1. Why are you running? I have always considered it a civic responsibility to give back and serve my community. While I lived and worked on Oahu, I served on numerous boards and committees, including the Honolulu City Planning Commission, Hawaii
1. Why are you running?
I have always considered it a civic responsibility to give back and serve my community. While I lived and worked on Oahu, I served on numerous boards and committees, including the Honolulu City Planning Commission, Hawaii Dental Service, Aloha United Way, Read-To-Me International and the Oahu Workforce Investment Board. Since moving back home to Kauai in 2009, I have eagerly searched for an opportunity to utilize my leadership ability and professional skills to give back and would now consider it a great honor and privilege to get to serve the community I was raised in and now call home.
2. What expertise and experience will you bring to the board?
I have nearly 30 years of experience as a leader in the utility industry and have dedicated most of my life to the betterment of this industry in our state. As a representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), I work on a daily basis with utility industry leaders throughout the country to pursue best practices and leading innovations in lowering electrical cost and minimizing our dependency on fossil fuels. I believe that my unparalleled expertise and experience will be of great benefit as we continue to look at ways to improve quality and lower cost at KIUC.
3. What will you do to help KIUC meet its renewable energy goal?
I will work with my fellow board members and the KIUC management/employee team to aggressively explore and pursue all feasible forms of alternative, renewable energy and large-capacity energy storage. This would include taking a closer look at what is being done by other utility companies across the nation and across the globe. Clean, sustainable, renewable energy is the goal of many communities around the world and great strides and success have been realized with new technologies and ingenuity. We need to see what is working best and if it could work and be a good fit on our island home.
4. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing KIUC in providing energy to Kauai?
There are many challenges that our utility will face as we move forward to meet our renewable energy goals. However, I believe the most pressing is finding cost effective ways to utilize the abundance of photovoltaic power now being generated during daytime hours, for utilization during nighttime/peak hours. Until we do this, we will not be able experience the full potential and benefit of PV power on our island. This is why I am a huge advocate of quickly building pumped storage capability that will allow us to maximize the power of the sun to produce clean energy at night.
