What's Being Discussed

Two OHA committees — the Committee on Beneficiary Advocacy and Empowerment (BAE) and the Committee on Budget and Finance (BF) — are holding a joint meeting on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. The meeting has one main item of business:

• First-round interviews for OHA's permanent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) / Administrator. The committees will review candidates and select finalists for this top leadership position at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

This portion of the meeting will be held in closed (executive) session, meaning the public will not be able to observe the interviews. This is allowed under state law to protect the privacy of job candidates at the early interview stage.

Decisions Expected

• The committees will select finalist candidates who will move forward in the hiring process.
• Finalists will be announced to the public after this meeting and will participate in future public interviews.
• The final hiring decision will be made at a later meeting that is open to the public.

Who Should Pay Attention

• Native Hawaiian beneficiaries of OHA, as this decision affects the organization's top leadership.
• Anyone interested in OHA's direction and management, since the CEO oversees day-to-day operations of the agency.
• Community members who wish to provide public testimony on any agenda item — testimony can be submitted in writing to botmeetings@oha.org, by phone, or in person at 560 N. Nimitz Hwy., Honolulu. Oral testimony is limited to 5 minutes.