I come from a large, happy and busy family.  Including three children who graduated from Moanalua high school, completed college here and abroad, and have started families of their own, blessing the entire ‘ohana with seven brilliant and beautiful granddaughters! UPDATE 2022 and Grandson!!

 

Jill, my partner, love of my life, my friend, my wife, is a big influence in my life and her grounding in Hawaiian history, preservation & environmental issues and concern for people and place, inspires me to continuously learn and understand local issues.  Jill has also become a highly skilled and competent waterwoman and is a tenaciously strong paddler in both V1, OC-1 and 6-person teams.  I'd follower her anywhere . . . as long as I can keep up.

 

Having spent the last twelve years as an elected Kaneohe Neighborhood Board member and board chairman for the past eight.  I try to deliver fair and consistent leadership and hopefully serve as an example of who we can be and how we should treat one another.  I'm always hoping to earn and maintain the trust and confidence of our district's 30,000+ residents through understanding.  I'm always looking for ways to serve the community and be of use, so I submitted my name and was confirmed by the Hawaii State Senate in 2015 and was able to serve an 8-year tenure on the Kaneohe Bay Regional Council, learning customs and traditions to protecting our bay. 

 

I'm always looking for new and efficient ways of getting things done.  So after having a 30-year career in the U.S. Navy, I wanted my next career to bring joy into my life, so I combined my love for golf and passion for helping others and  earned a Class 'A' certification and election to membership in the Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) in 2006 as a teaching professional. 

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It was that same year, I started Golf Academy Hawaii at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course.  The academy is still going strong and my youngest son, Jonathan, also completed his PGA apprenticeship and earned membership.  Coach Jon also teaches at Golf Academy Hawaii. 

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At the same time, I split time at the golf academy with a role at the former San Diego Golf Academy and later Golf Academy of America at the Castle Medical Building and Ko'olau golf course and taught a college-level curriculum leading students to an Associate of Science in Business (Golf Management). 

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From 2007-2018 I also facilitated a weekly 3-day U.S. Department of Labor employment transition workshop for military personnel and their spouses stationed in Hawaii who are leaving service and need to successfully integrate into the civilian job market.  And because there was still time in the day that was unused, I enrolled at Hawaii Pacific University in 2013, and earned a Master of Business Administration  with a concentration in Organizational Change and Development.

 

Presently, I'm a Career Development Manager on the Microsoft Military Affairs team  supporting Microsoft's Software & Systems Academy.  Originally, I served as the site manager for a 19-week, in-class, program to help active duty and former service members make transitions into careers in the tech industry.  COVID caused the program to adapt to a virtual learning environment and by March 2020, we were in a totally virtual space and I work from home during the week with weekend jaunts to the golf course to teach (and play).

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Whenever there’s spare time, haha, I'm volunteering.  Currently, I serve as President of the Friends of the Natatorium, a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the goal of reopening the Waikiki WWI War Memorial Natatorium to the public.  In that capacity, I've worked hard to gain the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Historic Hawaii Foundation and other groups to leverage the best possible ideas to show the practicality and feasibility of a cost-effective restoration of our local and national treasure.  I also coordinate of the Salute Military Golf Association where we conduct free golf clinics for Post-9/11 combat-wounded veterans. 

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Coming from parents who have a combined 140 years in the entertainment business, I've always been passionate about the arts and playing my own music.  Jill, steered me towards live performance theater in 2014 and I'm just gaga over the comradery, effort, professionalism and spirit of Hawaii community theater. I've been fortunate to have had roles at Diamond Head Theatre, Paliku, and Manoa Valley shows.

 

Some other volunteer activities are:

 

* Past President and member of the Rotary Club of Waikiki. 

* Friends of the Natatorium, President and board member

* Salute Military Golf Association, Hawaii Chapter President

* Kaneohe Christmas Parade, Grand Marshall Driver

* Castle Education Complex Redesign, Brainstorm design team

* Paepae O' Heeia Fishpond, worker

* Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, volunteer

* Historic Hawaii Foundation, volunteer

* Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure, volunteer, photography, logistics

* USS MISSOURI Memorial, work detail team leader

* Kaneohe Elementary Partners in Education Program, Recess and Fitness support

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I have a guiding thought: “When a person has a passion to serve, A great recipe for success is to surround themselves with energetic and positive people who have a passion to accomplish a goal and work hard towards achieving it.  Listen to opponents and try to build bridges.  

 

 I'm also patient enough to know that some plans take time to "simmer" before being implemented and require the guidance and advice of our kupuna, and even our keiki (elders and children) .

 

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