20 for the Next 20: Jason Thune, Hawaiian Telcom

Jason Thune
VP – Fiber Strategy and Deployment, Hawaiian Telcom

Jason Thune grew up on O’ahu wanting to be a pilot and, when the time came, he looked for colleges that offered aviation programs. But he did not meet the requirements, so he went with business, his backup plan. “I wanted to do something where I could leverage whatever I learned in school to make Hawai‘i a better place,” he says.

He majored in management information systems at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s college of business. Thune says the program was fun because it entailed having “conversations with people and learning about how businesses run.”

Thune landed an internship with Hawaiian Telcom during summer 1998. He says he enjoyed the culture and people there and, after graduating, he got a full-time job with the company as an inventory management specialist. He says he found a lot there to pique his interest.

“I just kept moving around, primarily to just find ways to serve, to find ways to make our community a better place,” he says.

Over his 25 years with the company, he has worked in customer operations, network operations, network planning and IT. Since 2020, his teams have been working to expand Hawaiian Telcom’s fiber broadband infrastructure to rural areas, primarily on the Neighbor Islands. Last year, that included all of Keālia and Lāwa‘i on Kaua‘i, all of Pāhala and parts of Ka‘ū and Puna on Hawai‘i Island, all of Lāna‘i and most of Moloka‘i.

Thune also manages over $68 million in federal grants that fund the installation of fiber broadband at more than 240 local schools. He says another goal is to provide access to fiber broadband for every home and business in the state.

“That’s a lofty goal,” says Su Shin, president and GM of Hawaiian Telcom. “But really, it’s a leader like Jason that is making that vision, and actually building it out there with his teams.

“And he’s not just taking it on because it’s his job,” she says. “He’s genuinely passionate about what it is we’re doing.”

The company is now at 50% of its goal for homes and businesses, Shin says.

She says Thune is a “great example of a local boy doing good.”

Thune says he’s proud to work for a local company like Hawaiian Telcom, which was founded in 1883. “I want to make sure that I can do whatever it takes so that the next generation of employees can retire, and this company is here for another 100 years.”