Edwin Wong, BBA ‘19, has been named program manager as part of the Business Planning Team at Amazon. In his role, he drives initiatives to create and deploy project management mechanisms around workforce staffing field operation’s business lines.

Melissa Yoshimoto, MBA ‘19, has been named people operations manager at Revacomm. In her new role, Yoshimoto spearheads all operational aspects of the people operations team which includes benefits, compliance, compensation and talent management. As a champion of company culture, Yoshimoto places the best people in the right roles to diversify and grow the company.

Madison Behnen, BS ’18,  has been appointed senior manager of conference services at The Curtis Hotel in Denver. In this position, she is responsible for planning, managing and executing hotel events. Behnen previously served as a field sales and marketing representative at Techtronic Industries. 

Kisan Jo, EMBA ‘19, has been appointed executive vice president of retail markets and operations at Central Pacific Bank. In this leadership role, he oversees the bank’s branch network, call center, deposit and loan operations, consumer lending and client experience. Jo previously served as the president of Prince Resorts Hawaii. 

Brian Helgerson, BBA ’13, was appointed asset manager at Hunt Development Group. In this role, he will monitor asset management activities within the company, including profit maximizing and closely monitoring the leasing, property management, and tenant management activities through the company’s portfolio of assets. Helgerson previously served as a senior real estate associate for Kamehameha Schools. 

Congratulations to Trevor Newman, BBA ’12, for being honored in Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40 Class of 2022 for his demonstration of business excellence, contributions to his organization and strong community involvement. Newman currently is the director, citywide sales at the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau and also serves on the Shidler Alumni Association board.

Dakota Chun, BBA ’19, has been promoted to marketing manager at Pacxa. She is responsible for leading the company’s marketing and communication initiatives. Chun will also be driving internal communication to engage employees within the organization.

Jadyne Yomono, MHRM ’17, was named human resources program manager at American Savings Bank. In her position, she guides and supports the execution of human resource programs and initiatives. Yomono previously served as a client partner/strategic account manager at ProService Hawaii.

Congratulations to Chris Anjo, MBA ’13, for being honored in Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40 Class of 2022 for his demonstration of business excellence, contributions to his organization and strong community involvement. Anjo currently serves as vice president & commercial banking officer at First Hawaiian Bank.

Jacqueline Rabaino, MHRM ‘17, has been hired as Oahu division director at United Public Workers (UPW). She is responsible for the management of UPW’s Oahu Division and supervision of field staff who represent city and state employees, through contract enforcement of two collective bargaining agreements, grievance handling, member recruitment and membership services.

Riccardo Coffani, BS ‘11, has been named general manager of Tokyo Pizza London, a concept restaurant that marries the flavors of Japan with classic pizza. He most recently served as marketing manager at Orange Hospitality Limited. 

Timothy Goshi, MBA ‘10, has been promoted to senior associate at KAI Hawaii. Goshi will lead  building department engineers responsible for the company’s vertical/building projects. With over 18 years in the field, his expertise areas include residential, commercial, industrial, medical and hospitality.

Caileigh Clermont, BBA ‘18, has been hired as email specialist at BrüMate. In her new role, Clermont develops strategy for the company’s email and SMS calendar, segmentation and testing strategies; and implements campaigns from start to finish.

Taylor Ricca-Mirzayan, BBA ‘18, has been named marketing specialist at ThousandEyes. She is responsible for planning and executing email campaigns, copywriting and improving existing marketing automations. Ricca previously served as a marketing coordinator at Plumb. 

Jonathan Kam, BBA ’16, has been hired as a realtor at Coldwell Banker Realty. In his role, he offers clients vast market knowledge and seamless assistance with every aspect of the homeownership and selling process. In 2022, Kam was nominated for the prestigious Aloha ‘Āina REALTOR® Award. 

Rachel Odumu, BBA ’19, has been promoted to senior software engineer at Capital One in Virginia. In her role, Odumu is responsible for communication and collaboration on a multidisciplinary team of engineers, product designers and stakeholders. She also gathers feedback from customers to develop, maintain and support new features for the Capital One mobile app.

Ha Nguyen, BBA ’19, was named as the 2021-2022 membership development chair of Ad 2 Hawaii. In this leadership role, she helps recruit prospective members, create team synergy and ensures that members are apprised of the latest industry news. Nguyen is also an assistant account executive at MVNP.

Matthew “Manakō” Tanaka, BS ’12, was named a senior specialist in the Community and Cultural Relations department at Hawaiian Airlines. In his role, Tanaka is responsible for planning and facilitating internal and external programming and events rooted in local and native Hawaiian culture, as well as for Team Kokua, the airlines’ employee volunteer program. He was previously a sales manager with the Oʻahu Visitor’s Bureau.

Congratulations, Ashley Takitani Leahey, MBA ‘13, for being selected for Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40: Class of 2021! 

Leahey was named to the annual list through a competitive nomination process based on demonstration of business excellence, contribution to the overall success of her organization and community involvement. 

Drew Gladstone, BBA ‘11, has been promoted to controller at Seaboard Energy, LLC. In his elevated role, Gladstone oversees all accounting and finance related aspects of the company.

Pacific Business News honored women leaders and news-makers in its 23rd Annual Women Who Mean Business. Congratulations to Cristina Schenk, GCER ’10 for being named to the list for demonstrating a commitment to community service and for her leadership skills.

Priscilla Zheng, BBA ’18, was named as the 2021-2022 president of Ad 2 Hawaii. In this leadership role, she manages the communications, programs, events, public services and membership development of Ad 2 Hawaii. Zheng is also a digital marketing community relations specialist at Hickam Federal Credit Union.

Lynn Miyahira, MBA ’10, has been promoted to vice president of public affairs at iQ360. In her elevated role, she specializes in communications and market strategy advising clients on how to best integrate branding, marketing and media relations.

Kristyn Takai, BBA ‘18, has been hired as human resources specialist at the U.S. Army Civilian Human Resources Agency. In her new role, she provides staffing and recruitment strategy support, as well as position management and classification support to organizations within the Department of the Army.

Congratulations to Teresa Hamabata, BBA ’11, for being honored in Pacific Business News’ 40 Under 40 Class of 2022 for her demonstration of business excellence, contributions to her organization and strong community involvement. Hamabata currently is the VP, commercial banking officer at American Savings Bank and also serves on the Shidler Alumni Association board.

Christine Quach, BBA ’19, has been named alumni, communications and events coordinator at the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. In this role, she supports the college alumni associations, communications and events at Shidler College. She was previously with the talent management team at Hawaiian Host Group.

Jerrin Ching, MBA ‘19, has been named corporate advanced analyst at HMSA. Ching is responsible for performing data analysis and presenting financial medical trends to senior management. He also develops and applies automated solutions to business reporting processes and functions.

Jessica Yamamoto, BBA ‘18, has been appointed as communications and social media manager at FCH Enterprises, Inc. In her new role, she oversees all traditional and digital media relations. In her previous role, she was senior community manager at Yelp.

Kylee Takata, BBA ‘18, has been hired as account manager at Apex Systems. In her role, Takata is responsible for building relationships with Fortune 1000 clients in various industries such as engineering, life science; and infrastructure and security. She leads efforts within her internal team to ensure job opportunities are filled for their clients.

Stefen Joshua Rasay, BBA ‘18, has been named rating analyst at S&P Global. In this new position, he is a part of the U.S. Public Finance team, reviewing the creditworthiness of public power and electric cooperative utility entities.

Brandie Ota, MHRM ‘15, has been promoted to human resources director at AlohaCare. In her role, she oversees all aspects of the Human Resource department with an emphasis on policies and procedures. Her role is key to fostering the development and retention of AlohaCare’s most important asset—their people.

Sara Samiano, BBA ‘19, has been hired as creative production project manager at Brafton. In this position, Samiano collaborates with teams across the company to manage multiple delivery schedules and processes to ensure deliverables get to clients on time. 

Dustin Borromeo, BBA ’17, has been appointed development coordinator in the Office of Estate and Gift Planning (OEGP) at the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. In his new position, he is responsible for assisting with the functions of OEGP and providing administrative support to the development team. He previously served as client service association at Yim Investment Management, LLC.

Daniel Chong, BBA ‘15, has been hired as marketing director for Pearlridge Center at Washington Prime Group, where he leads events, advertising and communications for Pearlridge to grow its impact as a special gathering place for the community.

Congratulations to Jadyne Yomono, MHRM ‘17 for being selected for the 6th cohort of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance in August 2021. The program is designed for emerging women leaders to develop management skills in order to advance their personal growth, professional impact and community change.

Christopher Hodges, BBA ‘10, has been named vice president, deputy chief financial officer & finance division manager at Hawaii State Federal Credit Union. Hodge oversees all finance, accounting and treasury functions, including loan and deposit pricing, managing investment portfolios and ensuring long-term financial sustainability. Previously, he served as vice president and treasury investment officer at First Hawaiian Bank.

Patrick Quintos, BBA ’16, has been appointed as a deployment strategist at Socotra in San Francisco. In his position, Quintos works with clients to implement and strategize technological solutions to leverage the company’s open application programming interface (API) based platform. He previously served as an advisory senior associate - cloud engineering and security at PwC.

Kyle Kinman, MBA ’19, MAcc ’21, and Tiffany Yoshida, MBA ‘19 were engaged in July 2021 and married on Nov. 14.

Lauren Saiki, BBA ’15, has been promoted to associate director of alumni & community engagement at the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation. In her elevated role, she leads initiatives to connect UH system campuses with alumni through special engagement opportunities in Hawaiʻi and worldwide. 

Derek Lin, BS ’17, has been named as an IT technician for Autoclerk. He previously served as a front desk manager for Marriott International.

Rachel Sokugawa, BBA ’09, MBA ’15, has been hired as assistant director of development and donor relations for the University of Hawai‘i Foundation. She oversees gift administration and stewardship of donor relations for Shidler College. Sokugawa also works as an operations specialist at Apple. Most recently, she served as an administrative assistant at Pono Pacific, LLC. 

John Doyle, EMBA ‘17, has been named director of information security at Array. In his new role, Doyle serves as the cybersecurity lead on efforts to implement and maintain information security policies, as well as develop and execute security incident and investigation procedures.

Lina Le, BBA ’11, MHRM ’13, has a new role as vice president of human resources and administration at Meadow Gold Dairies Hawaii. Le previously served as the director of human resources at Y. Hata & Co., Ltd.

School of Accountancy instructor Manu Ka`iama, BA ’82, MAcc ’88, and Katrina-Ann Oliveira, EMBA ’19, have been working hard to preserve and promote resources for Native Hawaiian learning, while tapping into the Shidler alumni network.

Together, they have co-authored the Noʻeau Program grant, totaling $2.3 million, printing over 94,500 books in Hawaiian for immersion schools throughout Hawaiʻi, as well as creating 52 Hawaiian language audiobooks. Additionally, the grant provided opportunities for Hawaiians to work in graduate research and as teaching assistants across UH. The program also received support from Shidler alumnus Meh'ana Maka`iana`i, MBA ’07, along with help from Shidler Master in Human Resources candidate Morgan Plunkett.

Ka`iama and Oliveira were recently informed that they received the Mai ʻŌ A ʻŌ grant for five years, totaling $5.4 million. This grant specifically addresses technology as a means to education, assisting teachers to capitalize technological applications.

Alyssa Tanabe, BBA ‘11, welcomed baby boy, Maddox Tanabe, to the family on Feb. 4.

Alissa Kelly, BBA ’18, has been named senior accountant at The Farmer’s Dog in New York. Prior to this role, she worked at HelloFresh as a senior accountant.

Alyssa Tanabe, BBA ‘11, has been hired as development associate at the East-West Center. Tanabe most recently served as development coordinator for the University of Hawai‘i Foundation.

Congratulations to Christian Chambers, MBA ’12, for being named to Hawaii Business Magazine’s 20 for the Next 20. This annual list highlights 20 individuals whose talents, accomplishments and potential set them apart as emerging leaders of Hawaiʻi into the next two decades.

Keone Nakoa, JD/MBA ’15, was appointed as deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) at the U.S. Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. In this role, Nakoa works to strengthen insular economies through strategic investments in environmental justice activities, clean energy deployment and infrastructure improvement. The OIA office also promotes policies and works to restore trust with territorial communities. He previously worked as a bureau chief at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in Washington, D.C. 

Congratulations to Teresa Hamabata, BBA ‘11 for being selected for the 6th cohort of the Patsy Mink Leadership Alliance in August 2021. The program is designed for emerging women leaders to develop management skills in order to advance their personal growth, professional impact and community change.

Sara Strona, MBA ‘15, has been appointed director of Starn O’Toole, Marcus & Fisher. She practice in the areas of real estate law, commercial transactions and corporate law. Strona holds Martindale-Hubbell’s® highest possible rating of AV Preeminent®. This rating is given by her legal peers, based on their knowledge of her work, knowledge and integrity.

Maurice Berbano, BBA ’19, has been hired as social content creator at REVOLVE. In this role, he is responsible for creating and publishing content across a variety of channels that showcase the company’s lifestyle brand and as a next-generation fashion retailer. 

Lynn Miyahira, MBA ‘10 and Mark Gilbertson got married on Jan. 30 in Kaneohe.