Maui Island Trustee Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey unanimously re-elected board chair of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs

News Release from OHA, Dec 12, 2022

HONOLULU (December 12, 2022) – The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees today unanimously selected Maui Island Trustee Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey as its board chair, a position she has held since December of 2020. The board also selected the rest of its leadership during its first meeting since the November elections.

“I am beyond honored to see the faith and confidence that my fellow trustees have placed in me, and I promise them that I will continue to work as hard as I have since first accepting this leadership role two years ago. We will continue to share our message of working together in a spirit of unity and lōkahi and we will strive to do our very best in bettering the lives of the Native Hawaiian community because that is what our people truly deserve.”

Lindsey is a former properties administrator for Maui Land & Pineapple Co. as well as a former administrator for the County of Maui’s Land Use and Codes Division. She has also owned her own real estate company for more than 40 years. She is a long-time member of the ʻAhahui Kaʻahumanu and an active member of the Central Maui Hawaiian Civic Club. She is also an award-winning recording artist.

OHA trustees today also selected the vice chair for the full board; and named the leadership for the board’s two standing committees. OHA’s new board leadership is:

OHA Board:

Chair: Hulu Lindsey, Maui Island trustee
Vice Chair: Mililani Trask, Hawaiʻi Island trustee

Committee on Resource Management:

Chair: John Waiheʻe IV, At-Large trustee
Vice Chair: Luana Alapa, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi Island trustee

Committee on Beneficiary, Advocacy and Empowerment:

Chair: Kalei Akaka, Oʻahu Island trustee

Today’s board meeting was the first since the general election, during which six OHA board seats were voted upon. Six trustees were elected to four-year terms. At-Large Trustees Brickwood Galuteria and Keoni Souza are OHA’s newest trustees, joining incumbent At-Large Trustee John Waiheʻe IV. Mililani Trask was elected Hawaiʻi Island Trustee and Lindsey and Oʻahu Island Trustee Kalei Akaka were re-elected.

The Honorable Todd Eddins, an associate justice on the Hawaiʻi State Supreme Court, administered the Oath of Office to the newly elected trustees during investiture ceremonies held at Kawaiahaʻo Church on Dec. 8.

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Nine trustees inducted at OHA investiture ceremony at Kawaiahaʻo Church

News Release from OHA, Dec 8, 2022

HONOLULU (Dec. 8, 2022) – The Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ trustees elected in 2022 were inducted into their terms of office at an investiture ceremony held this morning at Kawaiahaʻo Church in Honolulu.

Newly elected At-Large Trustees Brickwood Galuteria and Keoni Souza, At-Large Trustee John Waiheʻe, Hawaiʻi Island Trustee Mililani Trask, Maui Island Trustee Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey and Oʻahu Trustee Kalei Akaka won election this year.  Kauaʻi Island Trustee Dan Ahuna, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi Island Trustee Luana Alapa and At-Large Trustee Keliʻi Akina won election in 2020, however due to the Covid-19 pandemic, OHA’s 2020 investiture ceremony was cancelled.

In a symbolic show of unity, today’s ceremony marks the first investiture where all nine trustees were inducted together since the first OHA board was established in 1981.

With a theme of “Hoʻoulu Lāhui Aloha – To Raise a Beloved Lāhui,” the ceremony was attended by the Royal Benevolent Societies, aliʻi trusts, state and county officials, OHA staff, and beneficiaries.

Trustee Lindsey offered remarks at the investiture along with OHA Ka Pouhana/CEO Dr. Sylvia Hussey.

“As one who has preached the value of working together in a spirit of lōkahi since first being elected as chair of this board two years ago, I see a symbolism in all of us receiving Ke Akua’s blessing together today,” Lindsey said. “May we continue to work in unity as one ʻohana as we move forward with the mission of this institution.”

OHA’s notable accomplishments this year include advocating for the rights of Native Hawaiians at the federal, state and county levels on issues such as holding the federal government to its trust responsibilities to Native Hawaiians, including ceded lands and the Public Land Trust; working with the state Legislature in raising annual payments to the agency from Public Land Trust revenues from $15.1 million to $21.5 million per year; supporting Hawaiʻi nonprofits serving the Native Hawaiian community; and assisting the Miloliʻi community in establishing a Community Based Subsistence Fishing Area.

Lindsey said participating in a working group to address issues surrounding OHA’s share of the Public Land Trust revenue and the development of OHA’s lands at Kakaʻako Makai – recently renamed Hakuone – will be key areas of focus for the agency in the coming year.

Each of the trustees was presented with a lei hulu and given a special blessing by Kahu Ken Makuakane to commemorate their work ahead.

The Honorable Todd Eddins, an associate justice on the Hawai’i State Supreme Court, administered the Oath of Office to the newly elected trustees during today’s ceremony. The trustees will hold a meeting to select the board leadership on Dec. 12.

The ceremony was livestreamed on ʻŌlelo TV, and is available on the OHA Facebook page.

CB: OHA: Carmen Hulu Lindsey Will Remain Chair Of Board Of Trustees