John De Fries, former president and CEO of the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, was chosen from a pool of nine candidates to be the new executive director of the Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority.
The Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority voted 7-2 on Thursday morning to affirm his position.
De Fries will help guide the authority through a critical transition period as it takes over the management of Maunakea.
Doug Simons, head of the Institute for Astronomy at UH, said De Fries is a good fit.
"I think in general having John in this position is a good thing for Maunakea, and not necessarily just for astronomy. He brings a lot of different perspectives to the position," Simons said.
"The 2033 master lease expiration is still there and the transition to the new authority in mid-2028 is a huge challenge. So, this is a big step in the sense of building up the administrative capacity within the new Maunakea Authority," he continued.
The Maunakea Stewardship and Oversight Authority is halfway through year three of its five-year transition period to take over management of Maunakea from the University of Hawaiʻi.
John Komeiji, chair of the authority, said much of the group's progress has been made without staff.
"What we're trying to do is build capacity, right? In terms of staffing. We've been focused as a board on 'How do we stand up this new authority?'" Komeiji said.
"Having not done it, not having any resources at the beginning. So now we have additional staffing that we can start to hire now," he said.
The new executive director will oversee the hiring of staff, beginning with an administrative services officer and a program director.
This individual will also be the public face of the authority responsible for carrying out the board’s work, much of which is being done in committee.
"We've created a committee that is working with the University of Hawaiʻi to evaluate all of the assets that need to be transferred. And are there somehow restrictions on the transfer of assets, you know, depending upon their funding? So, we have one committee doing that," Komeiji said.
Another committee is analyzing UH’s master plan for Maunakea to figure out how the authority might approach its own master plan.
Komeiji said the last, and most important kuleana, is trying to get all of this information out to the community.
"We feel like we're at a point now where we can go out to the community and speak primarily about how we're standing up the organization and what we're doing," he said.
"We've not reached the point where we're able to take testimony about some of the more highly charged issues like, astronomy, etc. ... We're not at that point yet, but we want to get out into the community."
The management of Maunakea has been a divisive issue in communities statewide, but for Komeiji and the authority the guiding principle for the group’s work is clear.
"This is maybe simplistic to people, but I would say like, what would the mauna want, right? You know, when we face different issues, what would the mauna want?" Komeiji said.
The authority is inviting the public to a community talk story session next month in Hilo where they may be able to meet the new executive director.
