Trustees with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs have chosen Stacy Ann Kealohalani Ferreira, former budget chief with the Senate Ways and Means Committee, to serve as the new chief executive officer.
Ferreira was selected from a pool of more than 550 applicants to replace Sylvia Hussey, who left the agency in July.
She hit the ground running Wednesday as the new Ka Pouhana, or CEO, at OHA. Ferreira was born and raised on Oʻahu, and now calls Kakaʻako home.
“My family traces our moʻokūʻauhau back 17 generations. Our ʻohana spans Moku O Keawe, Maui, Molokaʻi, Oʻahu, but a majority of our Opunui ʻohana is in Lāhainā, Maui,” Ferreira said.
“I have three daughters who, two unfortunately are living on the continent. So, you know a lot of the work that I see before me is making sure we can get our Hawaiians home.”
Ferreira comes to OHA from the state Legislature, where she spent the last four years, from October 2019 to 2023, as budget chief for the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
“At Ways and Means, you’re basically command central for the Senate,” she said. “And in my tenure there, I had to basically put together budgets during the largest deficit in the state of Hawaiʻi’s history during COVID as well as the largest surplus.”
She said her experience at the Capitol gave her a better understanding of the nuances and complexities of navigating state government. While there, Ferreira was able to create lasting pilina (relationships) with legislators, the executive branch, and even OHA leadership.
Ferreira aims to bring her legislative acumen and extensive network to her kuleana at OHA.
“Having these established relationships, having that established trust I think really gives me sort of that edge that allows me to really just jump into the work at hand,” Ferreira said. “And that’s what OHA needs, you know we have so much to do and a great sense of urgency.”
Prior to the Legislature, she spent a little more than two decades in education — first at Leeward Community College, where she pioneered distance learning efforts, and more recently at Kamehameha Schools, where she worked mainly in extension education.
While at KS, she also gained experience with the Charles Reed Bishop Trust as Trust Coordinator. She later worked in Strategy and Innovation at KS, where she says she gained the strategic planning experience needed as OHA rolls out its strategic plan.
Ferreira's vision for OHA
At the top of Ferreira’s list of priorities as OHA’s new CEO is implementing the agency’s 15-year strategic plan, Mana I Mauli Ola. The plan aims to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians by focusing on education, housing, health care and economic stability.
“All four of those areas, they’re big, they’re aspirational, but its critical work that needs to happen. So not only can we keep our ‘ohana here, but bring those who have moved away,” Ferreira said.
“Hopefully we can create a Hawaiʻi that they can call home once again.”
A second priority, Ferreira said, is making sure OHA is the best steward of its assets so that they have the resources that it's going to take to implement the plan — and implement it well.
Over the years, OHA has become a major economic and political player overseeing a trust worth nearly $600 million.
OHA was established as a semi-autonomous state agency by the 1978 Hawaiʻi Constitutional Convention. The agency’s mission is to use a portion of the revenues the state receives from public trust lands for the betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians.
“Hopefully we can create a Hawaiʻi that they can call home once again.”
-Stacy Ferreira
Former OHA CEO Sylvia Hussey ran the agency for the last nearly four years while OHA went through a crucial transition period following a critical audit that identified as much as $7.8 million in potentially fraudulent, wasteful or abusive spending.
Restoring that trust and cultivating better relationships is very much on the mind of OHA’s new CEO.
“Not only with our communities, 'cause that’s always going to be, our main priority is our beneficiaries,” Ferreira said. “But also extending these important relationships from Bishop Estate to Bishop Street, from our Hawaiian Civic Clubs to the Legislature and everything in between.”
This is a pivotal time for OHA. They’re understaffed with an estimated 30% of their positions unfilled. They’re still working on securing their fair share of public land trust revenues. And they’re headed into the next legislative session with this cloud over their heads from the last session when their plans for Kakaʻako fell through.
Ferreira said she’s determined to get the ball rolling on OHA’s plans for its Hakuone lands.
“Hakuone is going to move forward. You know there is a definite commitment by the trustees and the administration to make sure that we are the best land stewards and caretakers of that ʻāina,” Ferreira said.
“It’s unlikely that we are going to be able to do everything in the master plan that we’d like. And so, at this point, what are the things that we can accomplish now? What can get revenues on now? Because we don’t want to leave the ʻāina just sitting," she said.
OHA is also in the process of working with the state to ensure it receives its fair share of public land trust (PLT) revenues. State law specifies 20% of that revenue goes to OHA, but the definition of what constitutes “revenue” has been a sticking point between OHA and the state for years.
Ferreira said before any agreements or decisions are made, OHA needs an accurate inventory of public lands to ensure the agency is receiving the 20% return in revenue.
Concerns over CEO selection process
Ferreira did not apply for the position.
She was recruited by Kumabe HR, the contractor hired by OHA to complete the executive search. The company received 550 applications for the position — and 94% came from outside Hawaiʻi.
Ferreira was one of four finalists for the CEO position at OHA. The shortlist also included OHA's former interim CEO Colin Kippen, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands government relations manager Lehua Kinilau-Cano, and former Bishop Museum executive Kaiwi Yoon.
OHA Trustee Brickwood Galuteria said the decision wasn’t easy. He said the candidates were all top-shelf. But what stood out to him was Ferreira’s legislative acumen and understanding of the nuances and complexities of state government.
“Stacy is I think what the Office of Hawaiian Affairs needs at this moment,” Galuteria said. “She brings a new energy. She’s worked in government. So, she understands the state Capitol. She certainly understands the state budget. She understands the bureaucracy, which is something that certainly OHA over at the Capitol must be present to win."
"We gotta get some wins under the belt and so having someone who understands that is good," he said.
The executive selection process wasn’t without critics. Ferreira and other finalists described a rigorous vetting process that spanned over the last three months — two rounds of interviews, essays and a presentation on how they would implement the strategic plan.
But much of the deliberation, including interviews and board votes, was made in executive session — which is not uncommon in an executive search — but for a state agency whose effectiveness depends on the ability of the Native Hawaiian community to trust it.
This has made it difficult for community leaders like Healani Sonoda-Pale, with the Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi Political Action Committee, to trust the result. At the most recent OHA meeting, she said she was the only testifier.
“For Hawaiians, it’s important for us to have a process for the selection of a CEO that’s fair and transparent,” Sonoda-Pale said.
“That includes Hawaiians, that includes our voices in the process, and that didn’t happen here. This was a political choice instead of the best choice for our lāhui.”
Ferreira said it can be disappointing to hear someone say the selection is political, or that someone is being strong-armed.
She said she likes to believe, "No, I worked for this," and said she’s pored over every document, report, audit, and set of meeting minutes so that she’s ready for the job.
