notes the real work around workforce development is being done within Hawai‘i’s education system; HPH tries to add value to those efforts in specific areas where it has expertise, including through a medical assistant training program for high school students that began in 2018. Medical assistants perform administrative and clinical tasks like checking in patients for appointments, updating medical records and explaining physicians’ instructions to patients. Students participate in two semesters of coursework and a 225-hour externship. HPH, which developed the curriculum, then guarantees students a job as long as they pass the national certification exam and meet other hiring requirements.

Summer Student Research Program: An eight-week program where undergraduate students participate in a clinical research study and a medical curriculum organized by Hawai‘i Pacific Health.

“A lot of these young folks, they’re 18 years old, they’re right out of high school, and I see them sitting at new employee orientation, and in many cases, they have a career trajectory that is greater than probably anybody else in their family currently or maybe even in the past,” Vara says.

HPH now has training programs for medical assistants, nurse aides, surgical instrument processing technicians and phlebotomists at 13 public high schools.

The organization also provides summer internships for high school and college students, an eight-week summer student research program, and five fully funded scholarships for students attending UH’s John A. Burns School of Medicine.

“You wouldn’t believe how many kids go from that internship program to the summer research program, because the summer research program is very competitive,” Vara says. “And so you get kids into that, and they go off to medical school and then we’ve got folks who have gone through all that and come back and work for us. Its connectivity to our organization and to the mission of creating a healthier Hawai‘i runs deep.”

High School Training Programs: These programs prepare high schoolers for careers as medical assistants, nurse aides, surgical instrument processing technicians and phlebotomists.

Scholarships for UH’s John A. Burns School Students: HPH awards five scholarships a year, covering each recipient’s four years of medical school tuition.

Call To Action

Vara ofter points to the pandemic’s impact on Hawai‘i’s ALICE population as why HPH and the community urgently need to improve the health of all local people. ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income-Constrained, Employed – people and families who work and earn more than the federal poverty level but still can’t afford child care, adequate housing, food, transportation, health care and other necessities.

Pre-pandemic, 42% of Hawai‘i households were considered ALICE or below. Today, it’s 59%. And while Covid isn’t gone, Vara says the greater risks to Hawai‘i are the socioeconomic factors that make it impossible for ALICE families to make ends meet. One example is that there’s a decade difference in the life expectancy in Waimānalo and West O‘ahu versus affluent Hawai‘i Kai.

“If we don’t figure out how to activate our community and put a spark in the economy in a meaningful way, I think we can bring longtime harm to our community that is much greater and has a much longer impact on our community than Covid itself,” Vara says. “So we’ve got some work to do.”

He adds: “We’ll know that we’re successful at caring for the health of the population when based on all indicators an empty hospital bed is more valuable than an occupied hospital bed because we don’t have people lined up for sick care because we’re involved in their lives and worked with the community to create a healthy population.”

Wacker says Hawai‘i is lucky to have Vara.

“He’s the kind of leader who could take a lot of opportunities outside of Hawai‘i at a national level, but he chooses to stay here and contribute to a healthier Hawai‘i and a better economy for our state, a better living situation for all the people of Hawai‘i,” Wacker says. “And I think we’re extraordinarily fortunate that he and his family have that passion for Hawai‘i.”

Related Stories: Hawai‘i Pacific Health CEO Discusses Precautions as Hawai‘i Reopens, Ray Vara, President and CEO, Hawai‘i Pacific Health

Vara recently spoke to 550 HPH leaders and guests during the organization’s annual board and leadership retreat. During the virtual event he asked everybody to change their view from speaker to gallery so they could see one another. He then clicked through the thumbnails to look everyone in the eye.

“This is a call to action,” he said as he concluded his remarks. There is no greater force than when “we come together, when we lock arms and when we can make a commitment to those things that really matter.”

He promised he’s committed as the organization’s leader, and people will have his support if they’re willing to help create a Hawai‘i that everyone can be proud of.

“I have a selfish reason for this, a very selfish reason, and I’m not shy about it and I’m not ashamed of it,” he says. “As you all know, I’ve got four sons and they’re grown and they’re out of college and they’re having their own careers. But someday, they’ll want to come home. Someday I want them to come home.

“And unfortunately, the Hawai‘i I see today is not a place where that’s realistic from a livability and affordability standpoint, and so we have to change that. We have to change it for my sons, we have to change it for your families, and we have to change it for a generation of kids who are out there and all want to come home.”

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Hawai‘i Pacific Health CEO Ray Vara served on the Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s board. Vara serves on several local boards, including those of Bank of Hawaii and the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative, but not the foundation’s. We also incorrectly stated that Vara became an officer with the Medical Services Corps. The correct name of that corps is  the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps.

A Growing Health Care System

Hawaiʻi Pacific Health has opened or renovated/expanded 35 clinics in the last 10 years.

Watch the event replay:

A message from our student sponsor, Island Pacific Academy:

Micah has been a leader and a force in our community for decades. In addition to a successful private sector career, he was the chair of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands and has served on numerous private and nonprofit boards, including Kamehameha Schools. Micah is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and Menlo College and he received his MBA from the University of Hawai‘i.

A profile of Micah by Hawaii Business Magazine Senior Writer Beverly Creamer appears in our December issue and at hawaiibusiness.com. In the report, he says the CEO of the Year honor should actually be given to the entire HCF team. “There’s nothing more important to me about this recognition than my team truly understanding that they own this – 110% of it.”

Editor Steve Petranik says Micah would be a worthy choice as CEO of the Year in any recent year. “But in the year of the pandemic, Hawaii Business Magazine felt it was especially important to recognize him and HCF’s important work that supports hundreds of thousands of local people battered by the pandemic and shutdowns. Indirectly, honoring Kāne and HCF is a way to honor the work of all local nonprofits.”

The Event Program

• Presentation and remarks by the 2019 CEO of the Year, Bettina Mehnert, CEO, ahl.
• Talk story between the 2020 CEO of the Year, Micah Kāne and Hawaii Business Magazine editor, Steve Petranik.
• Panel discussion on how business and nonprofit leaders can help guide Hawai‘i to a better future.

Panelists:

Leslie Wilcox,
CEO, PBS Hawai’i

Ray Vara,
CEO & President, Hawai‘i Pacific Health

John Leong,
CEO, Kupu and Pono Pacific

Dr. Lynn Babington,
President, Chaminade University

Moderator:
Steve Petranik, Editor, Hawaii Business Magazine

Tickets: $25.00*
*Proceeds from the tickets will be donated to the Hawaii Foodbank.
The inspiring panel discussion will be followed by a Q&A.

This event was made possible by the generous support of our sponsors:

• CW Associates
• UHA Health Insurance
• Student Sponsor: Island Pacific Academy

The conversation was part of Hawaii Business Magazine’s annual CEO of the Year event

“I think as a leader you are constantly learning and you’re never at the end of the road. There’s always room for improvement,” says Bettina Mehnert, president and CEO of AHL and Hawaii Business Magazine’s 2019 CEO of the Year.

Menhert spoke Thursday morning to an attentive crowd of over 200 at the Pōmaikaʻi Ballrooms as part of the magazine’s annual CEO of the Year event. Mehnert is the first female executive to receive this honor since it was initially awarded 10 years ago.

She was joined on stage by three other local business leaders to discuss the characteristics that leaders especially need in the modern world of constant disruption and innovation. Here are some of the characteristics they discussed:

Courage: “As a society we have a tendency to look back because itʻs comfortable,” Mehnert said, “but there’s no data for what’s next.” The most effective leaders must be willing to stand up and make tough choices, sometimes in the face of opposition and incomplete information. For many issues like climate change, inaction is no longer an option, and businesses need to do as much as they can now to reduce their impact on the environment.

Understanding technology and innovation: Colbert Matsumoto, chairman of Island Holdings, said that advances in artificial intelligence and globalization will completely revolutionize every industry over the next 10 years. This impending transformation can create uncertainty and questions about job security. A good leader needs to acknowledge these concerns among their employees and have a support plan in place before any disruption occurs.

Champion of diversity: Leaders should make sure that diversity is reflected at all levels of the organization, especially the C-Suite. Beth Whitehead, executive VP & chief administrative officer at American Savings Bank, said that having a wide range of experiences and opinions in the room when decisions is necessary everywhere, but especially in Hawai‘i , one of the most diverse markets in the country. Implementing policies to promote inclusivity could also help you recruit top talent in a low unemployment economy, she said. Today’s job seekers look for employers who embrace difference and use it to their advantage.

Accept occasional failure as a necessary part of innovation: “The best thing a leader can do is share their own personal failures,” said Mark Fukunaga, CEO of Servco Pacific and last year’s CEO of the Year. All the panelists agreed that every failure is an opportunity for your company to improve. It is the leader’s responsibility to create an environment where mistakes (including their own) can be discussed openly and used as learning experiences.

The event’s sponsors were Spectrum Enterprise, UHA Health Insurance, CW Associates, ProService Hawaii, Pomaika‘i Ballrooms and Watanabe Floral.