© 2024 Hawaiʻi Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Bishop Museum board picks interim CEO familiar with Hawaiʻi institutions

Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum
Bishop Museum

After a human resources crisis and the firing of three top executives, Bishop Museum has an interim CEO.

Longtime Hawaiʻi executive Dee Jay Mailer will guide the museum as it searches for a permanent CEO. Her first day at the museum is set for Feb. 2.

Dee Jay Mailer
Bishop Museum
Dee Jay Mailer

Earlier this month after a months-long investigation, the museum’s board of directors voted unanimously to terminate CEO Melanie Ide, General Counsel Barron Oda, and Vice President of Operations, Planning and Program Management Wesley “Kaiwi” Yoon.

The three had been on administrative leave with pay since July 1, after the board released a statement that said there was a "failure to address and resolve serious workplace issues."

The new interim CEO previously served on the Bishop Museum board for four years starting in 2012. She's currently on the boards of Sutter Health Kahi Mohala and the Castle Foundation.

She was also the CEO of the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate, her alma mater, from 2004 to 2014, and the president of Kaiser Permanente in Honolulu from 1986 to 1999.

“Dee Jay brings deep experience in all aspects of leadership at a time of transition for our organization and we are looking forward to having her sure hand at the helm of Bishop Museum,” said Wayne Pitluck, chairman of the Museum Board, in a statement.

Related Stories