Senate Confirms Carlson and Mizuno as Regents

The Hawaii Senate has confirmed the appointment of six of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s nominees to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents, including two already serving from the Big Island.

Those confirmed include Carl Carlson Jr., founder of Hu‘ehu‘e Ventures, a Kona-based real estate and consulting firm, who was originally appointed as a regent by former governor Linda Lingle. Abercrombie had appointed him for an additional term ending in June 2106.

Also confirmed was Barry Mizuno, an energy consultant and former manager of Puna Geothermal Venture, who has served as an interim regent since last summer. His new term will end next year.

Both were confirmed unanimously. Their appointments were endorsed by the Senate Committee on Education on March 23.

The Senate this week also confirmed four other regent appointments including John C. Dean, president and chief executive officer of Central Pacific Bank and Central Pacific Financial Corporation, who will represent Oahu; Benjamin A. Kudo, chief financial officer and the manager of the land use, administrative and environmental law group of Imanaka Kudo & Fujimoto, who will be an at-large regent; Tom H. Shigemoto, vice president of planning for A&B Properties, Inc., who will represent Kauai; and student regent Jeffrey T. Acido, who is in the UH master’s program in Asian studies.