12 selected as finalists to replace 4 UH regents

An advisory council has submitted to Gov. Neil Abercrombie a list of 12 finalists for four University of Hawaii Board of Regents seats whose terms expire June 30.

The Regents Candidate Advisory Council received 61 applications and interviewed 27 candidates for the unpaid positions. From the list of finalists, Abercrombie will select four nominees to go before the state Senate for confirmation.

The finalists for the City and County of Hono­lulu seat are John Dean, president and chief executive officer of Central Pacific Financial Corp. and Central Pacific Bank; Ronald Ho, chairman of Hawaii-based electrical engineering company Ronald N.S. Ho & Associates Inc.; Carol Mon Lee, former member of the state Board of Education and retired associate dean at the UH Richardson School of Law; and Keith Vieira, senior vice president and director of operations for Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii and French Polynesia.

The finalists for the Kauai County seat are Klaus Keil, an internationally known researcher and cosmochemistry/planetary sciences professor set to retire from UH July 1; and Tom Shigemoto, vice president of A&B Properties Inc., the real estate development division of Alexander and Baldwin Inc.

The finalists for the at-large seat are Greg­ory Chun, vice president of Kamehameha Schools; Patrick DeLeon, recently retired Washington, D.C., chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Ino­uye; Benjamin Kudo, chief financial officer and manager of land uses for the administrative and environmental law section of the Ima­naka Kudo & Fujimoto law firm; and Georgia McMillen, a pro bono lawyer who provides legal services through the Mediation Center of the Pacific and the Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii.

The finalists for the student seat are Jeffrey Acido, a Farrington High School alumnus and UH-Manoa graduate student working toward earning his master’s degree in Asian studies focusing on the Philippines; and Matthew Williams, student regent since 2010 and a UH-Manoa December graduate with dual master’s degrees in nursing administration and business administration.

The new members will replace outgoing member Ramón de la Peña (Kauai County), Dennis Hirota (City and County of Hono­lulu), Teena Rasmussen (at-large) and Matthew Williams (student).

The 15-member Board of Regents consists of seven representatives from the City and County of Hono­lulu, two representatives from Hawaii County, two representatives from Maui County, one representative from Kauai County, two at-large representatives and one University of Hawaii student.