OHA hires new Chief Financial Officer

News Release from OHA

HONOLULU (April 26, 2017) – The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) today named David K. Laeha as the agency’s new Chief Financial Officer and Resource Management Director. He will start on May 16.

Laeha’s primary responsibility will be to assist the OHA Board of Trustees and Administration in managing OHA’s Native Hawaiian Trust Fund, currently valued at $348 million. He will oversee OHA’s fiscal and investment infrastructures as well as its grants, loans and scholarship programs. As the director of OHA’s Resource Management-Financial Assets Line of Business, Laeha will manage a total of 33 staff.

Laeha brings more than 25 years of accounting and financial management experience. He is a licensed CPA with a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and master’s degree in accounting from the University of Southern California. He previously worked for Fortune 500 firms such as GTE and IBM. He also has served in senior financial management positions in local entities such as Palama Holdings LLC, Hawaiian Natural Water Company and Hawaii Community Foundation Inc. Since 2002, he has operated his own consulting firm, CFO Hawaii LLC, which provides interim CFO services to high-growth businesses.

“We are excited to welcome David to the OHA ‘ohana,” said Kamanaʻopono M. Crabbe, OHA’s Chief Executive Officer/Ka Pouhana. “His considerable experience with both for-profit entities and mission-driven organizations is a perfect fit for OHA. He comes to OHA at a critical moment in our agency’s history as we move forward with long-term financial planning to ensure that OHA’s trust funds will fully serve multiple generations of future beneficiaries.”

“I am humbled to be able to use my skills and experience to help improve the lives of Native Hawaiians,” said Laeha. “I look forward to working with our Board, administrative leadership and community to ensure a strong financial foundation for the agency.”

Laeha currently lives with his wife in Maunawili. He has two adult children, one living in New York and another here in Hawaiʻi. In his free time he enjoys ikebana, bodysurfing and reading.

New OHA CFO David Laeha