Hawai‘i’s Women of Influence

Photos: Kiana Liu, Josiah Patterson & Aaron Yoshino

Nicole Huguenin | U’ilani Kapu | Veronica Mendoza Jachowski and Alejandra Ramirez | Kaimana Brummel | Catherine Ngo | Ann Teranishi | Twinkle Borge | Jill Hoggard Green | Lori Kahikina

Nicole Huguenin: Co-facilitator of Maui Rapid Response

Photo: Kiana Liu

The Maui Rapid Response team is integrated, localized and community-driven – a lot like an ahupua‘a. “What’s cool about Maui Rapid Response is that it’s all run by our neighbors. That’s it. It’s run by aloha,” says Nicole Huguenin, who with her fellow co-facilitators, Kamiki Carter and Kainoa Horcajo, leads the organization.

Professionally, Huguenin is a former teacher and the founder/director of Share Circle, which diverts items away from landfills via upcycling and sharing. She explains that the roots of Maui Rapid Response took hold in 2019, when a collective formed to address the needs of the island’s unsheltered residents. The group further coalesced when helping those affected by the Covid pandemic and two floods in Ha‘ikū.

U‘ilani Kapu: Director, Nā ‘Aikāne o Maui Cultural Center

Photo: Kiana Liu

The historic building on Front Street in Lahaina that housed Nā ‘Aikāne o Maui Cultural Center burned in the Aug. 8 fire, along with the artifacts stored there. But the spirit of the place as a hub for the Native Hawaiian community is still alive.

The couple that runs the organization, U‘ilani and Ke‘eaumoku Kapu, immediately pivoted to help those affected by the wildfires. “Everything happened so fast,” says U‘ilani Kapu.

Activating a network of friends, family and supporters, Nā ‘Aikāne o Maui had a hub set up in Lahaina within two days of the fire, stocked with clothing, drinks, hygiene products, and camping and sleeping gear, much of it delivered by helicopter by companies that donated air services and ground support.

At first, the hub was at the Lahaina post office; as of publication time, it had moved to a drive-up location at the Kā‘anapali Sheraton. It features a huge, tented area with plenty of well-organized supplies – everything from pet food and baby wipes to fresh produce. Some of the volunteers are fire survivors; Kapu says the work is a kind of break from their own troubles, and she encourages them to stop by, either to help out or to just find somebody to talk to.

“We have people that drop in late at night, because I understand, you know, some people come after they work. And we’re here to serve them, no matter what time. As you’re working with people you can feel their spirit, that they are hurting. I like to give bear hugs. That’s one thing I’ve told the team: If you feel somebody needs a hug, give it to them. We’ve let everybody know that we’re here to support you no matter what.”

As for the cultural center? “Oh, we are definitely bringing our hub back,” says Kapu. “We will build again, and as they say, if you build it, they will come.”

–Kathryn Drury Wagner

Veronica Mendoza Jachowski and Alejandra Ramirez: Co-founders and Lead Coordinators of Roots Reborn Lahaina

Photo: Kiana Liu

Veronica Mendoza Jachowski and Alejandra Ramirez are part of Roots Reborn Lahaina, an organization that formed within a week of the wildfires. Made up of immigration lawyers and community organizers, the group also includes co-founders Leslee Matthews, Khara Jabola-Carolus and Kevin Block.

“I’m Latina, I speak Spanish, but our organization also serves Filipinos; we want to serve all immigrant populations, Tongan, Samoan, Marshallese, everyone,” says Mendoza Jachowski.

“Thirty-one percent of Lahaina’s population is foreign-born,” adds Ramirez.

Both are daughters of immigrants from Mexico. Ramirez serves as a UH Maui program outreach associate, assisting the island’s first-generation immigrants and low-income students. Mendoza Jachowski has spent several years working as a pro-bono caseworker for Maui Latinos and has a background in startups.

Immediately after the fires, Mendoza Jachowski says she was visiting a shelter and noticed that immigrants didn’t seem to be around. “I know they’re out there,” she remembers thinking. “The stories I heard from some of the survivors is, ‘Yeah, there’s a group of us at the park or sleeping on the beach.’ ”

She donned her diving suit and hitched a ride on a Jet Ski directly into Lahaina. “I don’t want to sound like this was a savior moment at all, because we were just like, ‘Are you OK? What do you need?’ ”

She helped those who had lost their essential medications, for conditions like asthma and epilepsy. “Everyone was pulling together,” says Mendoza Jachowski. “We had doctors helping. We had people with trucks helping. Because of our bilingualism, we were able to connect people who wouldn’t otherwise say anything to resources that they needed immediately.”

The group is now helping with things like replacing green cards that were lost in the fire, and with online applications. Housing is the No. 1 concern, says Ramirez. “There are places to stay, but for 30 days or a week. It’s like musical chairs, but with houses.”

Add in the challenges of prejudice and racism, and some immigrants’ distrust of government entities, especially if they are undocumented persons, and help can be incredibly hard to access – if it can be accessed at all.

“When people think of immigration [on Maui], they think of the plantation days, when the Portuguese, the Filipinos, the Japanese, came in the ships for the sugar cane fields,” says Ramirez. But that doesn’t take into account modern-day immigration. “People come here in planes, looking to improve their quality of life and that of their kids. They’re taking physically demanding, stressful jobs in restaurants, hotels, landscaping.”

The organization plans to be here for the long haul, Mendoza Jachowski says. “There’s been a big gap in resources. We’re already going to need a lot, but we need those resources to make it to those individuals who are typically cut out because of their status. I just want people to know that we’re here. Immigrants are here and we’ve always been, and we don’t deserve to start from absolutely nothing all over again.”

–Kathryn Drury Wagner

Kaimana Brummel: Director of Advancement at Seabury Hall

Photo: Kiana Liu

With devastating fires in multiple places– Lahaina, Kula, Olinda and Kīhei – and the need for help so overwhelming, it can be tough just knowing where to start. But that’s not the case for Kaimana Brummel. “I know how to help because my parents were helpers,” she says. “I watched them do community work my whole life.”

Brummel’s training and experience in fundraising, donor relations and community programs has led her to working on fire relief with groups such as Maui Rapid Response, Maui United Way and the Hawai‘i Community Foundation.

The response to the fires has been decentralized, she says. “We are building the canoe as we paddle. What I am hearing is this needs to be a community-led rebuilding process. There are funders who want to do that. I see my role as … being a bridge between funders and those who need to be leading that effort.”

“I have always navigated between Hawaiian and Western worlds, if you will, because of my privilege of education and other privileges that I have, but also being raised in a Hawaiian-speaking, Hawaiian-rooted home and being a Native Hawaiian myself,” says Brummel. “There’s not a lot of Hawaiian fundraisers that fundraise from a Native Hawaiian worldview, you know, and this has really brought those two worlds together more than at any other time that I’ve had professionally.”

While trust-based philanthropy has been discussed in charitable circles for about 10 years, Brummel notes that, with the Maui fires, that talk must now be turned into action. (According to the National Philanthropic Trust, “Trust-based philanthropy is a charitable approach that reimagines the relationships between donors, nonprofits and communities to rebalance power and decision making.”)

Says Brummel: “Funders can self-examine what they are expecting to get out of this grant, or that donation. People are like, ‘I want to make sure this really gets to the people.’ I need them to trust that when I look them in the eye and say, it will, that is enough for them to be at peace that the community is going to make sure that happens. Because here’s the thing: We live in this community, we have the responsibility if those people are not taken care of. The stakes are high for us. If we have poor mental health outcomes, if people are not back on their land, that means that our community is falling apart, and at the end of the day, that is all we have, because obviously material things can just disappear in a day. What is left right now is the community. That was built on trust, and relationships and time. That’s what’s left. So, trust us to rebuild that.”

–Kathryn Drury Wagner

Catherine Ngo: Chair of the Board for Central Pacific Financial Corp. and President of CPB Foundation

Photo: Aaron Yoshino

When Catherine Ngo set off for Hawai‘i in 2010 to work at Central Pacific Bank, she intended to only stay a couple of years. However, drawn by Hawai‘i’s people and sense of community, she and her husband quickly decided to stay.

Today, her local service is broad and deep. In addition to leadership roles at CPB, she serves on the board of trustees of The Queen’s Health System and is chair of that board’s Finance Committee. She’s also on the advisory boards of Catholic Charities of Hawai‘i and the Trust for Public Lands, the board of directors of Hawai‘i Gas, and the board of governors of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation. And she’s on the Federal Reserve’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council for the 12th District.

Closer to home, she is chair of the board for Central Pacific Financial Corp., the parent of Central Pacific Bank, and is president of the CPB Foundation.

“Our board of directors is the body that guides the strategy for our company, and then also provides the high-level oversight,” Ngo says.

As president of the foundation, she helped launch an accelerator program and network in 2020 for female entrepreneurs in Hawai‘i called WE by Rising Tide.

“I commit a lot of my energy to the program,” Ngo says. “I feel I’m getting back more than I’m giving. I think this program is particularly important because we know small businesses are the engine that drives our state’s economy, and so the more that we can support these women in business the stronger our business community will be.”

Ngo started her career in private law practice focusing on banking and securities law after graduating from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1986. She joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1993 as general counsel and then served as its executive VP until 2005.

She was a founding general partner of Startup Capital Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm established in 2005, with investments in Silicon Valley, Hawai‘i and China. Her focus was software and services companies in China.

John Dean – who had led Silicon Valley Bank when she was there – recruited her to join CPB in 2010, where she started as executive VP and chief administrative officer.

Having strong mentors and a good support system is a way for women in leadership positions to overcome any challenges with insecurity, Ngo says.

“I’ve had some very strong mentors who have provided me the advice and the confidence and the encouragement to take on the larger roles over my career,” she says. “I feel it’s so important for women and also men to provide that kind of encouragement to women, because I think it’s not unusual for women to have some of those insecurities.”

Crystal Rose, who serves on the boards of CPB and its parent company, is part of Ngo’s support system and a strong supporter of the “fabulous job” Ngo did in creating WE by Rising Tide. “It is very successful, both internally as well as what it’s done for our customers externally,” Rose says.

“I believe that we need more women in what I call C-suite positions, especially in our state,” Rose says. Women “bring both a different perspective as well as a different level of energy to these positions, and having been there it’s part of my kuleana to support other women to get to the same place.”

Dean – a longtime Ngo mentor – would ask her: “What is your tummy telling you?”

Ngo says that was his way of telling her to trust her gut.

“Sometimes my insecurities overtook my decision-making process but my gut, my intuition, would tell me that I can do it. Go for it,” she says. “I would say that question that he often asked me was a big influence in a lot of the decisions that I have made over my career.”

–Tori DeJournett

Ann Teranishi: President and CEO of American Savings Bank

Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Ann Teranishi has worked in myriad roles during her 16 years at American Savings Bank, culminating in her appointment as company president and CEO in 2021.

“I really had the opportunity to learn the company sort of inside and out, which I think was great preparation for the role,” Teranishi says.

From a young age, her life has taken many turns. She was born on O‘ahu and lived in Mililani for the first few years of her life. Then from age 4 to 7 she lived in San Mateo, California, before moving back to O‘ahu and living in ‘Aiea until she graduated from high school.

Then it was back to California, where she got her bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics at Claremont McKenna College and then a law degree from the University of California Law San Francisco (then known as UC Hastings).

“I started my career as an attorney, and I never imagined a career path bringing me to banking or certainly not the CEO of a bank,” Teranishi says.

She says that serving on the boards of many organizations gave her a chance to give back to the community – and to learn. “I found that those experiences really also helped me develop an understanding of things outside of my work life, but also develop further as a leader.”

In addition to serving as a member of the ASB board of directors, Teranishi serves on the boards of the Hawai‘i Executive Collaborative, Island Insurance, the U.S. Japan Council and Catholic Charities of Hawai‘i.

She also is a trustee for Punahou School, a member of the Hawai‘i Business Roundtable and Hawaii Bankers Association’s Executive Committee, and an executive mentor with the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii’s Young Professionals Mentor Hawaii program.

“I always am very happy to talk to women and men, but of course, women in particular, to encourage them to take on additional challenges to trust in themselves to think that they can really do it,” she says.

Earlier in her career, Teranishi says, a recurring challenge was overcoming the feeling that she didn’t “have all the experience that may seem required” for a role.

But over time, she says, she gained confidence with each new position, all the while making sure she was surrounded by smart and talented colleagues.

While serving in leadership positions, Teranishi says, “There have been times in my career when there haven’t been many women in the room or around the table.”

“But I’ve never felt like I was not welcome or included. As I’ve progressed in my working career, I’ve learned to really show up authentically and have confidence about what value and perspective I contribute, even though it might be a different perspective than a male colleague.”

She says she has been fortunate to have “both men and women really support my personal and professional development.”

Scott Seu, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries, the parent company of ASB, says he “really enjoys working with Ann; it’s truly a joy.”

When describing Teranishi, Seu uses the words “brain, heart and collaborator.”

“Being so much around Ann and other female leaders, I think it’s really impressed upon me that they bring such an important voice that needs to be part of that conversation to help bring that balance and perspective,” Seu says.

Teranishi recalls the best advice she ever received was from her father: “Don’t ask others to do what you are not willing to do yourself.”

–Tori DeJournett

Twinkle Borge: Leader of the Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae Houseless Village

Photo: Josiah Patterson

Shaded by kiawe trees next to the Wai‘anae Boat Harbor is Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae, an encampment of more than 200 houseless people and 160 animals. They reject the “homeless” label for they call this place home – “houseless” is how they describe their living situation.

Twinkle Borge, 53, is their beloved matriarch. Here, her tough yet compassionate nature has earned her the affectionate nickname “Mama.” As we sit and talk at one of the camp’s green picnic tables, a dozen or so people stop by to say, “Hi Mama,” and kiss her on the cheek.

“Even those that are older than me say, ‘Hi Mama,’ which cracks me up. But I love that they gave me that title and that respect.”

Borge has been at Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae since the beginning in 2006, when just seven people were camped there.

“Pu‘uhonua is a place of refuge, a place of solace,” says Borge. “I look at it as a place of healing because a lot of these guys came from trauma; they still in trauma.”

Herself included.

“I was that abused child,” she says. “Every day I was told and reminded of all my faults. I wore sweatpants more than shorts just to hide the bruises. But I still always knew how to love and forgive others.”

Borge became pregnant with twins early in adulthood but miscarried. “I believe I lost my twins from stress, because I couldn’t believe what was coming out of my dad’s mouth.”

She went on to have a son and hold a steady job and her life got better. But past trauma haunted her and a troubled romance with a drug addict brought her down.

“This person I’ve been with for many years, I never thought would fool around behind my back.” She was devastated after discovering her partner’s infidelity but could not bring herself to end the relationship.

“I couldn’t go back to work because I was too worried about who she with, or where she at,” recalls Borge. Her savings dissipated and she could no longer afford rent. The couple eventually became houseless and used meth together.

“When I got sick and tired of being sick and tired, I started getting myself sober. It’s going on almost 17 years I’ve been clean. And I did it here. Never went into a program.”

Borge estimates about a quarter of Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae’s residents are recovering from drug addiction. She took it upon herself to create a better environment for houseless people by establishing an encampment with structure, amenities and a strong support system of people who ask, “How can we help? What can we do?”

She named it Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae, Hawaiian for “Refuge of Wai‘anae.”

Hawaiians’ High Rates of Homelessness

In 2022, Hawai‘i had the fourth-highest rate of homelessness per capita in the U.S., according to the latest UHERO housing report. “Nationwide, for every 10,000 residents, about 18 were experiencing homelessness. In Hawai‘i, the rate is 41, more than twice the national rate,” the report says.

Homelessness disproportionately affects Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. According to the State of Homelessness: 2023 Edition, a survey conducted by The National Alliance to End Homelessness, most groups of color have higher rates of homelessness than white people. “Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders particularly stand out as having the highest rates, with 121 out of every 10,000 people experiencing homelessness” – 11 times the rate for white people.

O‘ahu’s Wai‘anae Coast has the highest concentration of Hawaiians in the world. Based on the 2020 census, 59% of its 50,000 residents identify as Native Hawaiian and Borge says about two-thirds of Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae’s residents are Hawaiian, including herself.

Another villager, a 33-year-old Hawaiian man named Ona, says he became homeless at the age of 12.

“After my mother and father broke up, my brother and I were always all on our own. We grew up poor. And so we left on our own to not be a burden.”

When Ona met Borge a few years later, she insisted that he and his brother come live at the village with her.

“You belong with family, regardless of how we live,” Borge told him. “It took me a week or two to convince him and braddah to come home to me. That way I can help them. I eat, you eat. I shower, you shower. You sick? Let me know how I can help.”

Lynette Cruz, who has been an anthropology professor with a focus in Native Hawaiian studies at Hawai‘i Pacific University and Leeward Community College Wai‘anae, says the crisis in Hawaiian homelessness cannot simply be explained by the state’s high cost of living.

“There’s a reason why we’re living on the beach houseless, why we’re sick, why we’re overrepresented in prison, why we have elevated mortality and morbidity rates,” says Cruz.

“People can’t explain it away with some racist kind of theory that says, ‘There’s something wrong with us.’ You have to look at history.”

That history is centered on the Hawaiian Kingdom’s overthrow in 1893, as well as what took place before and after. “What happened to Hawaiians is not new. It happened everywhere” with the arrival of outside people driven by something other than the indigenous people’s community values.

Cruz says many of Hawai‘i’s residents have difficulty relating to houseless people, and that breeds misunderstanding and prejudice.

“Yeah, it’s hard to relate. Sometimes we get angry at people because we feel like they’re just not doing their best to get out of a really bad situation. But we know nothing. We can’t make any assumptions.”

Life at the Village

Borge has invited many people to live at the encampment, where she says they’re safer from theft and somewhat protected from sweeps, and where residents take care of one another. An invitation is not necessary: Anyone who shows up is welcome if they follow the rules.

“You need help? You hungry? You need something? Don’t hesitate. I said even your neighbors will help you. We’re not just a community of houseless people; we one diverse community here and I love the fact that everybody shares in this village. No one goes hungry.”

The village has a pantry and a donation tent, which are regularly stocked with donated food, toiletries, kitchenware, clothes, shoes, books and more.

All donated items are free, but residents are only allowed to shop there once a week and outside community members once a month. People who steal or try to sell donated items for money are banned from the pantry and donation tent.

And it’s not just stealing within the camp that’s forbidden.

“If I find out someone from our village stole from the outside community, they’ll get it from me! I’ll make them go back to the store and meet me in a parking lot. And then I will go in to see the owners and ask them, ‘I reckon that’s your stuff in this trash bag?’ They’s like, ‘Yup.’ I tell ’em we have workers outside that will donate three hours to you for what he did.”

Other rules include respecting quiet hours, no drug use or guns on communal grounds, as well as mandatory community service work every month.

Rule-breakers are kicked out of the camp, but Borge believes in second, third and even fourth chances. “Regardless of what we go through, people deserve chances,” she says.

Not everyone at the camp is so forgiving, though. “Sometimes my guys get irritated with me, but I remind them they got to remember where they came from.”

The village’s successes are a reflection of Borge’s leadership. “She’s trying to learn how to do something that’s not been done,” says Cruz. “I think people trust her because she’s consistent. She also doesn’t take shit, which is why we really like her.”

A Dream Coming True

Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae’s residents now live in a village of makeshift shelters, but they are building a “forever home” – communal housing on land they own in Wai‘anae Valley.

She recruited the help of local leaders, including James Pakele, president of Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae’s’s nonprofit, Dynamic Community Solutions, and Cathy Kawano-Ching, a founding member of Hui Aloha, a volunteer network that advocates for Hawai‘i’s homeless population and finds permanent housing.

First Hawaiian Bank Foundation last year announced a $250,000 donation to Pu‘uhonua O Wai‘anae. Dynamic Community Solutions’ GoFundMe page had collected $110,000 in donations as of Sept. 1. So far, donations have been used to buy 19½ acres in Wai‘anae Valley and materials for the homes being built.

“I feel so bad because they’re building my house first,” Borge says. “My thing is go take care of the people before take care of me. But I had a friend that told me it’s about time somebody took care of you.”

Half of the land will be used for housing that includes communal kitchens, bathrooms and a dining hall, and the other half for farming so residents can grow much of their own food.

“We already started planting banana, avocado, ‘ulu and kukui nut trees. I also got Okinawan potatoes growing. The oranges are doing beautiful. I want to start a patch of my own lo‘i too.”

Residents will pay $200 a month in rent when they move in.

She Shows “Which Way to Go”

I ask Borge about “Twinkle,” her unusual first name. “That’s not one nickname, that’s my real name,” she replies.

“My sister actually named me when I was born. She has a jewelry box that still to this day plays the song ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’ So that’s what I was named after, her jewelry box.

“Wasn’t easy growing up with that name,” she adds.

But a closer look at the popular nursery rhyme suggests Twinkle suits her well.

The first verse you’re already familiar with. Here’s how the lesser-known second and third verses go:

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the trav’ller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

–Ryann Noelani Coules

Jill Hoggard Green: President and CEO of The Queen’s Health System

Photo: courtesy of The Queen’s Health System

Jill Hoggard Green has a special photo in her office: It’s of her mother and aunt, both nurses and both wearing their uniforms and badges.

“My mother taught me about care and compassion and the importance of health,” says Hoggard Green, who grew up in Utah.

She considered a law career but was increasingly drawn to health care and received a bachelor’s degree in registered nursing, then a master’s and a doctorate in health care leadership and quality.

After leadership roles in health systems in Oregon and North Carolina, where she was named a Top 25 COO by Modern Healthcare, she was drawn to The Queen’s Health System because of its mission.

“Queen’s is addressing health inequities, working to improve the well-being of the community,” she says. “Hawai‘i ranks as the healthiest state, and ranks highly for affordability for health care, but what’s not in those listings is the issue with disparities.”

Hoggard Green joined Queen’s as president and CEO in October 2019, just before Covid hit. As a result, “She had to build relationships and trust virtually, and bring the board and the team together during one of the most critical times in the organization’s history,” says Jenai Wall, chair of the board of trustees of The Queen’s Health System, and chairman and CEO of Foodland Super Market.

During the pandemic, Wall says: “Most organizations were focused on the day to day. Queen’s was focused on that, and on patient and staff safety, but also, we were thinking about how we could serve the community better, and I think that was due to her leadership.”

Hoggard Green helped create a strategic plan with an ambitious goal: to reduce the gap in life expectancy that exists between Native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups in Hawai‘i within the next 10 years.

“People think you can’t do that, but we are moving forward,” says Hoggard Green. “We have six major strategies, and it’s going well. There are lots of headwinds, but it’s rewarding. And I get to work with such great people who want to create a better future.”

Her vision includes developing a recently purchased 31-acre parcel at Honokōhau Nui in Kailua-Kona for ambulatory care. Queen’s is also investing in expanding its nursing team. “We have a 15% net increase in the number of nurses since 2019 to today, and we’ll keep on going,” she says.

Hoggard Green is the mother of two adult sons; she and her husband, a retired nurse, have been married for 43 years. She balances her 11- and 12-hour workdays with a lot of exercise, she says.

The way Hoggard Green works with her executive team is impressive, Wall says. “She values her people, listens to their opinions, gives them the leeway to get things done, and she supports them.”

Says Hoggard Green: “Early in your career you think you have to be in charge and you’re looking to achieve outcomes in a certain way. But I’ve found one of my strengths is leading with service. You have to listen carefully, have compassion, be strategic, to make difficult decisions when you need to.” And knowing “how to build strong teams” is vital, she adds.

“If I bring something to the table, saying, ‘We need to do X,’ we then have a conversation about it. Everybody in the room is participating. There’s that richness of discussion. You bring the wisdom of the team around it and it leads to a much better outcome. It will be developed into something extraordinary.”

–Kathryn Drury Wagner

Lori Kahikina: Executive Director and CEO of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation

Photo: Aaron Yoshino

Lori Kahikina is used to being in the public eye. She’d previously been director of Environmental Services with the City and County of Honolulu, where she oversaw trash and recycling services and a $5 billion upgrade of the city and county’s wastewater program.

But that spotlight was nothing like what she’s encountered in her current position, as executive director and CEO of the rail system’s developer, formally called the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

“I can’t go a week without someone stopping me at Costco or at a restaurant,” she says. “The comments have been 100% positive, with people saying, ‘Keep up the good work.’ ”

That response is a testament to Kahikina’s leadership, says Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation and a board member for HART.

“She is strong, decisive and action oriented,” he says.

When Kahikina took the reins at HART, says Sniffen, “She didn’t just take what she got and push it along. She took stock of the strengths and weaknesses of the agency. She made sure she had the right people and the right messaging. She made some adjustments to the route, which may have taken longer at the time, but she knew it was going to be a better project in the long term. Her body of work really speaks for itself.”

He adds: “She always mentions the team and congratulates the team for the win. She shows the best of HART and not just the best of Lori. She’s also a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and does a great job of upholding that honor of attending there. She is an inspiration to the next generation.”

Kahikina took the helm of the long-awaited and controversial project in 2021 when it was many billions of dollars over budget and 11 years late.

“When we came in, there was a lot of tension and negativity; people couldn’t stand HART,” she says. “Kamehameha Schools, HECO, city departments, the public, everything HART had touched was a damaged relationship. I had to work hard to repair that.”

There were other challenges. “We came in and found the wheels didn’t fit the track,” she says. “Are you kidding me? How long have you guys known that? I’m inheriting that. The public is hearing that. There are cracks in the supports on the stations. When did you find this out? 2018. Holy moly. So, then it was buckle down, let’s get all the smart people in the room and figure out a solution. That is the part of the job I love. That’s the engineer in me, the problem solving.”

Kahikina grew up in Kailua and was a competitive swimmer. She became interested in engineering around fourth grade, and was inspired by her dad, who would quiz her on math problems while he drove.

“There was always some long equation, but I loved it. The work ethic, that all comes from my dad, and doing what is right, high integrity.” Kahikina earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from UH Mānoa and is a licensed civil engineer. She has three grown sons and a grandson, as well as three dogs and a horse.

HART reached a major milestone in June: It turned over the initial 11 miles of rail and nine rail stations to the City and County of Honolulu, which will handle operation and maintenance. On June 30, “Skyline” opened to the public.

Kahikina has her eyes set on rail segments two and three. In the meantime, she thinks of serving the people of the Leeward Side, and of easing their long commutes into the city. “I hope this becomes another option for transportation, and the premier backbone for a multimodal system.”

–Kathryn Drury Wagner