Gov. David Ige has appointed a banker and a nonprofit administrator to the 11-member University of Hawaiʻi Board of Regents.
Gabriel Lee is the executive vice president of commercial markets at American Savings Bank. He was previously the vice president and commercial banking officer at First Hawaiian Bank, and vice president and pacific marketing director at Bank of Hawaiʻi. Lee attended graduate school at Dartmouth College, received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Hawaiʻi and is a graduate of Saint Louis School.
He would fill an at-large seat currently held by Benjamin Kudo.
Laurie Tochiki is the executive director of EPIC ʻOhana, a nonprofit supporting Hawaiʻi’s families and youth. She has also worked in various capacities at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi. Tochiki was a lecturer from 2012-2014 and 2019, the director of child welfare projects from 2005-2012, associate dean for student services from 1999 to 2011, and adjunct and assistant professor. She has also served as a law clerk, and coordinator of Kids First with the Family Court of the First Circuit, a research analyst with the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary, and instructor at Kapiʻolani Community College.
Tochiki has a PH.D in education policy from the University of Hawaiʻi’s College of Education, a Master of Science in administration from Central Michigan University Hawaiʻi Campus, a Juris Doctor from the William S. Richardson School of Law, and a B. A. from Whitman College in Washington. She is a graduate of Waipahu High School.
She would replace Simeon Acoba in the City & County of Honolulu seat.
If confirmed by the state Senate, each would serve a five-year term starting on July 1 and ending on June 30, 2027.
