School hires Nakamoto to communicate, market

Shawn Nakamoto has been tapped to lead communications and marketing for the University of Hawaii’s flagship Manoa campus.

In her role as senior director of the Office of Communications and Marketing, UH said, Nakamoto will coordinate and manage the internal and external communications and marketing/advertising activities of Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman’s office and the campus overall.

“With her more than 25 years of professional experience and her nationally recognized APR credential (Accredited in Public Relations), Shawn has the knowledge, skills and abilities required to serve in this key position,” Bley-Vroman said in a statement.

She fills the position vacated in 2012 by Gregg Takayama, who was elected that year to the state House of Representatives.

Unlike Takayama, who was classified as an executive/managerial employee, a UH spokeswoman said Nakamoto’s position is unionized and falls under Bargaining Unit 8 — administrative, professional and technical employees at UH, whose salaries are protected under the state’s open-records law. The law requires that only a salary range be made public, which UH said is between $56,712 and $143,832 annually.

Nakamoto, who holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from UH-Manoa, previously worked for Hawaii Pacific Health, Kamehameha Schools and St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii. From 2000 to 2002 she was director of special events and public relations for the UH system.