Shidler alum establishes $100K endowment for promising student leader

University of Hawaii at Manoa Shidler College of Business alumnus Christopher Helm and wife, Debra, have established a $100,000 endowment through the Helm Family Trust for the David Bess Leadership Award. Each year, the award is presented to a promising student leader at the college’s Business Night event.

Since 1994, the couple has given more than $50,000 to fund the David Bess Leadership Award. With this new endowment, UH says the college now will be able to fund this award in perpetuity.

“In my second year at the Shidler College of Business, I was fortunate to be selected to represent the college on the Keio University MBA exchange program,” Christopher Helm said. “I was only able to attend thanks to the generosity of the Lum Yip Kee family who provided a scholarship to help cover the program and travel costs. So it is now my turn to give back.”

Helm was born and raised in South Africa and later moved to England to finish high school. He graduated with honors from the University of Reading in Berkshire, England, with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Economics. Ten years later, in 1991, he earned an Master of Business Administration from Shidler College of Business.

“Deb and I established the David Bess Leadership Award 24 years ago to honor my dean, my mentor and our friend, David Bess,” Helm said. “We are extremely happy and excited to establish this endowment that will annually recognize future student leaders of the Shidler College of Business.”

Bess was dean at the Shidler from 1981 to 1998, and a professor from 1998 to 2017.

Helm is the executive vice president of global business development for Bethesda, Md.-based Longhorn Vaccines and Diagnostics LLC., which just received Food and Drug Administration clearance for one of its technologies.

He has lived and worked in seven states, as well as in China and Hong Kong. The Helms returned to Honolulu in 2003 when Christoper took a position in the Office of the Vice President of Research for the UH system. Helm lectured in various Shidler College of Business Executive MBA classes before returning to the business world.