Hawai'i Pacific University Trustees' Dinner

President John Gotanda Invites you to join us for

The Hawai'i Pacific University Trustees' Dinner

      The dinner, celebrating the Honorable Linda Lingle, will be on Wednesday June 15, 2022 at the Maile Ballroom at the Kahala Resort. Proceeds of the dinner will go to The Honorable Linda Lingle Scholarship in Government and Public Policy.

Governor Linda Lingle is the only woman ever elected to lead the Aloha State and the only person of Jewish ancestry. When first elected Governor in 2002, she became the only mayor ever elected Governor and the first Republican in more than 40 years. She won reelection in 2006 with the largest majority in Hawaii history, and is the only gubernatorial candidate ever to win a majority in every one of the state’s 51 House Districts. She remains the only Republican ever to win a second term as Hawaii’s Governor.

Governor Lingle’s focus during her eight years leading the state included turning talk about energy independence into action when her Economic Development Director Ted Liu crafted a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy which survives today as the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative.

She and her entire team also focused on delivering on the promise of the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust which she communicated to all was an obligation enshrined in the Admissions Act that admitted Hawaii as the 50^th State. Under Micah Kane’s leadership, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands awarded 2,450 homestead leases in eight years. The department had awarded only 5,800 leases in its first 80 years. 

Governor Lingle believes that truly good leaders are those who help create other good leaders, and on this score, she is proud of her record. Members of her cabinet who went on to even greater achievements include:  former Dept. of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Micah Kane is CEO of the Hawaii Community Foundation; former Department of Transportation Director Brennon Morioka is Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Hawaii; former deputy director of Transportation for Harbors Mike Formby is managing director for the City and County of Honolulu, former Attorney General Mark Bennett is serving a lifetime appointment on the Federal 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals, and former Director of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Mark Recktenwald is serving his second term as Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court, having been reappointed by Governor Ige in 2020.

Prior to being elected Governor in 2002, Lingle served two terms as Mayor of the County of Maui, and five terms as a member of the Maui County Council. She previously served as a member of the Board of Trustees for Hawaii Pacific University.

Governor Lingle currently serves as a Founding Member of the Women’s Prison Project, an all-volunteer, nonpartisan, ad hoc group of women that is committed to changing the way our state views justice-involved women. The Women’s Prison Project wants to reduce the female prison population by 50% over the next five years, and by 75% by 2030. The group’s primary focus is on nonviolent women offenders with minor children.