Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement

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About Us President's Welcome Board of Directors Members Staff Annual Reports Join CNHA		CNHA Board of Directors The current Board of Directors consists of 15 seats, 12 of which are elected by the membership. Three seats are designated as diversity seats to ensure a well rounded representation of community development areas reflected in our communities. Each Director serves for three years. Five seats expire each year and are filled prior to the Annual Native Hawaiian Convention. The Current Board of Directors are: Seat: Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Representative: Darrell Yagodich, Planning Officer Mr. Yagodich, a Native Hawaiian, and has served in various planning, public policy, and program management positions at the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL) for over 25 years. Since 1996, Mr. Yagodich has served as DHHL Planning Officer. Initiatives include creation of a new General Plan and planning system, asserting trust interest at the federal level, including passage of federal Native Hawaiian affordable housing legislation, and working to develop the capacity and self-governance authority of homestead communities and beneficiary groups.
		Seat: Halau Na Pualei o Likolehua Representative: Leinaala Kalama Heine, Kumu Hula A native of pure Hawaiian ancestry, Ms. Heine is respected as one of Hawaii’s sanctioned masters of the art form known as hula. She directs the award-winning Na Pualei o Likolehua, which Ms. Heine established in 1976. She recently retired after teaching Hawaiian studies and dance at St. Andrew’s Priory School for the past fifteen years. As a kumu hula, Ms. Heine realizes her greatest responsibility is to groom and encourage knowledgeable teachers for the future so that the customary practice will live on.
		Seat: Hawaiian Community Assets Representatives: Kehaulani Filimoe'atu, President, and Michelle Kauhane, Executive Director Ms. Filimoe‘atu is a Radio Technician for the Maui Police Department. She is a highly respected leader and spokesperson for Native Hawaiian initiatives on Maui and throughout the state of Hawaii. She serves as President of Hawaiian Community Assets and Po‘e Kokua. Ms. Filimoe‘atu is a graduate of the Bank of America Academy in Baltimore, Maryland, an advanced training program for community development leaders. She was a delegate to the state-sponsored Native Hawaiian Constitutional Convention and volunteers to assist many local and Native Hawaiian causes. She was a successful small business owner for more than twenty years and is also a Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary. Ms. Kauhane assumed the position of Executive Director at Hawaiian Community Assets in February 2006 after serving as Associate Director for 8 months. She started with the organization as a Community Lending Associate where she discovered her desire to serve the needs of the Native Hawaiian Community. Ms. Kauhane has 13 years of experience in management, sales and marketing and is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and Gonzaga University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations.
		Seat: I Mua Group Representative: Dickie Nelson The I Mua Group is a statewide political action committee that supports Pauahi’s legacy and the empowerment of Native Hawaiians.
		Seat: Kanaka Maoli o Kaleponi Representative: Andrew AhPo Mr. Ah Po has become recognized as a Native Hawaiian community advocate and political activist both in Hawaii and on the U.S. continent. He has lobbied for and continues to be a strong advocate for other Pacific Island American communities and is constantly sought out by members of both the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities for his expertise and commitment to ensure that Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are “represented and served” and that they take their rightful place in American society. In recent years, Mr. Ah Po was recruited by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, to represent the interests of Native Hawaiians who reside on the continent during a series of Native Hawaiian community meetings and forums which were focused on assisting Native Hawaiians with achieving self-sufficiency thorough self-determination no matter where they reside. Mr. Ah Po has served as Chairman of various state agency Asian-Pacific Advisory Task Forces and also served as an official Native Hawaiian and Pacific Island community advisor for the 1980, 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census.
		Seat: Kamehameha Schools Representative: Ann Botticelli, Vice President for Community Relations and Communications Ms. Ann Botticelli is the Vice President for Community Relations & Communications for the Kamehameha Schools. She has 22 years in the journalism business holding positions at the Honolulu Advertiser, KHON, and KITV. At Kamehameha Schools, Ms. Botticelli oversees the Community Relations & Communications Group, which handles public relations, advertising, media, design and production, and government and community relations for the organization statewide.
		Seat: Mainland Council of Hawaiian Civic Clubs Representative: John Jensen John is Hawaiian and a graduate of Roosevelt High School (1950), Honolulu, Oahu. He received an A. S. degree from the Church College of Hawaii, Laie, Ohau (B.Y.U. Hawaii), and a B.S. degree, Physics Major and Mathematics Minor, from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (1960). John is a Korean War Veteran (1951-1954). He taught High School, math and science, in the Los Angeles Unified School District (1960-1997). He has been involved with the Hawaiian Civic Clubs from 1981 to the present. He has served in many leadership positions in the ‘Ahahui ‘o Lili’uokalani Hawaiian Civic Club of Southern California. Presently he is the Pelekikena of the Mainland Council Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs.
		Seat: Na Lei Na‘auao Alliance Representative: Alvin N. Parker, Principal Mr. Alvin Parker is the Principal of Ka Waihona o ka Na‘auao Public Charter School and also the President of the Advisory Board for the Boys and Girls Club of Waianae. A 1971 graduate of the Kamehameha School for Boys, he has a BA in History from the University of Hawaii and a M.Ed. from Gonzaga University. He is actively pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Hawaii. Principal Parker is certified in Special Education and is a Licensed Teacher in the State of Hawaii. In addition, he is a graduate of the Kamehameha sponsored Hawaiian Charter Schools’ Principal Academy and the Department of Education’s New Principals Academy.
		Seat: Na Mea Hawaii/Native Books (Diversity) Representative: Maile Meyer Ms. Meyer, founder of Native Books, Native Books & Beautiful Things, and Na Mea Hawai‘i, is an entrepreneur with a passion to support Native Hawaiian producers, artists and manufacturers of made-in Hawaii products. Na Mea Hawai‘i currently has three retail stores that celebrate Hawaiian material culture and local products. Native Books works extensively with schools, institutions and libraries to ensure that culturally sensitive, historically accurate information on Hawaii is readily available. Native Books also maintains a website and assists in the publication of materials important to the Hawaiian community. Ms. Meyer received and MBA in Marketing and Arts Management at Anderson School of Management, UCLA and her undergraduate degree from Stanford University.
		Seat: Native Hawaiian Education Council Representative: Colin Kippen, Executive Director Mr. Kippen, a Native Hawaiian, currently serves as executive director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council. He previously served as senior counsel to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, deputy administrator and director of Human Rights Division of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and chief tribal judge of the Suquamish tribe in Washington. He is presently serving as the first Native Hawaiian member of the national NAGPRA Review Committee.
		Seat: Native Hawaiian Economic Alliance Representative: Li Garcia-Ballard, President, and William P. Ornellas, Vice President of Advisory Council Ms. Li Garcia-Ballard is Native Hawaiian and a founding member of the Native Hawaiian Economic Alliance. Ms. Garcia-Ballard has built her own successful IT company, LGB & Associates, which she started more than 10 years ago in Fairfax, Virginia. She recently opened an office here on Oahu, has moved back home, and is a homesteader in the Hawaiian homestead community of Kalawahine. Mr. Ornellas, a Native Hawaiian, was raised on a homestead on the island of Molokai and graduated from the Kamehameha Schools. He is a retired Honolulu Police Department Major who now is an attorney in private practice and is a member or Director of numerous community service organizations and continually seeks to increase small business capacity by training and retaining young workers in the construction and trade industries. Mr. Ornellas is a founding member of the Native Hawaiian Economic Alliance (NHEA) and serves as Vice President on the Advisory Board. As Vice President, he volunteers his expertise and advocacy to advance the mission of NHEA and the small business community.
		Seat: Papakolea Community Development Corp. Representative: Harold Johnston, President, and B. Puni Kekauoha, Executive Director Mr. Johnston resides on Hawaiian Home Lands at Papakolea and is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools and received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and an MBA from San Jose State University. Mr. Johnston is the Director of Service & Operations for Sandwich Isles Communications and is responsible for overseeing the quality of network operations and services, and also for the planning and implementation of all new services, including emerging broadband technology applications. In addition to being a director of the CNHA board, Mr. Johnston serves as board president of the non-profit Papakolea Community Development Corporation, which supports educational and economic development opportunities for residents of Papakolea. Born and raised on the Hawaiian homestead in Papakolea, Oahu, Puni Kekauoha has been a leader in her community since the early 1990s. A Native Hawaiian, Ms. Kekauoha presently serves as Executive Director of the Papakolea Community Development Corp. and is the President of the Papakolea Community Association. Ms. Kekauoha is also a founder and director of Ke Alaula, a statewide organization devoted to promoting Native Hawaiian Health.
		Seat: Waianae Valley Homestead Community Association Representative: Pikake Pelekai Ms. Pelekai was born on the island of Oahu, completed her B.A. on the island of Hawaii, and moved back to Oahu to earn a Masters in Education. Ms. Pelekai began her work for the Hawaiian community first by leading the language and culture department at Windward Community College and her last position before retirement in 2002 was Cultural Officer for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Retirement has provided Ms. Pelekai the opportunity to concentrate her efforts by working for her community and the entire Hawaiian homesteaders and beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. She has been involved with the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly since 1997 and has served as its Executive Director since 1998.
		Seat: Individual Member (Diversity) Representative: Robert Lindsey Robert K. Lindsey Mr. Lindsey is a Native Hawaiian committed to native issues and has worked with Native Hawaiian communities for over 20 years. Currently Mr. Lindsey is the Hawaii Island Trustee in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Vice Chair on the Committee on Asset and Resource Management.

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