The OHA Board of Trustees unanimously voted to retain Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi Trustee Colette Y. Machado as its chair while also selecting the rest of its leadership during the first board meeting since the November elections.

“I want to express my appreciation to my fellow board members for having the confidence in me to continue to serve as their chair,” said Machado, who has served as the OHA chair since Feb. 9, 2017.

“I want to express my appreciation to my fellow board members for having the confidence in me to continue to serve as their chair,” said Machado, who has served as the OHA chair since Feb. 9, 2017. “That all nine trustees voted together for our entire board leadership is a powerful statement to our community that OHA is moving forward in the spirit of lōkahi (unity). I look forward to working closely with the board and administration to focus on achieving what OHA was created more than 40 years ago to do: serve the Native Hawaiian people.”

Machado was first elected to the OHA Board in 1996 and previously served as OHA chair from December 2010 through November 2014.

OHA trustees also selected the vice chair for the full board as well as the leadership for the board’s two standing committees. OHA’s new board leadership is:

OHA Board:

• Chair: Machado, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi trustee
• Vice Chair: Brendon Kaleiʻāina Lee, trustee at-large

Committee on Resource Management:

• Chair: Leinaʻala Ahu Isa, trustee at-large
• Vice Chair: Robert K. Lindsey, Jr., Hawaiʻi Island trustee

Committee on Beneficiary and Advocacy:

• Chair: John D. Waiheʻe IV, trustee at-large
• Vice Chair: Kaleihikina Akaka, Oʻahu trustee

The Monday, Dec. 10, 2018, board meeting was the first since the general election, during which five trustees were elected to four-year terms. At-Large Trustee Ahu Isa, At-Large Trustee Waiheʻe and Maui Trustee Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey were incumbents who were re-elected. This meeting was the first for OHA’s newest trustees: At-Large Trustee Brendon Kaleiʻāina Lee and Oʻahu Trustee Kaleihikina Akaka.

The Honorable Sabrina McKenna, an associate justice on the Hawaiʻi State Supreme Court, administered the Oath of Office to the newly elected trustees at today’s meeting. OHA will hold an investiture ceremony for the newly-sworn in trustees at Washington Place for invited guests on Tuesday, Dec. 11.