Josh Green

For Immediate Release

December 1, 2022

Honolulu, HI – Governor-elect Josh Green today announced nominees to serve as
Director and/or Deputy Director for fourteen state departments in his cabinet.

Green said, “I am assembling a cabinet that will move the State of Hawai‘i forward and
commit to a strong sense of service to the people of Hawai‘i. This is a group of high
caliber individuals with strengths in their respective fields. They join together as leaders
of Hawai‘i with an urgency to make change and face our challenges head on.”

In total, Governor-elect Green is making twenty appointments to Director and Deputy
Director positions across fourteen state departments. Many are subject to advice and
consent of the Hawai‘i State Senate and Governor-elect Green looks forward to working
with the Legislature and his nominees to advance important legislation and demonstrate
why these nominees are fit to help lead the state forward.

Appointments to Director of state departments:

Anne Lopez – Attorney General for the Department of the Attorney General
Lopez joins with extensive legal experience across multiple state departments. Most
recently as Vice President and General Counsel for the Hawaii Health Systems
Corporation she brings executive managerial experience to the department and crucial
understanding of government affairs. She is prepared to take on the legal challenges
facing the state and provide effective leadership to the Department of the Attorney
General.

Luis Salaveria, Director of the Department of Budget & Finance
Salaveria has over twenty years of experience in the public and private sector working
on budget and policy issues. He most recently worked with SanHi government
solutions and previously served in the Ige Administration as the Director of the
Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, and in the Abercrombie
Administration as Deputy Director of Budget and Finance under Kalbert Young.

Major General Kenneth Hara, Adjutant General for the Department of Defense
Maj. Gen. Hara will continue to serve as the Adjutant General. His leadership during
the COVID-19 pandemic and experience with disaster management are important
sources of continuity for the Green Administration and the state, especially with the
volcanic eruption at Mauna Loa.

Ed Sniffen, Director of the Department of Transportation
Sniffen most recently served as the Deputy Director for Highways with the Department
of Transportation and will drive the department to build on his work, paving lasting
change for the State’s infrastructure demands.

Brenna Hashimoto, Director of the Department of Human Resources Development
Hashimoto previously served as a Human Resources Officer in the Department of
Human Services where she oversaw the human resources program for over 2,300+
positions and served as member of the negotiating teams for bargaining units 9 and 10.
She brings important state institutional knowledge to her new role leading the
Department of Human Resources Development.

Keith Regan, Comptroller for the Department of Accounting and General Services
Regan recently served as a Business Management Officer with the Department of
Commerce and Consumer Affairs. He previously worked as the Chief Administrative
Officer for the Hawaii Tourism Authority and was Managing Director for the County of
Maui.

Chris Sadayasu, Director of the Department of Business, Economic Development
& Tourism
Sadayasu has over seventeen years of experience as an expert in economic
development in the Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, and in
the department’s various attached agencies including HTA, HCDA, and HHFDC. He
most recently served as the Charities Program Administrator with the Department of the
Attorney General.

Nadine Ando, Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
Ando has over 40 years of commercial litigation experience including complex work on
regulatory and professional licensing. Her proven background with insurance
investigations, financial institutions, and consumer protection will help lead the
department. Catherine Awakuni Colón will holdover through mid December.

Jade Butay, Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
Butay has tremendous executive experience working as a deputy and director for State
departments including workforce development, unemployment, occupational safety and
health. He exemplifies the core tenets of trusted, caring, leadership and will help the
department execute important workforce development and community services, such as
the student helper program and grants-in-aid.

Dr. Kenneth Fink, Director of the Department of Health
Dr. Fink is an experienced physician executive with a proven background working on
health policy at the state and federal levels. He is currently with Hawai‘i Medical
Service Association of Hawai‘i as Vice President of Medicaid and Medicare programs
and will join the Green Administration in January 2023. Dr. Libby Char will continue as
Director of Health with her team until Fink’s start in January 2023.

Cathy Betts, Director of the Department of Human Services
Betts will continue in her role as Director of the Department of Human Services. Under
her leadership the department worked to meet the dramatic increase in demand for
social services head on during the COVID-19 pandemic. She shares Green’s vision to
help people first and to lead with empathy.

Jordan Lowe, Director of the Department of Law Enforcement
Lowe will continue in his role as Director of Law Enforcement. He has over 41 years of
experience in Law Enforcement which will help the newly created department form,
develop its investigation program, and centralize its enforcement functions.

Tommy Johnson, Director of the Department of Public Safety
Johnson recently served as the Deputy Director for Corrections at the Department of
Public Safety. His experience at the Hawai‘i Paroling Authority is critical as he leads the
effort to transition the department to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in
2024.

Gary Suganuma, Director of the Department of Taxation
Suganuma recently served as the Supervising Deputy Attorney General for the Tax and
Charities Division at the Department of the Attorney General where he supervised and
coordinated on legal matters related to the Department of Taxation.

Appointments to Deputy Director of state departments:

Kathy Ho, Deputy Director for Environmental Health Administration for the
Department of Health
Ho and her team will continue leading efforts following the Red Hill disaster to ensure
the defueling and closure of the tanks is done expeditiously and safely. She has a
proven track record of over 30 years of leadership taking on environmental issues for
the State of Hawai‘i.

Sabrina Nasir, Deputy Director of the Department of Budget and Finance
Nasir most recently served at the Department of Budget and Finance in a role focused
on federal funds and as a Senior Special Assistant to the Office of the Governor where
she worked on budget and policy issues statewide.

Dane Wicker, Deputy Director of the Department of Business, Economic
Development & Tourism
Wicker most recently worked at the Department of Planning and Permitting with the City
and County of Honolulu and previously worked for the Hawai‘i State Senate Committee
on Ways and Means.

Brigadier General Stephen F. Logan, Deputy Adjutant General of the Department
of Defense
Brig. Gen. Logan continues in his role as Deputy Adjutant General. His background
leading the Hawai‘i Army National Guard and work on natural disaster management are
critical to emergency management efforts in the state.

Marian Tsuji, Deputy Director for Behavioral Health of the Department of Health
Tsuji has 30 years of experience working with disadvantaged populations and has
served in various executive administrator positions. Her background will help the
Department of Health address mental health disparities and substance abuse with
community based programs.

Joseph Campos II, Deputy Director of the Department of Human Services
Campos will continue in his role as Deputy Director of the Department of Human
Services. He has built an exceptional working relationship with division leaders across
the department and has shown strong leadership and collaboration skills which have
helped move operations forward.

These nominees represent a well balanced team of leaders who share in Green’s vision
of trusted, caring, leadership. Together, the cabinet will work to make housing more
affordable, bring down the cost of living, and work everyday to make the government
more efficient through strong communication and collaboration.

Green secured twenty executive nominees for fourteen state departments to ensure that
workflows are not disrupted. With these announcements, every state department will
have an executive in place on Monday, Dec. 5th. The Chairpersons for Departments of
Agriculture, Land and Natural Resources and Hawaiian Homelands have terms that end
December 31, 2022. Appointments for those departments will be coming soon.

As the transition portal closes today, Dr. Green encourages interested Hawaiʻi residents
to apply to serve at every level of government through the hiring portal of the State of
Hawaiʻi: jobs.hawaii.gov.

“This is an incredible group of executives that I am proud to have on my team. Together
they have an enormous depth of knowledge of the state and are committed to
leadership values of compassion and collaboration. As we prepare for the Inauguration,
I am filled with strength knowing that we are ready to take the state forward in a
productive direction to make housing affordable and address the out of control cost of
living.”

Governor-elect Green will be officially inaugurated on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022 at noon.

The Inauguration will be held at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena. Doors open at
9:00am and the ceremony will begin at 11:00am. This event is open to the public and
free of charge.