Leadership

Later, Kitty served as vice president of the Kapi‘olani Health Foundation. She currently serves on the boards of the American Red Cross – Hawai‘i State Chapter, the Aloha Council of the Boy Scouts of America, ASSETS School and Enterprise Honolulu, an economic development organization. Kitty is an active partner in IPREX (she has served on its 12-member Executive Committee), a global partnership of independent communications firms, of which Communications Pacific is the Hawai‘i affiliate. She is a past president of the Rotary Club of Honolulu, Hawai‘i’s oldest and largest Rotary club; and she served two terms on the board of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i. Among the other organizations on whose boards she has served are HiBEAM (Hawai‘i Business Entrepreneur and Acceleration Mentors), Young CEOs, and the Hawai‘i Justice Foundation.

Kitty served five years on the University of Hawai‘i Board of Regents, including two years as vice chair and two years as chair. She has also served as an appointee on Hawai‘i’s Elections Review Task Force and the Elections Appointment and Review Panel (EARP).

In addition to having been honored as “Businesswoman of the Year,” Kitty has also been honored as one of Hawai‘i’s women leaders by the YWCA of Oahu. Junior Achievement of Hawai‘i named her to the Hawai‘i Business Hall of Fame. The Hawai‘i Chapter of the March of Dimes honored her with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Award for Distinguished Community Service, and the Pacific Gateway Center presented her its Community Building Award. The American Red Cross – Hawai‘i State Chapter awarded her its Chairman’s Cup. The Boy Scouts of America and its Aloha Chapter honored her with the Silver Beaver Award for extraordinary volunteer service.

Kitty has received numerous awards for her work from the Hawai‘i chapters of both the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), and PRSA Hawai‘i honored her as Gregg W. Perry Public Relations Professional of the Year (2003). She is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i, with a degree in English.

Russell has 20 years of communications experience in the private and public sectors developing and implementing strategic public relations plans in the areas of media relations, marketing communications, corporate communications, issues management, crisis communications, public affairs and employee relations. He has represented clients in a variety of industries, including tourism, petroleum, telecommunications, high technology, energy, retail, finance and agriculture.

During his tenure in the Office of the Governor, Russell developed and managed communications programs and media relations strategies for the executive branch. He also participated in crisis and emergency communications relating to natural disasters, homeland security and other emergencies in collaboration with state, federal, county and private sector responders.

Before joining CommPac, Russell was a research assistant with First Hawaiian Bank, where he tracked economic and business trends. He also was international trade assistant with the American Electronics Association in Washington, D.C., and worked on Capitol Hill in the U.S. Senate Placement Office.

He has served on the board of directors for the International Association of Business Communicators’ (IABC) Hawai‘i Chapter as well as the Life Foundation, Hawai‘i’s largest HIV/AIDS service organization.

Russell has been recognized with awards from IABC, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and Pacific Business News.

Russell earned a master’s in business administration from The American University, Kogod College of Business Administration in Washington, D.C., and a bachelor’s degree in economics and East Asian studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Born and raised in Honolulu, he is a graduate of Punahou School.

With only a brief interruption in 2007-2008, Ron had been with KHON2 News since 1985. He began in the sports department, working under Les Keiter for 11 years before moving to news, where for four years he co-anchored Hawai‘i’s Morning News with Leslie Wilcox. He then served as sports director for several years before reuniting with Wilcox to co-anchor Hawai‘i at 5. In August 2007, Ron moved to Hawaiian Telcom to serve as vice president of corporate communications, but found it was not the right fit or the right time and returned to KHON2.

Ron received numerous accolades for his reporting, including two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and several Society of Professional Journalists awards.

Ron is a member of the Kailua Canoe Club, Kanaka Ikaika Racing Association and Paddling Athletes Association, and he’s active with Easter Seals Society Hawaii, Special Olympics Hawaii, Hale Na Opio (Kaua‘i), Domestic Violence Action Center and the Honolulu Police Department’s Aloha No Na Kupuna. He is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawai‘i, where he earned a degree in journalism.

Her experience also includes work in both public and private accounting practices that involved auditing, tax, financial statement preparation and analysis, budgeting and forecasting. She also has 10 years of experience teaching both financial and managerial accounting on several campuses of the University of Hawai‘i Community College system.

Nobleza has served on the boards of the YWCA of O‘ahu and the Filipino Community Center, where she was also treasurer. She was appointed by Governor Linda Lingle to the School-to-Work Board. She has also served as president of the Honolulu chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction. In 2004, Nobleza’s achievements and her strong community involvement were recognized in her selection as one of Pacific Business News’ 40 under Forty and Women Who Mean Business. She is also a member of the prestigious Pacific Century Fellows Class of 2004. Nobleza earned both her bachelor’s degree in accounting – and her MBA – from the University of Hawai‘i.

Howard came to CommPac from Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., where he served five years as publications manager. There, among other assignments, he wrote and edited Ampersand, A&B’s award-winning external publication. Earlier, he was speechwriter to Hawai‘i’s former governor, John Waihee. In the first part of his career, Howard served as a Foreign Service officer, conducting “public diplomacy” for the U.S. Information Agency in Japan, the USSR and Brazil. While posted at USIA’s Foreign Press Center in Washington, D.C., he worked closely with European journalists, often at very senior levels. Previously, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in India.

Howard is a past president of the Hawai‘i Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and currently serves on the chapter’s Strategic Advisory Council. He has earned accreditation in public relations (the APR credential), and his work has been recognized with more than 25 awards from the Hawai‘i chapters of both PRSA and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). His writing skills have been enriched by his experience in foreign languages – Russian, Portuguese and Hindi. A graduate of Yale University, Howard earned his master’s degree from Harvard.

Christina and the community building practice she built at CommPac have worked with both government and private-sector clients on a variety of construction and development projects, as well as cultural issues, that require gaining the trust of and communicating intensively with communities throughout the state. They have compiled an impressive record of building win-win civic, cultural, environmental and economic outcomes on the ground common to groups that often have remarkably differing missions.

Christina is the recipient of many community awards, including the Ihe Award, presented by the Hawai‘i Army Museum Society in recognition of her distinguished service as civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army representing the State of Hawai‘i. In this capacity, she served from 1999 through 2007 – four terms – as liaison between the Secretary of the Army and Hawai‘i’s civilian community. In 2008, Christina was named civilian aide emeritus. The Federal Executive Board of Honolulu also honored her with its Citizen of the Year Award, and the Mediation Center of the Pacific presented her with its Natural Collaborative Leader Award.

Before joining Communications Pacific, Christina headed the Office of Waikīkī Development. Earlier, she was president of the Waikīkī Improvement Association, where she implemented planning and improvement projects for Waikīkī, the state’s largest visitor destination, with city, state and federal agencies, residents, businesses, landowners, hotels, labor unions, professional societies and community groups. She has handled projects dealing with public safety and security issues, as well as land-use, cultural and environment issues. She served as chair of the Transportation Commission of the City and County of Honolulu from 1997 to 2002.

A graduate of Loyola University (Chicago), Christina has lived, traveled and studied in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific, Southeast Asia and South America.

Cindy joined CommPac in 2002 and took on a succession of increasing challenges and wider responsibilities. Among her numerous other responsibilities, Cindy headed the company’s innovative community building practice, working with both government and private-sector clients on a variety of construction and development projects, as well as cultural issues, that require communicating intensively with communities throughout the state.

Working to assist clients whose projects lie at the point, often at the grass roots, where government, community and business come together, the community building practice has compiled an enviable record of building consensus among people and organizations that often have remarkably differing missions.

Cindy came to CommPac after five years as a legislative aide at the Honolulu City Council, where she developed considerable experience in strategic legislative and grass-roots outreach. During her time there, Cindy helped develop legislative strategy and worked closely with city and state agencies, neighborhood boards, the Legislature, the media and constituents. Cindy also served for a year as outreach coordinator for the City and County of Honolulu’s Primary Corridor Transportation Project, providing information about the project to target groups and stakeholders.

Cindy came to Hawai‘i in 1996 from Washington, D.C., where she was assistant director of the Joint National Committee for Languages and the National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS). There, among her numerous other activities, she lobbied Congress and federal agencies on behalf of the group’s 60 member organizations and developed and conducted grass-roots political advocacy workshops at state, regional and national conferences.

With both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English, Cindy began her career as a high school and then a college-level English instructor. She acquired her first teaching experience – English and science – at a high school and teacher training college in Kenya.