Two new members join University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents

HONOLULU, Hawaiʻi — On July 1, 2009, John C. Holzman and James H. Q. Lee joined the Board of Regents as the university‘s newest regents. Holzman and Lee fill the seats formerly occupied by Regents Allan R. Landon and Ronald K. Migita whose terms expired on June 30, 2009. Landon led the Board as its chair for the past two years.

The Board of Regents consists of 15 members who represent various counties of the state or who may be at-large. The governor selects their names from a list of qualified candidates submitted by the Regents Candidate Advisory Council, and their nomination and appointment to the Board are subject to the consent of the Senate.

During the 2009 Legislative session, the Senate also confirmed the appointments of Mark H. Fukunaga, Chuck Gee and Eric Martinson, to Honolulu County seats; Ramon S. de la Peña to the Kauai County seat; Michael Dahilig to an at-large seat; and Grant Teichman to the student regent‘s position. Since January these six regents had been serving on an interim basis pending confirmation by the Senate.

Regent Holzman is a retired Foreign Service officer who held senior positions in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. He is a senior volunteer mediator at the Mediation Center of the Pacific and an active participant in the University of Hawaiʻi Senior Citizen Visitor Program. Holzman has a BS from Georgetown University and a MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Regent Lee is a partner in the law firm of Devens, Nakano, Saito, Lee, Wong & Ching. He has served as the managing director of Let‘s Eat Hawaiʻi, the owner and operator of Sam Choy‘s Restaurants in Hawaiʻi, Japan and Guam and the managing director of the K.B. Lee Corporation, a real estate development company and the owner and operator of the Hee Hing Restaurant. Lee graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a Bachelor of Business Administration and from UH Mānoa‘s William S. Richardson School of Law. He has served as president of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Honolulu and also as chair of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters Foundation.

Regent Fukunaga is the chair and CEO of Servco Pacific. He also sits on boards of several companies, including Fender Musical instruments, Nippon Golden Network and Outrigger Enterprises, and on schools and other nonprofit organizations, including KCAA Preschools, Pomona College and Punahou School.

Regent Gee was the dean of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Travel Industry Management from 1976 until his retirement in 1999. He serves as advisor and consultant to various institutions, small business enterprises, international hotels and tourism organizations and remains active in various travel and non travel-related associations.

Regent Martinson, managing director of Tradewind Capital Group, has more than 23 years of institutional investment and asset management experience with emphasis in private equity. He is a graduate of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a BBA in finance and holds an MBA from Duke University‘s Fuqua School of Business. Martinson serves on the boards of several private companies and is also active on the boards and leadership of numerous business, community and non-profit organizations.

Regent de la Peña was re-appointed to a second term on the Board. Prior to retiring in 2001, he was an agronomist and professor at the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. Regent de la Peña is past president of the Kauaʻi Pangasinan Association, the Kauaʻi Filipino Community Council and St. Catherine Filipino Catholic Club and emeritus director of Leadership Kauaʻi.

Regent Dahilig served three years as the student regent before his appointment to a term as an at-large regent in 2009. He is a deputy county attorney with the County of Kauaʻi focusing on planning and land use matters. Dahilig graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a BS in geology and geophysics and from the William S. Richardson School of Law. He also serves on the boards of the Hawaiʻi Filipino Lawyers Association, National Federation of Filipino American Associations and Honolulu Filipino Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Regent Teichman, a graduate of Kauaʻi High School and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, is a third generation UH student. He received bachelor‘s degrees in both political science and European history and is attending UH Mānoa‘s William S. Richardson School of Law. He has served on various UH committees and community commissions and was inducted into the Golden Key Honour Society, National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Phi Alpha Theta History Honors Society.

These eight newly confirmed regents join the seven members who are continuing their terms: Howard H. Karr (Honolulu County), Artemio C. Baxa (Maui County), Carl A. Carlson, Jr. (Hawaiʻi County — West), James J. C. Haynes II (Maui County), Dennis I. Hirota (Honolulu County), Teena M. Rasmussen (At-Large) and Harvey S. Tajiri (Hawaiʻi County — East). Regents Karr, Haynes and Tajiri hold various degrees from the University of Hawaiʻi.

Members of the UH Board of Regents serve voluntarily and are not paid. For more information on the BOR visit http://www.hawaii.edu/admin/regents/index.php.