Ige makes 2 DBEDT appointments

Gov. David Ige has appointed Randall Tanaka to serve as deputy director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, and named Mary Alice Evans to lead the state’s Office of Planning within DBEDT.

Tanaka, a former executive with the Hawai‘i Convention Center, was president and executive director of the 2016 World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, which drew more than 10,000 delegates from 190 countries. He was also chief operating officer for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, or APEC, in 2011.

Tanaka is director of commercial and auxiliary enterprises, safety and security at the University of Hawaii Community Colleges. He previously held various jobs at the Hawai‘i Convention Center including interim general manager, assistant general manager, director of business development, and director of sales and marketing.

Evans has served as deputy director at DBEDT since April 2011 after working as an employee of the department for 33 years and serving as deputy comptroller in the state Department of Accounting and General Services for two years.

Evans holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is a previous president of the Hawaii chapter of the American Planning Association and chairwoman of the Honolulu City Planning Commission.

“Both Randy and Mary Alice have the skills and experience to move the department forward, particularly in the areas of creating an innovation economy and making better use of state lands for our shared priorities of increasing housing residents can afford and locally grown agricultural products,” Ige said in a written statement.

ON THE MOVE

First Hawaiian Bank has promoted the following two employees:

>> Kara Daley was promoted to branch manager from personal banker of the bank’s Kaneohe Bay branch. Daley has 14 years of banking and investments experience, including having joined First Hawaiian Bank in 2017.

>> Natalie Werts has been promoted to assistant vice president as well as Pearl City branch manager. Werts has 14 years of financial services experience, including having previously served as a sales manager in First Hawaiian’s Sales, Service and Retail Training Division.