3 named as Kamehameha trustee finalists

Outgoing schools Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi, a former head of Bishop Museum and an Oahu hotel executive have been named finalists to fill a vacancy on the Kamehameha Schools board of trustees.

The trio is the second set of finalists to be recommended by a court- appointed screening committee to replace Janeen-Ann Olds, whose reappointment as a trustee was rejected by the court in late 2015.

A probate judge in November ordered the screening committee to reconvene and reopened the application process after a previous finalist withdrew “due to unforeseen circumstances.” Applications were accepted through mid-March.

The new finalists are:

>> Matayoshi, who has has held the title of superintendent since 2010. Her contract ends June 30, and the Board of Education announced late last year that it would launch a search for her replacement. She previously served as acting and interim superintendent and deputy superintendent for the department.

Before joining the public school system, Matayoshi, an attorney, was executive director of the Hawaii Business Roundtable, president and CEO of Community Links Hawaii

and director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. She earned her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.

>> Timothy Johns, chief consumer officer for Hawaii Medical Service Association, or HMSA. Johns previously served as president and CEO of Bishop Museum and chief operating officer for the Estate of Samuel Mills Damon. Johns holds a law degree from the University of Southern California Law Center.

>> Elliot Mills, vice president for hotel operations for Disneyland Resorts and Aulani Disney Resort & Spa. He previously served as general manager of the Kauai Marriott Resort and has held various executive and resort management positions on Kauai, Maui and Oahu.

Mills serves as a board member for Hawaii Pacific Health, HMSA, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and Hawaii Community Foundation. He holds a degree in travel industry management from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

The probate court will accept comments on the finalists until June 13. (The court ensures the trust abides by the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who left most of her estate to found Kamehameha Schools, now the largest independent school system in the country.)

Sitting trustees are Corbett Kalama, Micah Kane, Lance Wilhelm and Robert Nobriga. Kalama, the board’s chairman, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser earlier this year that the trustees have not been hampered by the vacancy on the board.

The compensation for trustees is $165,000 a year, while the chairman receives $207,000 annually.

The previous finalists were Kamanamaikalani Beamer, an associate professor in Hawaiian studies at UH Manoa; C. Kanoelani Naone, CEO of the Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture, or INPEACE; and Maenette Ah Nee-Benham, chancellor of UH West Oahu, who withdrew her name from consideration.