ROBERT K.W.H. NOBRIGA
A class of 1991 Kamehameha Schools Kapālama graduate, Robert Nobriga was born and raised on Maui, but attended Kapālama as a boarder from grade seven. The roots of his ‘ohana are in Hāna, Maui and date back farther to Na‘alehu, Hawai‘i.
Nobriga has served on the Kamehameha Schools Board of Trustees since 2013.
From 2009 until his appointment as trustee, Nobriga was one of two financial experts appointed by the Probate Court as independent audit committee members whose purpose was to assist the Kamehameha Schools Board of Trustees in fulfilling its fiduciary responsibilities.
Nobriga is the president of Island Holdings, Inc., where he oversees a family of Hawai‘i companies engaged primarily in private equity and real estate investment, insurance products and services, and technology consulting. Prior to joining Island Holdings, Nobriga held several senior leadership roles in Hawai‘i primarily in the banking and health care sectors.
Nobriga served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of American Savings Bank, a subsidiary of HEI, Inc. He also served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Queen's Health Systems where his oversight included the Queen Emma Land Company and the financial investment portfolio (the endowment), the Queen's Development Corporation, and corporate functions of finance and information technology.
Prior to joining the executive team, Nobriga served as a trustee of the Queen’s board where he served as chairperson of its finance committee and as a member of its endowment and audit committees.
Nobriga’s history with health care and academia in Hawai‘i dates back to the 2001 to 2005 time period when he served as the chief financial and operations officer of the University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), an important partner for Queen’s in medical education and research.
Nobriga was part of the executive team that led a turnaround of the medical school, stabilizing its financial base, saving its accreditation, and culminating in the development of state-of-the-art biomedical research and education facilities in Kaka‘ako, Hawai‘i.
Prior to his position at Queen’s, Nobriga served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Hawai‘i National Bank (HNB) where he oversaw finance and operations and was part of the executive team that led a turnaround of HNB, rebuilding its infrastructure, updating strategy and management practices, and restructuring and growing its balance sheet. HNB experienced record growth and financial performance during his eight-year tenure.
Nobriga is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He started his career as a certified public accountant with the international accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and split his time between Hawai‘i and California-based clients during the first several years of his career.
He now resides in Kāne‘ohe with his wife and two children.
Vice Chair
Trustee Jennifer Noelani Goodyear-Ka‘ōpua
Secretary/Treasurer