De Fries’ job status up for HTA review

The Hawaii Tourism Authority has called a special board meeting for June 15 to discuss the status of HTA President and CEO John De Fries, whose three-year employment contract expires Sept. 15.

HTA board Chair George Kam told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in an email Tuesday, “It would be premature for me to comment on behalf of the board about John’s status at this time. We are having a special board meeting on June 15, and one of the agenda items being discussed is John’s future with HTA.”

Kam added, “John has done an admirable job for HTA, especially in regards to executing our strategic plan and establishing our focus on Malama Ku‘u Home, putting a greater emphasis statewide on destination stewardship. That’s important to residents and communities on all islands and John has led HTA in addressing the concerns that have been raised about the impacts of overtourism.”

The special meeting follows remarks made by Gov. Josh Green during an online interview Friday on the Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program. During the interview, Green said he was finalizing a list of new board members to put on HTA, and opined that change also was needed at the top level of HTA.

“There also is going to have to be a decision about the executive director that’s the board’s prerogative. But sometimes change is needed, so that’s important, too,” Green said.

When asked about his own opinion of De Fries, Green said, “I have confidence that he has the right intent and he believes in the right things for Hawaii.”

But he said that he worried that “John does not have the ability right now to get the Legislature to fully fund what he would like to do. Again, he is an extremely good human being and has done a lot of good for Hawaii, but sometimes people have to change out of certain positions and move on to other careers that they can add more value to the state. I have a feeling that John will probably move on, and I think that is what they are discussing right now at the HTA board level.”

It’s been a wild ride since De Fries began his tenure as HTA’s first Native Hawaiian president and CEO on Sept. 16, 2020, amid pandemic-related tourism cuts and a budget collapse.

De Fries, who was selected from a field of 324 candidates, was hired with an annual base annual salary of $270,000 in the first year, with an automatic 5% increase for each succeeding year of the contract. He replaced Chris Tatum, who exited his three-year contract with HTA early when he retired Aug. 31, 2020, “to spend more time with family.”