Co-Leadership Announcement
A New Season of Growth at HIR...
(December 2024) – Makahiki Season and the arrival of Ke Ao Polohiwa A Kanaloa (Winter Solstice) bring welcome opportunity to pause and take account of the abundance we’ve seen at HIR over the past season.
We are excited to announce that Miwa Tamanaha and Keoni Lee will be serving as Co-CEOs of HIR as we move forward into a new season of growth.
After a year-long intentional process supported by Simon Leadership Group, the co-leadership structure was approved by HIR’s Board of Directors in September 2024. This new collaborative leadership model will enable us to leverage the diverse strengths and perspectives of both Keoni & Miwa in our growth as an organization, ensuring that HIR continues to foster innovation and inclusivity as we pursue our mission of investing in Hawaiʻi’s economic transformation.
During a period of growth in the scope and complexity of HIR’s work post-pandemic, Keoni recruited Miwa in 2022 for an Impact Residency. He did so in recognition of Miwa’s long track-record of work in networked strategies, community organizing, economic development and organization development. In her two years in residency at HIR, Miwa has played a critical role in growing HIR’s team and capacities, bringing her unique lens on community economic development, community planning, and Beloved Community practices.
Miwa holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics from the University of Southern California. Over the last 20 years, she has served as the Executive Director of KAHEA and a co-founder and co-director of Kuaʻāina Ulu ʻAuamo (KUA)
Why a co-leadership model?
HIR is leading economic transformation in Hawaiʻi by developing and prototyping innovative models and approaches for systems change investment. Building pathways toward our vision of a just, abundant, place-based island economy requires new and different mindsets, tools, and yes, leadership.
To drive large-scale transformative change and systems innovation, we need adaptive, collaborative, learning-based approaches and leadership grounded in our culture and values. The shifting and sharing of power and resources is something we want for more communities across Hawaiʻi. A co-leadership model not only serves HIR’s growth and expansion, it builds our capacity to work and do business in Hawaiʻi in ways that honor our values.
Our leadership journey til now…
No, they aren’t going anywhere, but we do want to take a moment to recognize those who have carried the kuleana of leadership at HIR to this point. Mahalo to our Board of Directors, Lisa Kleissner, Neil Hannahs, and Pia Chock and our founding CEO Keoni Lee for having the vision and lāhui mindedness to see co-leadership as a pathway for growth at HIR.
Recruited in 2018 by out co-founders and current board members Lisa & Uncle Neil, Keoni brought a wealth of experience as a successful local social entrepreneur and co-founder of ʻŌiwi TV and Waiwai Collective. Having participated in the first cohort and as a founding board member, Keoni saw that HIR could play a critical role in elevating the practice of impact investing and changing the way we do business in Hawai’i.
As CEO, Keoni inspired a new phase of growth for HIR, connecting us to a network of local and global allies, aligning our work with academic institutions and researchers, and inviting international funders who share our vision of restorative economic transformation. As a result, HIR’s culturally-grounded core values and enterprise-inspired design approach have gained momentum.
We acknowledge and celebrate Keoni steadfast commitment to the work and all he’s had to sacrifice in advancing HIR’s mission. As sole CEO, the privilege, responsibility and risk inherent in that role is worth recognizing. Co-leadership also requires giving some things up and the vision and humility required to invite the sharing of this kuleana should also be commended.
There’s been much to celebrate in the decade since our founding, including the growth of our team and our move into systems change investing––We invite you to read our recently published 10-Year Retrospective Report.
We look forward to the new era of growth Keoni and Miwa will bring to HIR in their collaborative leadership journey together and the wealth of gifts they already bring to our team and our work. Lonoikamakahiki!
"Over the last two years, Miwa’s leadership and expertise have been an invaluable addition and catalyst for HIR’s success and growth. We have built a strong working relationship with each other based on respect, trust, and appreciation for our complementary strengths and the value we each bring to the work. I am looking forward to this co-leadership journey and excited about what we can and will create together for HIR and the communities we serve."
"I’ve had the blessing of so many teachers in my life. What is emerging for me is a practice of community-based economic development that builds on the wisdom of many generations and allows for me to bring my whole self. These past two years at HIR have been yet another teacher — the people, experiences, and struggles have helped me to wonder more deeply about the concepts of money, wealth and finance. What does finance look like that is contained wholly within our understanding of kuleana? What can finance be when it is dictated by our deepest sense of our responsibilities? What is made possible? I'm deeply grateful for this opportunity to continue to create, lead, and grow."
Interested in learning more about co-leadership as a model for transformative change? Here is a resource from Common Future we’ve found helpful in preparing for this journey: Consensus, Collaboration, and Trust: A Multi-racial Co-led Organization’s Guide to Sharing Power
Want to support HIR’s vision of a just, abundant, place-based island economy in which all people, families and communities of Hawai’i thrive? We’d love to talk story!
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