David Lassner *

President, University of Hawai'i

David Lassner has served for more than 10 years as the 15th president of the University of Hawai‘i (UH), where he leads the 10-campus UH system, the state’s sole provider of public postsecondary education, and Hawai‘i’s flagship research university, UH Mānoa.

Lassner has an ongoing focus on helping more Hawai‘i residents, particularly those who have historically been left behind, earn college degrees and credentials with a focus on critical areas of workforce shortage such as in education, health care, technology, energy, and the skilled trades. He is committed to strengthening the state’s economy by leveraging UH research and innovation to create and fill more high-quality jobs locally. Lassner is advancing UH’s commitment to become a model Indigenous-centered university that cares for Hawai‘i, Native Hawaiians and all of Hawai‘i’s people as it weaves together modern science and education with the traditional Indigenous wisdom, values and practices that made the Hawaiian islands a model of self-contained sustainability before Western contact.

Under Lassner’s leadership, metrics of student success have shown steady improvement across the UH System and enrollment has remained strong. A restructuring of the relationship with UH has led to record philanthropic investment. A focus on research that matters to and is grounded in Hawai‘i has led to record extramural funding. And strong management practices have ensured financial stability through recessions and a pandemic.

Lassner began working at UH in entry-level roles in information technology (IT) in 1977, eventually becoming UH’s first chief information officer and then its first vice president for IT. He was appointed interim president in September 2013, and the “interim” was removed in June 2014. Lassner is also a member of the university’s cooperating graduate faculty and has taught both online and in-person at UH Mānoa in computer science, communications, business, and education.
Lassner is a current commissioner and former chair of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), as well as a member of the Board of Governors of the East-West Center. He serves on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advisory Committee on Cyberinfrastructure and on the boards of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research (PICHTR), the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), the ‘Iole Stewardship Center, and the Blood Bank of Hawai‘i. He also serves on the boards of the Mountain West and Big West intercollegiate athletic conferences.

In prior positions, Lassner played an active leadership role in a variety of local, national, and international information and communications technology organizations, and has been recognized numerous times for his service and leadership. He chaired Hawai‘i’s Broadband Task Force and served on the boards of Hawai‘i’s High Technology Development Corporation and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate. Lassner chaired the boards of the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) and EDUCAUSE and was a founding steering committee member and past chair of WCET – WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies.
An active principal investigator for more than 25 years, Lassner led Hawai’i’s major statewide project funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce that interconnected all public schools, libraries, and campuses on six islands with fiber optics, and he has had NSF support for more than 25 years focused on research and education networking and cyberinfrastructure in Hawai‘i and the Pacific. He is principal investigator for the Maui High Performance Computing Center and for the Pacific Disaster Center, two major long-term U.S. Department of Defense programs based on Maui. In all, Lassner has served as principal investigator for more than $560 million of extramural funding.

Lassner earned a bachelor’s degree in economics summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa followed by a master’s degree in computer science while supported by a university fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He earned his doctorate degree in communication and information sciences at the University of Hawai‘i.

John Morton

Vice President Emeritus, University of Hawai'i Community Colleges

John Morton is the vice president emeritus of the University of Hawai’i Community Colleges.  Morton retired after nearly 49 years with the Hawai’i community colleges, including 21 years as CEO of Kapi‘olani Community College and 14 years as Vice President for Community Colleges.  As Vice President, he oversaw the seven-community-college system and led the development of the Hawai’i Promise scholarship program that offers support to meet all unmet financial need for eligible students; oversaw the development of a unified University of Hawai’i system student information system and student success initiatives, especially for Native Hawaiian students; and was active on boards of both local and national organizations. Morton earned a B.S. in chemistry and M.A. in political science from the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in communication and information sciences from the University of Hawai‘i, Manoa.

Colleen Sathre

Vice President Emerita, University of Hawai'i

Colleen Sathre is vice president emeritus of planning and policy of the University of Hawaii, where she served the university system as the chief academic planning officer for more than 25 years. She managed efforts that produced university mission statements and strategic plans, tuition schedules, university centers on neighbor islands, performance indicators, a reorganization of university information technology services, and numerous board and executive policies. She co-authored the book, “The Art and Politics of Academic Governance” in 2007 with Kenneth Mortimer, president emeritus of the University of Hawaii and Western Washington University. Sathre holds a B.A. from the College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN; and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Lisa Kitagawa

Representative, Hawai'i State Legislature

Donna Mercado Kim

Senator, Hawai'i State Legislature

Michelle N. Kidani

Senator, Hawai'i State Legislature

Amy Perruso

Representative, Hawai'i State Legislature