Gov. appoints Chief Information Officer, Board and Commission members; Maui’s Debbie Cabebe to Hawai‘i Community Development Authority Pulehunui

Gov. Josh Green, M.D., has appointed several individuals to various open positions in state departments as well as to boards and commissions.

The positions and appointees are listed below; House and Senate appointees also are included:

State of Hawai‘i Chief Information Officer

• Christine Sakuda: Sakuda received her Bachelor of Science degree from Santa Clara University in 1991, and later received her MBA from the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa College of Business Administration in 1997. She has nearly 20 years of experience leading IT transformation initiatives in healthcare and government, on top of 15 years of experience leading nonprofit organizations. For the past seven years, she has been the Executive Director of Transform Hawai‘i Government (THG), a nonprofit organization established to catalyze the transformation of digital government services through people, process and technology to help Hawai‘i thrive.

Boards and Commissions

Campaign Spending Commission

• Barbara B. Polk: Polk received her Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College in 1962 and then her Ph.D. in social psychology from University of Michigan in 1968. She has occupied a variety of roles at various academic institutions including assistant professor, Dean of Instruction, and Provost. Before retiring, she worked as the Policy and Planning Officer at University of Hawai‘i. Most recently, she has been a member of the Paralegal Advisory Committee at Kapi‘olani Community College.
• Danton S. Wong: Wong received his Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University in 1979 and then his law degree from Hastings College of Law in 1982. Throughout his career, Wong’s practice has been concentrated in real estate acquisitions, sales, financing, development, commercial leasing, business consultation, and related areas. Wong has also served as Director and President of The Friends of ‘Iolani Palace, Chair and Vice Chair of the Hawai‘i Strategic Development Corporation, and Trustee of Island Pacific Academy.

Hawai‘i Community Development Authority Pulehunui

• Debbie Cabebe: Cabebe has been the Chief Executive Officer of Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc. since April 2017, though she has been part of the organization since 2000. She is nationally certified as a Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) Trainer and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SHRM-SCP) and was recently honored as one of 27 Most Admired Leaders in Hawai‘i by Pacific Business News.

Hawai‘i Hurricane Relief Fund Board

• Senate: Blair Akiona, Leslie Door
• House: Michael Nonaka, Marie Weite
• Governor: Ed Haik, Reina Miyamoto

Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Salary Commission: At the request of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), Gov. Green has appointed seven individuals to the OHA Salary Commission, which has not convened since 2016. The commission will elect a chairperson at its first meeting and will work in advance of its February 2025 deadline to submit its findings and final report to the Hawai‘i State Legislature. (see list above)

• Ian Custino
• Rebecca Inaba
• TJ Joseph
• Reyn Kaupiko
• John Leong
• Kelly Maluo-Pearson
• Venus Rosete-Medeiros

Stadium Authority

• Andrew Pereira: Pereira is currently the Director of Public Affairs of the Pacific Resource Partnership. Pereira previously served as a vice president at CommPac and worked as a communications director and public information officer for the City and County of Honolulu. Before his career in public service, he worked as an investigative reporter and producer for various television stations. He was recognized as Hawai‘i’s best political reporter in TV news by the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza of The Fix and earned multiple awards for his news reporting and journalism. Pereira studied political science at the University of Hawai‘i West O‘ahu.

University of Hawai‘i Student Regent

• Joshua Faumuina: Faumuina received his Bachelor of Arts from University of Hawai‘i at Manoa in 2022, and expects to receive his law degree from the William S. Richardson School of Law in 2026. He has served as the Kapi‘olani Community College Recruitment & Retention Facilitator since February 2020, and has acted as its Title III Kūlia Fiscal Stability Associate since March 2023.

Most appointments above are effective July 1, with exceptions: The appointments of the OHA Salary Commissioners took effect June 21, and Chief Information Officer Christine Sakuda begins her new role August 5.

In addition to the boards and commissions appointments mentioned previously, the governor has also convened a task force to evaluate and make recommendations on the extreme challenges and complex issues surrounding property insurance, particularly affecting condominiums, but with awareness of impacts to other housing.

The task force would be a joint Executive-Legislative Task Force with the following members:

• Gordon Ito, Insurance Commissioner, co-chair
• Speaker Scott Saiki, co-chair
• Senator Jarrett Keohokalole, co-chair
• Teri Fabry, Hawaii Public Insurance Association
• Victor Brock, Mortgage Bankers Association of Hawaii (MBAH)
• Nancy Donahue-Jones, Hawai‘i Association of Realtors
• Alex McLaury
• Linda Nakamura, MBAH
• Rep. Mark Nakashima
• Mike Onofrietti, Island Insurance
• Alison Ueoka, Hawaii Insurers Council
• Tammy Teixeira, HEMIC
• Gwen Yamamoto Lau, Hawai‘i Green Infrastructure Authority