Trustee Michelle Ka‘uhane
MICHELLE KA‘UHANE
Michelle Ka‘uhane’s professional career includes over 15 years of executive leadership experience in public and non-profit administration.
She currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Impact Officer for Hawai‘i Community Foundation, overseeing the foundation’s external facing departments, including community grants and initiatives, development and donor relations, and strategic communications and public policy. Ka‘uhane joined the foundation in 2018 as Senior Vice President and Community Grants and Investments, managing an annual discretionary grant budget of $40 million.
A leader in the Native Hawaiian community, Ka‘uhane served as President and CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement from 2013 to 2018, helping to advance the national member-based organization’s policy priorities in education, housing, and economic development. She also served as Deputy Director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands from 2011 to 2012 and as executive director of Hawaiian Community Assets from 2004 to 2011.
In 2021, Ka‘uhane was appointed by President Joe Biden to the Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders as a commissioner to help advance equity, justice and opportunity for Asian Americans and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander communities. In addition, she currently serves as a community advisory council member to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C.
Locally, Ka‘uhane continues to serve the community as chair for the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, President of the Kapolei Community Development Corporation, and member of ‘Ahahui Siwila Hawai‘i O Kapolei.
A 1986 graduate of Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, Ka‘uhane earned a bachelor’s degree in communication from Gonzaga University. She currently resides with her ‘ohana in the Hawaiian Homestead of Kaupe‘a.
The Board of Trustees
