Longtime local HR veteran Stevette Ku‘ulei Santiago has joined UHA Health Insurance as chief human resources officer, a key member of executive leadership.

In this position, Ms. Santiago will oversee UHA’s unique, well-being- centric corporate culture, while directing the team that is responsible for the development and support of all current employees, as well attracting new talent to the organization.

Most recently, she served as director of human resources & labor relations at Young Brothers, where she played a major role in key strategic initiatives including the stabilization of the company and transitioning HR operations back to the local operating unit, in addition to succession planning.

Ms. Santiago – who has earned a number of professional designations including SPHR and SHRM-SCP – brings over three decades of HR experience to her new position at UHA. Her previous executive and management positions include division manager of King Specialty Food (a division of Y. Hata), senior vice president & group director at Hawai‘iUSA Federal Credit Union and senior human resources manager at Spirent Communications.

She earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in human resources management from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Shidler College of Business.

Ms. Santiago is an award-winning communicator and thought-leader in the industry who won the Advanced Bronze Communicator and Leadership Award from Toastmasters International in 2012. She has also contributed white papers – most recently as a member of the International Foodservice Distributors Association Women’s Committee with a 2018 work, “Recruitment & Retention of Women.”

A committed community volunteer, Ms. Santiago has maintained her ties to UH Mānoa, where she is an advisor to the Master of Human Resource Management program. She also serves as vice chair of the Board of Directors of Hawai‘iUSA Federal Credit Union and as a member of the Workforce Development Committee of the Society for Human Resources Management Hawai‘i Chapter, an organization she has been involved with for over 25 years. Previous volunteer positions include member of the Board of Directors for the Hawai‘i Restaurant Association’s Education Foundation.