(BIVN) – The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority has a new president and CEO, and he has a connection to West Hawaiʻi.
John De Fries, a former director of the Hawaiʻi County Department of Research and Development, and previous president and CEO of the Hōkūliʻa project in Kona, has accepted the offer from the HTA Board of Directors to lead the tourism authority. He is the first Native Hawaiian to be appointed to the position.
The previous president and CEO, Chris Tatum, retired from the job on August 31. Keith Regan, HTA’s chief administrative officer, is serving as interim president & CEO until De Fries starts on September 16.
“Hawaii’s pathway to economic recovery and enhanced community well-being will require unprecedented levels of focus, collaboration, cooperation, coordination, and unified executive leadership throughout all sectors. I am grateful to have been chosen to lead the Hawaii Tourism Authority,” De Fries said.
From the HTA:
Born and raised in Waikiki, now living in Kona on Hawaii Island, De Fries was raised by family elders steeped in Hawaiian culture. He has more than 40 years of professional experience in the tourism and resort development industries. His recent visitor industry experience includes serving as executive director of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association. He is also president and principal advisor for Native Sun Business Group, a business consulting and project management firm focused on Hawaii’s hospitality and real estate development industries.
De Fries previously led the Department of Research and Development for the County of Hawaii, a division responsible for stimulating economic growth in sectors including tourism, agriculture and renewable energy. Prior to that, he served as president and CEO of Hōkūliʻa, a luxury residential community on Hawaii Island.
De Fries serves as an advisor and board member to many organizations in the community, including the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University, the Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Memorial Committee, Bishop Museum, Hawaii Green Growth, Friends of the Future, the Keahole Center for Sustainability, and Kualoa Ranch.
“Beset now by a global pandemic and economic collapse, Hawaii faces a myriad of daunting challenges – among them, the reopening of our tourism industry, at a time when immense and growing anxiety can be felt in our local communities. The radiance of hope, however, is found in the resilience and creativity of Hawaii’s leaders in both the public and private sectors – the aunties, uncles, parents, kupuna, youth, coaches, teachers, ministers, health care workers and essential workers who are diligently searching for solutions, for their communities,” De Fries said.
In recent years, De Fries has been a part of rare gatherings in Hawaii that highlight opportunities for leadership in sustainable living, human rights, and embracing native intelligence. He has engaged with His Holiness the Dalai Lama; members of the Rapid Evaluation Team from Google X; Gro Harlem Brundtland, the first female prime minister of Norway; Hina Jilani, a renowned lawyer, pro-democracy campaigner, and a leading activist in Pakistan’s women’s movement; Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, South Africa; and New Zealand’s Sir Sidney Moko Mead, Ph.D., who created the country’s first department of Maori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.
“All of us at HTA are looking forward to having John take the helm of Hawaii’s visitor industry. I was pleased to see that he has already become involved with working on ways that we can safely reopen tourism while keeping COVID-19 under control,” said HTA board chair Rick Fried.
HTA received more than 300 applications for the position. Honolulu-based executive search and staffing firm Bishop & Company assisted with the process. A committee of six HTA board members and three community members reviewed the qualifications of the applicants before narrowing the list down to a group of nine finalists for interviews. The full HTA board interviewed the final two candidates on August 27 when the meeting went into executive session.
by Big Island Video News12:06 pm
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STORY SUMMARY
HAWAIʻI - The former head of the Hawaiʻi County Department of Research and Development, and president and CEO of Hokulia, now leads the HTA.