The Iliahi Foundation of Hawai'i

Our Organization

Officers and Directors:

• Jon H Larson, President, co-founder and board chairman

• Jim Haley,  Vice President, Secretary, co-founder and director

• Susan Hata O'Connor -  Treasurer, co-founder and director

 

Steering Committee:

• Judith Flanders, co-founder and Chairperson
• McD Philpotts, Hawaiian wood craftsman, designer and wood turner 
• Pauline Sato, Oahu Program Director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawai'i 
• Mike Kahue, Director of Youth Programs
• Elsbeth McKeen, Community Legal Affairs
• Ron Iwamoto. Science Advisor

Key financial support from Friends of the Iliahi Foundation include:

•     Punahou School - Class of 1959 

• The Jon and Karen Larson Family Foundation
• The Hawaii Community Foundation
• The James Campbell Estate
• The Cooke Family Foundation

 

Key volunteer support from Friends of the Iliahi Foundation include:

• Community volunteers

Any non-profit organization depends heavily on volunteers to do the day to day work.  Volunteers enjoy the opportunity to work out of doors with other good hearted people determined to give back to the environment by joining in the hard work of outplanting groves of native trees.  Here a group assembles for a days work tending to our young trees at Honouliuli Nature Preserve in the Waianae Mountains.  

Left to right: Nathaniel Pak, Judith Flanders, Jim Haley, Todd Ware, Matthew Haley and Phyllis Murakami-Siu.

 

 

Officers, Directors and the Steering Committee

Friends of the Iliahi Foundation include (from left to right) McD Philpotts, craftsman, designer, woodturner and member of the Steering Committee of the Iliahi Foundation, Cyrus Siu, co-founder and Director of the Iliahi Foundation and CFO of the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii, Pauline Sato, Oahu Program Director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and member of the Steering Committee of the Iliahi Foundation, Jim Haley, co-founder and director of the Iliahi Foundation and manager of Oahu operations, Judith Flanders, co-founder and Chairperson of the Iliahi Foundation’s Steering Committee, and Jon Larson, co-founder and director of the Iliahi Foundation.

 

 

Special Friends of the Iliahi Foundation

Special Friends of the Iliahi Foundation include (from left to right) 

front: Cyrus Siu, Phyllis Siu, Make Kahue

rear:  Ron Iwamoto, Pauline Sato, Jim Haley, Pam Haley, Susan Hata O'Connor, ElsBeth McKeen, Judith Flanders, Jon Larson (behind the camera)

 

Responsibilities and backgrounds of the key members of the board, executive management, steering committee, and key volunteer leaders of the Iliahi Foundation of Hawaii.

 

Judith Flanders:

Judith is the chairperson of the steering committee of the Iliahi Foundation.  Judith came back home to Hawaii recently after decades of living in the San Francisco Bay Area where she raised 4 children, received a masters degree in Psychology and managed her private practice in Licensed Family Therapy. The idea of making things pono (right) is axiomatic to her and to sustain that effort is her passion.  Judith has allowed the use of her home, retreat facilities, and property as a focal point for the foundation. Her personal vision, insight, and resources have been key to our success in transforming the Iliahi Foundation from a vision into an effective organization.

 

Jim Haley:

Jim is the secretary and VP of The Iliahi Foundation. As manager of our Oahu operations, his focus is the operation of our native plant nurseries, outplanting sites, and native seed collection activities. Jim retired from two careers., one with Sears Roebuck & Co., and one with the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. While with the Coast Guard Jim was the Commanding Officer of two environmental protection units; one in Honolulu and one in Hilo. Jim is active with the Coast Guard Auxiliary. He is a graduate of The Volunteer Leadership seminar conducted by The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii.  Currently, he teaches Life Science to 7th graders in the Pearl Ridge district.

 

Pam Haley:

Pam is our computer specialist, She transcribes documentation, collects photo images for our database, and manages our Elist for computer email.  She also participates in transplanting and outplanting.   Pam has had a life-long interest in plants. This interest led to involvement with the Cactus and Succulent Society of Hawaii and Foster Botanical Gardens. Pam has marketed cactus, succulents and water lilies through several major O'ahu garden shops. In addition, she has operated Haley's Nursery, a family child care facility, for over 30 years and has served on the Governor's Child Care Advisory Council. She has also been recognized for her contribution to child care by the City and County of Honolulu.  A computer expert, she recently started PH-Scribe, a medical transcription contractor operation.  In her spare time she teaches dog obedience training classes.  She is the Mom of two sons, Matt and Mark.

 

Ron Iwamoto:

Ron is our chief science advisor. Ron's interest in the environment began on the beaches of O'ahu. He graduated Punahou in 1959. He graduated from Northwestern University and earned two Masters degrees: one in Marine Zoology and one in Education. He teaches Ecology and Marine Biology at Chaminade University. In his spare time he chaperones minority students to BioMed conferences that are funded by NIH and McNair grants. Ron is one of the advisors for the Chaminade University Biology Club which is one of our key volunteer organizations supporting nursery tending and outplanting.

 

Dr. Michael Kahue:

Mike is our director of Youth programs. During his vacations he builds houses for the homeless in Central America. His real occupation is as a licensed chiropractor (more hands on) and he has his own practice in Nu'uanu. He is also the youth minister at Nuuanu Baptist Church. Mike has been helpful with getting the new nursery finished and getting local church congregations involved.

 

Ursula Kawaguchi:

Ursula is the facilitator for our retreats. She is an island girl who currently lives on the North Shore of Oahu.  She taught history for 5 years at the intermediate level.  She is a graduate of NCEE, the National Committee on Education and the Economy.  She now works to implement America’s Choice, a standards based education process at Highlands Intermediate School. She is married and has one little girl.

 

Jon Larson: 

Jon is Chairman of the Board of Directors and President.  He focuses most of his efforts in the area of funds raising.   He is a graduate of Punahou (1959) and Yale University.  He interrupted his IBM career from 1982-1988 to found and build the then largest private medical internet type company in northern California, MEDICOM Corporation.  He enjoys building non-profit organizations that contribute to eco-restoration, interfaith understanding, education quality, and job training programs for youth and homeless adults. He is president of his own small non-profit family foundation through which he has supported non-profit startups including the Iliahi Foundation, the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, the United Religions Initiative, Heal All Life, Marin 2000 Education Foundation, New Beginnings for the Homeless, and Californians for Missing Children. Jon resides in Tiburon, California near San Francisco with his wife Karen of 36 years.  He returns often to Hawaii to participate in his many family and business interests here and maintains ties to the local community where he was born and raised.

 

Elsbeth McKeen:

Elsbeth is our legal affairs counselor.  From finger-tip involvement in the Canada-French-Hawaii telescope on Mauna Kea to hands on archaeology on the Big Island, Beth brings much experience to the Iliahi Foundation.   A graduate of Smith College in Anthropology, she taught English and French at Kalani High School for 2 years and later Hawaiian History at La Pietra. Then came a 3 year sojourn to France where she did translation work for Business International and the airlines industry.  In 1985 Beth obtained her law degree from UH.  She was a public defender on the big Island for a few years and then opened her own successful law practice in Kamuela.  Back on Oahu, she now does estate planning and teaches part time at Aiea High School. She has two daughters.

 

Susan Hata O’Connor:

Susan is one of our most involved volunteers.  She participates in planning sessions, nursery building, native iliahi seed collection, volunteer registration, and outplanting. Susan is a retired small business owner. In 1983 she, along with her co-founder, opened their first of 14 Rent-to-Own stores where she was in charge of marketing, promotion and purchasing. Before going into business for herself, Susan worked in the field of instructional television which eventually led, in 1981, to entrepreneurship in the audio visual field here in Hawaii.  She has had a continuing interest in Clinical Psychology and Art and has studied both.  She discovered that she could use both interests doing volunteer work at rehabilitation centers. She continues her work in Hawaii at the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific.

 

Cyrus "Cy" Siu:

Cy is the treasurer of the Iliahi Foundation and assistant manager of Oahu operations. He is also our advisor on tax exempt organization regulation. He was raised on a farm in Kaneohe when the area was called "the country". He has handled the dollars and cents for Sears Hawaii and E.K. Fernandez among others. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer for The Oceanic Instiute. He is good at building nurseries, hauling water, and outplanting including clearing and selection of good places to plant. Cy is a graduate of TNC’s Volunteer Leadership Training seminar.

 

Phyllis Murakami Siu:

Phyllis has spent many hours helping build the new nurseries, and helps with the outplanting of the Memorial Grove in Honouliuli Nature Preserve. Phyllis is a graduate of the Volunteer Leadership Training seminar given by TNC. In the real world, she teaches elementary school in Manoa, but her passion is metal sculpture.  She has a studio in the Mapunapuna area where she fires up her welding torches and creates her unique art. 

 

Pauline Sato:

Pauline is a key member of our steering committee and our connection to our main partner The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii where she works full time as the O'ahu Program Director. In this capacity, Pauline, oversees a staff that works to protect and promote the ecosystems of the Honouliuli Preserve.  An Island girl, Pauline attended University of Michigan where she received a BS in Natural Resources, followed by a Masters in Educational Technology from the University of Hawaii. Like others in the Iliahi Foundation she has a commitment to make things better. She serves on the Environmental Education Association, the State of Hawaii Environmental Council, and has been named an outstanding contributor to the Malama Hawaii movement