HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -
Mayor-elect Kirk Caldwell, who will be sworn into office on January
2, 2013, announced Saturday his appointments in the Mayor's Office, Managing
Director's Office, and for the directorships of city agencies.
Ember Shinn has been named Managing Director, marking the
first time in Honolulu history that a woman has been appointed to this key city
management post. The transition team
received over 400 applications for employment with the new administration.
"I'm excited about the team we're building to manage the
city," said Caldwell. "I'm proud of the
fact that Ember will be the first woman Managing Director, and that we will
have top people in my administration who are so dedicated to public
service. What was striking in the
interviews was that people chose to work for government because they want to
accomplish something for the community and they feel they can make a difference."
The Mayor-elect's cabinet appointments are as follows:
Mayor's
Office and Managing Director's Office
Ember Shinn
– Managing Director. Shinn served
as the executive assistant to Acting Mayor Caldwell in
2010. She has over twenty years of
experience practicing law in California where she represented public and
private entities in public law and employment litigation. She served as General Counsel for Oakland
Unified School District and the Peralta Community College District. Shinn returned home to Hawaii in 2001,
retired from the practice of law, and worked for the State House of
Representatives as staff attorney for the Judiciary Committee and as special
assistant and Chief of Staff for the Speaker of the House.
Georgette
Deemer – Deputy Managing Director.
Deemer served as the Director of Communications for the House of
Representatives, where she worked with Caldwell when he was the House Majority
Leader. She served for 15 years as the
State of Hawaii Film Commissioner under the Ariyoshi, Waihee and Cayetano
administrations where she developed working relationships with city, state and
federal agencies for film permitting for local, national and international
production. She oversaw the design,
construction and management of the Hawaii Film Studio at Diamond Head. In addition to her duties as Deputy Managing
Director, she will oversee and unify the City's broad communications efforts
across all agencies, elevating the importance of communications in the Caldwell
administration.
Jesse
Broder Van Dyke – Director of Communications. Broder Van Dyke served as the Director of
Communications for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka until the Senator's recent
retirement. He has extensive experience
in media relations, writing, social media management, and has served as a news
producer and assignment editor for KHON –TV.
Cabinet
Directors (in alphabetical order)
Michael D.
Formby – Director of Transportation Services. Formby served as the Interim Director of
Transportation under the Lingle administration, where he oversaw the management
of the Airports, Harbors and Highways Divisions. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director of
the Harbors Division. At the DOT state
level, he worked extensively on project planning and implementation, and with
the state's environmental assessment and environmental impact statement
process. Formby is an attorney; he has
been a litigator for the past 20 years, and has taught at the William S.
Richardson School of Law and Hawaii Pacific University. He supports Mayor Caldwell's vision for rail
and other transportation issues.
Lori
Kahikina – Director of Environmental Services. Kahikina served as the Director of Design
and Construction in the Carlisle administration, where she oversaw and
maintained the capital improvement project budgets for various city agencies,
and directed the planning, engineering, design, construction and improvements
of public buildings, streets, roads, bridges, wastewater facilities, and
transportation systems. She has also
worked in the Department of Environmental Services in the Division of
Collection System Maintenance where she has extensive experience related to the
city's wastewater system. Kahikina is a
Civil Engineer.
Sheri
Kajiwara – Director of Customer Services. Kajiwara is the former Director of Marketing
and Public Relations for Prudential Advantage Realty, a local, award winning,
real estate firm.
She rejoins the city with over 12 years of
experience in the Mayor & Managing Director's Office handling community
concerns. Kajiwara also voluntarily coordinated Honolulu City Lights for
over a decade.
Carolee C.
Kubo – Director of Human Resources.
Kubo has over 22 years of experience in the human resources and labor
relations arena. She served as the
Human Resources Manager/Labor Relations for the Hawaii Health Systems
Corporation, as a Field Officer for the Hawaii Government Employees
Association, and as an Unemployment Insurance Specialist for the State
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
She is knowledgeable on personnel management and administration, private
and public sector collective bargaining laws, and workplace issues.
Pamela
Witty Oakland – Director of Community Services. Witty Oakland served as Vice President of
Asset Management for the St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii. In that position, she managed leasing and
property management teams for a $78 million real estate portfolio, developed
and implemented a resident service coordination program for fixed income
seniors, and directed the financing, development and construction of the
Franciscan Vistas Ewa project which was financed with low-income housing tax
credits and tax-exempt bonds. Prior to
the work at St. Francis, she was a legislative researcher for the Senate President
and an executive assistant to the City Council Chair.
Mark Knapp Rigg –
Director of Emergency Services. Rigg
has served with the Emergency Services Department for 30 years. He started as a paramedic in 1982 and worked
his way up as a unit supervisor and field operations supervisor. He most recently served as the Deputy
Director, responsible for budget preparation and management, administration of
collective bargaining agreements, personnel management and external
relations. He is a licensed Emergency
Medical Technician – Paramedic, and a Mobile Intensive Care Technician/Mobile
Emergency Care.
Ross S.
Sasamura – Director of Facility Maintenance. Sasamura returns to the Department of
Facility Maintenance as Director after a decade of working in the private
sector. He recently served as Senior
Account Executive and Senior Vice President and COO of Heide & Cook, where
he managed, supervised and had oversight of the company's construction projects
involving mechanical systems, such as air conditioning, ventilation, fire
sprinkler and plumbing systems. He also
had oversight of company facilities, equipment and materials. Sasamura is a licensed professional engineer
(mechanical).
Chris T.
Takashige – Director of Design and Construction. Takashige becomes the Director of Design and
Construction after serving as its Deputy since 2011. He assisted the director in managing the
general operations and supervising employees.
He was responsible for overseeing the management of capital improvement
projects for city departments, with the total number of projects at any given
time ranging from 600-800. Examples
include road repair and reconstruction, wastewater collection and plant
systems, street and parking lot lighting, police and fire stations, community
parks structures, pedestrian and vehicular bridges, and flood control and storm
drainage systems.
The director positions of the following departments are yet
to be filled. Until that time, the
current deputy or other senior manager will assume the responsibilities and
duties of the director.
Corporation Counsel
Budget and Fiscal Services
Enterprise Services
Information Technology
Medical Examiner
Parks and Recreation
Planning and Permitting
The directors of the Board of Water Supply, Emergency Management,
HART, and Chiefs of the Fire Police Departments are not appointed by the Mayor.
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