LIHU‘E — The board of trustees of the Waioli Corporation announced Monday that Taliaferro “Tali” Jones has been appointed to serve as the new corporation executive director, effective Nov. 2.
“The board of trustees would like to express its deep gratitude to Julie McLeod for her excellent work during the recent months when the organization was without an executive director,” said Sam Pratt, board president, in the announcement.
“We are very excited to welcome Taliaferro Jones to the Waioli Corporation ‘ohana as the new executive director. Taliaferro not only brings a wealth of experience from her leadership in the not-for-profit sector, but also (has) deep family roots in Kaua‘i combined with a love for Kaua‘i history and culture. We wish her every success in her new role,” said Pratt.
Taliaferro’s family has had a presence on Kaua‘i for more than 50 years, where she spent much of her childhood. She married her husband in Hanalei in 2006. Since 2020, they and their children have made Kaua‘i their permanent home.
Previously, Jones was the executive director of the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, and project manager of the Canadian Pavilion of the Cheongju Craft Biennale, the largest exhibition of Canadian craft in the last 25 years.
Through her own boutique cultural consultancy, Jones has worked with museums in North America, Argentina and Spain.
Her most recent work was pro-bono consulting for Reef Guardians of Kaua‘i.
Pratt said Jones, a graduate of the John Hopkins University Master of Museum Studies program, brings a wealth of connections, industry best practices and experience to the Waioli Corporation.
Waioli Corporation’s kuleana is to preserve Grove Farm and Waioli Mission House museums and other important properties, buildings and collections, and to share authentic educational experiences through stories about the people, collections and diverse properties that bring life to Kaua‘i’s rich history and culture.
Waioli Corporation is a nonprofit membership organization started in 1975 by Miss Mabel Wilcox to oversee the management of a collection of historic sites on Kaua‘i, serving island residents and visitors through tours of the Grove Farm Homestead Museum, Waioli Mission House and Mahamoku, three historic house museums each of which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Waioli also preserves a 1943 locomotive roundhouse, which houses the museum’s collection of original operating Kaua‘i sugar plantation steam locomotives, and in another location, an interactive learning park where visitors and school children participate in routine locomotive “fire-ups” and educational tours.
The organization preserves taro cultivation in the Waioli Valley adjacent to the Waioli Mission House, supporting the cultural and agricultural uses of the area that have continued since ancient Hawai‘i. The 5-acre Waioli Park is leased by Waioli Corporation as a community park to the County of Kaua‘i for $1 per year.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
