Billionaire Larry Ellison has tapped a Lanai native who once was in charge of the two hotels there to be the top executive on the island Ellison bought in June.

Kurt Matsumoto will help Ellison execute plans to manage his Lanai holdings, which include The Lodge at Koele, Four Seasons Resort at Manele Bay, two golf courses, luxury home development, utilities and a plan to establish the island as a grower and exporter of organic produce.

Matsumoto was named chief operating officer of Lanai Resorts LLC, the company managing the 97 percent of the island Ellison bought in June from Castle & Cooke and its billionaire CEO, David Murdock.

Matsumoto will start Dec. 1, and will leave his present job as general manager of The Club at Kukui‘ula, a luxury residential golf community on Kauai.

The appointment allows Ellison to have someone who has roots on Lanai and resort industry experience help shape the island’s future.

Matsumoto, 55, was born on Lanai and moved off the island after high school. He returned for a decade, from 1991 to 2000, to oversee Lanai’s two vacation properties as vice president of resorts and administration for Castle & Cooke’s Lanai Co. Inc. He also has worked on the mainland and in the Caribbean and was general manager of Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows on Hawaii island.

"I never imagined I’d get an opportunity like this," Matsumoto said. "This job is really important to me. Lanai is my home."

Matsumoto’s parents, Yukio "Shoe" and Matsuko (Kaya) were married on Lanai in 1952 and raised two sons. Matsumoto’s older brother, Colbert, who is CEO of Island Insurance Cos. and is on the board of the Star-Advertiser’s parent company, also moved off Lanai after high school.

Kurt Matsumoto said he took the Lanai Resorts job after talking with senior officials working for Ellison. "My feeling is he really has the right intent: to take the strengths of the island and use it to an advantage, not just for himself, but for the community, too. This is a really good second chance for Lanai."

Ellison, the CEO of business-software giant Oracle Corp., has yet to publicly lay out a comprehensive vision for the former Pineapple Island, and Matsumoto said that will be something with which he expects to assist.

Since Ellison’s purchase, renovation work on the two hotels has begun. Matsumoto said roughly 100 additional jobs have been added largely for hotel operations and upgrades put off by Castle & Cooke.

Ellison also reopened a community pool that Castle & Cooke closed because of expenses.

"A lot of activity has taken place," he said. "There’s a lot of excitement there."

Lanai Resorts also will continue developing luxury homes around the two hotels and golf courses, envisioned to be the linchpin for financial returns under the previous plan by Murdock.

One new endeavor pursued by Ellison was to establish a winter training base at the Lanai harbor for Oracle’s sailing team competing in the America’s Cup race. The plan was canceled due to changes in this year’s training schedule but could be revived in future years.

Another new enterprise envisioned for Lanai is organic produce exports, which Ellison mentioned in a CNBC interview last month.

Ellison told CNBC he wants to "turn Lanai into a model for sustainable enterprise" that includes more photovoltaic electricity generation, more electric cars, desalinated seawater production and exports of the best organic produce to Japan and elsewhere.

"So it is going to be a little, if you will, laboratory for sustainability in businesses of small scale," Ellison said, according to a CNBC transcript.

Matsumoto said he expects to help explore the feasibility of these ambitions, and added that Ellison has a great appreciation for the island and its residents.

Paul Marinelli, vice president of an investment firm controlled by Ellison, said in a statement that Lanai has an "amazing" future that will help be realized with Matsumoto’s leadership. "We are very happy to welcome Kurt as COO of Lanai Resorts at an exciting time for the island," he said.