OHA Chair names Native Hawaiian attorney Colin Kippen as Board Chief of Staff

News Release from Office of Hawaiian Affairs

HONOLULU (Dec. 21, 2020) – OHA Chair Hulu Lindsey announced today her selection of Native Hawaiian attorney and administrator Colin Kippen as OHA Board Chief of Staff. He will start on Jan. 4.

“Mr. Kippen will bring a breadth of knowledge and experience that will assist the OHA Board in its work,” said Chair Lindsey. “I look forward to being able to use his broad experience and talents to better serve the Board and our Hawaiian beneficiaries.”

Kippen has an extensive background in public administration, law, and Native Hawaiian and broader indigenous peoples issues. He has served as the executive director of the Native Hawaiian Education Council; Senior Counsel in Washington D.C. to the late U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; executive director of the National Indian Education Association; deputy administrator of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; the Homeless Coordinator for the State of Hawaiʻi; the Chief Judge for an Indian tribe in the Pacific Northwest; and years of experience as a trial lawyer. Mr. Kippen has served as a member of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee, was appointed by President Obama to the President’s Commission on Scholars, and is a present board member of the National Museum of the American Indian of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.