The East-West Center has named a retired Army Major General as its new president.
Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum is the first woman and the first Native Hawaiian to lead the organization since it was founded in 1960.
In a news release, the center says that during her 34-year military career she advised the most senior officials at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
She has also led a number of collaborative initiatives in the Pacific, and serves on several nonprofit boards, including the American Red Cross Pacific Islands Region.
“The Indo-Pacific region presents many future opportunities and solutions to global issues, and the Center is renowned as an inclusive space for bringing people of diverse histories and cultures together to build regional understanding through the sharing of ideas, perspectives, and solutions for all of our communities," she said in a news release.
"I truly believe that EWC, and Hawai‘i, play a unique role in bridging East and West to address the critical issues that will impact our future generations," she said.
Vares-Lum was born and raised in Wahiawa and graduated as a journalism major at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she also received a Master’s of Education, as well as a Master’s of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
She will take over from current President Richard Vuylsteke in January, who concludes a five-year term at the center — and will move to a faculty position at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.
