Healoha Johnston
Healoha Johnston lives in Kaiwiki, Hawai‘i, and is director of Cultural Resources and curator for Hawaiʻi and Pacific Arts and Culture at Bishop Museum, where she is lead curator for the museum’s Pacific Pipeline Initiative. Johnston’s research and exhibitions explore connections between historic visual culture and contemporary art, with a particular focus on the sociopolitical underpinnings that inform those relationships. Her curated exhibitions at the Honolulu Museum of Art include Ho‘oulu Hawai‘i: The King Kalākaua Era (2018–2019), for which the accompanying exhibition catalog received multiple awards including the 2019 Samuel M. Kamakau Book of the Year Award from the Hawai‘i Book Publishers Association; and Lisa Reihana: Emissaries (2019), an exhibition that, for the first time, brought together the groundbreaking video iPOV [infected] and telescope installation with the complete set of French nineteenth-century wallpapers that Reihana critically recast. Recent exhibitions at Bishop Museum include Project Banaba (2023) and Corned Beef & Kalo (2024).
Patty Copperfield
Patty Copperfield was raised on Maui and Moloka‘i, where she cultivated a deep connection to her community and its values. After graduating from Moloka‘i High School, she began her career in business technology at Meyer Computer, Inc., developing expertise in digital marketing. In 2013, Patty transitioned to a community-service-focused career, joining Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO) as a Dispatcher. Over the years, she rose to become Transportation Director in 2021. In this role, she oversees vital transportation systems that serve kupuna, persons with disabilities, youth, low-income individuals, and rural residents across Maui (including Hana), Moloka‘i, and Lāna‘i. Her responsibilities include managing a team of 75 employees and a fleet of 100 vehicles, ensuring accessible and inclusive services throughout Maui County. Inspired by her upbringing on Moloka‘i and the values instilled by her grandfather, Patty is a passionate advocate for kūpuna, persons with disabilities, and creating opportunities for all residents of Maui County to thrive. She was recently recognized as a Pacific Business News 40 Under 40 honoree for her leadership and community impact.
Chris Kirk-Kuwaye
Chris Kirk-Kuwaye and her parents arrived in Hawai‘i in 1960. For the past 34 years she has lived in Ka‘a‘awa, O‘ahu. She has a lifelong love for the humanities—creating, sharing, and helping them transform others. She has published short stories and articles on photography and local history as well as blog posts on archival materials pertaining to Hawai‘i communities. She has taught courses in English and American Studies and advised student organizations at UH Mānoa. Since retiring, she has continued researching and sharing archival materials from UHM Hamilton Library’s Romanzo Adams Research Laboratory, with special attention to Hawai‘i’s territorial period. She recently joined the board of the Friends of the Library-Kahuku (FOLK). As a volunteer with Kahuku Public and School Library, she assists with Ko‘olauloa community outreach workshops, exhibits, and collection development. She is a grandmother of three.
Line-Noue Kruse
Line-Noue Memea Kruse hails from the villages of Sapapali’i, Vaisala, Vaimoso, Vaitoloa, Pesega, Tuana’i, and Manunu in Sāmoa. She was raised in Koʻolauloa, Oʻahu. She is an Assistant Professor of Pacific History at University of Hawai‘i at Hilo. Her advocacy of the humanities in Hawai‘i and the Moana has been through connecting communities as a planner by trade and preserving stories through publication, oral history projects, and place based collaborations between institutions and communities.
Kehau Costa
Kehaulani Costa was born in Pohnpei, Micronesia and at the age of two returned to Pupukea, O‘ahu where she grew up playing freely in the valley and bay of Waimea. A childhood filled with hiking in the Ko‘olau, bodysurfing Ehukai and jumping off “the Waimea rock” instilled in her a deep love and respect for the ocean and Hawai‘i’s natural environment. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo, she now lives in Hilo and works for the County of Hawai‘i as a housing policy specialist. She enjoys being a community volunteer and connector, but her true love is being Mom to her four boys who fill her life with joy, challenges, adventures, and pride.
Cheryl Edelson
Cheryl Edelson is Professor of English and Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Design at Chaminade University of Honolulu. Since 2007, she has served as co-organizer of the Oceanic Popular Culture Association—a regional chapter of the Popular Culture Association. Cheryl is general editor of Pacific Coast Philology, the journal of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association.When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, and horseback riding. She became a board member in 2021.
Halena Kapuni-Reynolds
Halena Kapuni-Reynolds is the Associate Curator of Native Hawaiian History & Culture at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and works remotely from his hometown of Hilo. He was born on Hawaiʻi Island and raised in the Hawaiian Home Land community of Keaukaha and the rainforest of ʻŌlaʻa, where he developed a lifelong passion for learning more about Hawaiian language, history, and culture. When he is not busy at work or serving his community, Halena enjoys learning old Hawaiian songs and composing new mele Hawaiʻi.
Demaney C. Kihe
Demaney C Kihe is a life-long learner who enjoys listening to people’s stories! After nearly 30 years in the banking industry as a regional manager, vice president and senior commercial banker, Demaney had made a career change to assist underserved individuals, families, small businesses and non-profits in his role as Managing Director at the State’s Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority. In this new role, Demaney hopes to continue guiding, mentoring and teaching individuals, businesses and organizations. Demaney is a veteran of the United States Air Force, has served on various non-profit boards, and has advised/strategized with hundreds of people and businesses professionally and informally throughout his career. Demaney believes that life is a journey. While our journey is a deeply personally one, he believes we can grow positively by connecting with people, listening to them with humility and appreciation, and learning from their knowledge and experiences.
Vincent Ryan Linares
Retired now for 14 years from UH-Maui, I seek to be of whatever service I can, given the breadth of my personal and professional life on Maui since 1974. In my 50 years on Maui I have served on many boards, but of note as a member on the following as both board member and officer: Maui Academy of Performing Arts, Maui On Stage, Maui United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior Achievement, Kula Community Association, and Hui Malama. While at the University, I served three terms on the University of Hawaiʻi Professional Assembly Board, three terms as UH-Maui Faculty Senate Chair, and two terms as Chair of the University of Hawaiʻi Community College Senate Council. When not teaching, most of my time has been spent as an actor, director, and producer, focusing much of my efforts ensuring that children have easy access to and experience theater. Of special note has been my performances for the past 24 years of the one man stage play Damien: The Leper Priest of Molokai. I have produced this play throughout the State of Hawaiʻi, the mainland, and in Europe.
Kristen Namba Reed
Kristen Namba Reed is yonsei (4th generation Japanese in Hawaiʻi) born and raised on Oʻahu, now raising her gosei (5th generation) keiki in her hometown after studying and living in various places on the continent and beyond. She is passionate about inclusive, situated storytelling approaches, diverse representation in narrative, and using multimedia stories as a way to foster empathy, engagement, and resilience. Currently, she serves as the Assistant Director of Publishing at Bess Press, a local print publisher in Kaimukī, and is working towards her MA in Communications at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Mark Ombrello
Mark Ombrello is a long time Hawaiʻi History Day volunteer judge going back to graduate school days at UH Mānoa, and now serves as Kauaʻi Lead Historian Consultant for our program. Mark teaches History and Japanese language at Kauaʻi Community College. He enjoys playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild with his precocious son. He has been on our board since 2019.
Shelly (Preza) Kaiaokamalie
Shelly Preza is proud to be from Lānaʻi, where her family has lived for generations. She attended Kamehameha Schools: Kapālama and earned a B.A. in English with a minor in Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights from Harvard College. She is now fortunate to be working back home in cultural preservation with the Lānaʻi Culture & Heritage Center and Pūlama Lānaʻi. She became a board member in 2021.
Pualiʻiliʻimaikalani (Pua) Rossi-Fukino
Pualiʻiliʻimaikalani (Pua) Rossi-Fukino is Kanaka ʻŌiwi from Wailua, Kauaʻi. She is an Assistant Professor of and Program Coordinator for the Hawaiian Studies Department at Kauaʻi Community College. Her favorite thing to do is spend time in the ʻāina with her two sons, especially if it means getting to jump in the ocean!
Misty-Lynn Sanico
Misty Sanico writes any kine and lives in a very small Honolulu apartment with a very large amount of books that she moves around constantly so that there might be just enough room for her husband. But only just.
Dawn Sueoka
Dawn Sueoka is the Congressional Papers Archivist at the UH Mānoa Library. She enjoys playing independent videogames, and finds peace in the garden and in the ocean. She is so grateful for the opportunity to serve on the HiHumanities board!
Ben Treviño
Ben Treviño is an experienced executive, entrepreneur, and technologist. He currently serves as the network coordinator for the Omidyar Fellows program where he fosters connections across the network to lead to a more active and catalytic community of Fellows. Previously, he was the brigade program director for Code for America. Prior to that, he served as president and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Institute for Public Affairs as well as Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s sustainability planner, the president and COO of Bikeshare Hawaiʻi and was a co-founder of Interisland Terminal, a Honolulu-based nonprofit organization with projects including community innovation spaces, the Kakaʻako Agora, and R&D Bookstore and Cafe. He has held previous positions with University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO), Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, and Google.