Ige Taps Kathleen Ho as Next OEQC Director

Kathleen Ho

Kathleen S. Y. Ho is slated to become the next Director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC) in the state Department of Health, Gov. David Ige announced Wednesday.

Ho has extensive experience in environmental law, having served as deputy attorney general in the Health Division since 1992. In addition, Ho was an adjunct professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, and deputy corporation counsel for the City and County of Honolulu. She has also worked in private practice in Honolulu and served as an advisor to OEQC and the Environmental Council.

Ho is a graduate of the University of San Francisco where she earned a BS in Biology. She also earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and her LLM in Environmental Law from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

“Kathleen has years of experience working in environmental law alongside a wide range of stakeholders,” Ige said. “She is highly qualified and will serve the state well in leading and managing the OEQC.”

Ho’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. Her start date has not yet been determined.

If confirmed, Ho replaces Scott Glenn who has been appointed as chief executive officer of the Hawai‘i State Energy Office