New members of UH Board of Regents sworn in

Outgoing regents also honored at monthly board meeting

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Lynne Waters, (808) 956-9803
Associate Vice President, External Affairs & University Relations, UH System
Posted: May 17, 2012

New Regents Ben Kudo, John Dean & Tom Shigemoto with reappointed Regent Carl Carlson (2nd from left)
New Regents Ben Kudo, John Dean & Tom Shigemoto with reappointed Regent Carl Carlson (2nd from left)
Outgoing Regents Ramón de la Peña, Teena Rasmussen and Dennis Hirota (missing is Matthew Williams)
Outgoing Regents Ramón de la Peña, Teena Rasmussen and Dennis Hirota (missing is Matthew Williams)
HONOLULU (May 17, 2012) – Three new members of the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents were sworn in at the board’s monthly meeting held today at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. John Dean, Benjamin Kudo and Tom Shigemoto will begin their terms as regents on July 1. A fourth incoming regent, Jeffrey Acido, will be sworn in at a later date. His term also begins on July 1.
 
Dean, representing Honolulu County, is president and chief executive officer of Central Pacific Bank and Central Pacific Financial Corporation. Kudo, an at-large representative, is an attorney and the chief financial officer and manager of the land use, administrative and environmental law group of Imanaka Kudo & Fujimoto.
 
Shigemoto, representing Kaua‘i County, is vice president of planning for A&B Properties, Inc., the real estate development division of Alexander and Baldwin, Inc. Acido is the student regent and is a graduate student working towards an MA in Asian studies, focusing on the Philippines, with a concentration in Ilokano.
 
The board also recognized members whose terms are ending June 30. Outgoing regents honored included Ramón de la Peña, Dennis Hirota, Teena Rasmussen and Matthew Williams.
 
de la Peña has represented Kaua‘i County on the Board of Regents since 2004. A retired UH Mānoa professor and agronomist, he previously served as superintendent of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ Kaua‘i Branch Research Station and director of the Kaua‘i County Office of Economic Development.
 
Hirota joined the Board of Regents in 2008 representing Honolulu County. He is the president of Sam Hirota, Inc., a 45-year-old civil engineering and surveying consulting company. As a licensed civil engineer, land surveyor and land court surveyor, he has been involved in the design of private, commercial, residential and federal projects throughout the Pacific region.
 
A regent since 2008, Rasmussen is coordinator of the Office of Economic Development for Maui and is involved with her family-owned company, Paradise Flower Farms. A tireless proponent of locally grown produce and flowers, she has been a member and treasurer of the Hawai‘i Tropical Flower Council, and is a founding member of the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture’s Hawai‘i Seal of Quality program.
 
Williams, who currently holds the student seat on the Board, is a graduate with an MS in nursing and an MBA from UH Mānoa. He worked in banking, insurance, emergency medicine and other fields while taking community college courses before entering the UH Mānoa nursing program. A charge nurse at Kahi Mohala Behavioral Health Hospital, he oversees care of children and adolescent patients and is helping implement programs to advance hospital services.