Ho`a selected UH Hilo Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs

Carla Ho`a

University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Chancellor Bonnie D. Irwin announces the selection of Carla Ho`a as the University’s new permanent Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs following a UH Board of Regents Budget & Finance Committee Meeting held November 3, 2022. Ho`a’s appointment begins January 9, 2023. She replaces Kalei Rapoza, who served in the interim position.

Ho`a joins UH Hilo from the University of Colorado Boulder, where she served in various positions since 2013, most recently as vice chancellor and chief financial officer. Other positions at CU Boulder include Associate Vice Chancellor and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Budget and Fiscal Planning, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Administration Auxiliaries, and Director of Administrative Projects. Prior to CU Boulder, she was Associate Dean for Finance and Administration at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, College of Nursing (2007-2013), Deputy Budget Director at Colorado Community College System (2006-2007), and Senior Budget Analyst at the University of Colorado Denver and Health Sciences Center, Budget Office (2005-2006).

Some of Ho`a’s notable accomplishments during her tenure at CU Boulder include: leadership of a new incentive-based campus budget model to align resources with campus priorities; development of a financial plan to address COVID-related enrollment declines without disrupting the academic and research missions of the university; development of tuition and aid strategies to attract and retain students, especially financially disadvantaged and underrepresented students; development of a long-range financial model to provide a roadmap that includes enrollment projections, capital planning, cash flow projections, endowments and investments and financial indicators to assess fiscal health and resilience; and development of a $25 million plan for financially sustainable, impactful, and transparent investments to support campus priorities for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Ho`a received her Bachelor of Science in Finance and Master of Business Administration from the University of Colorado - Denver.

“I express my gratitude and appreciation to Kalei Rapoza for serving as our Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Affairs since Fall 2017,” Irwin said. “He has done an admirable job, and I cannot thank him enough for his contributions to the leadership team, especially throughout the pandemic.”