Hawai‘i Investment Ready supports the people and organizations addressing Hawai‘i’s social and environmental issues by accelerating social enterprise impact and access to investment.
HIR Accelerator
HIR Team
Keoni Lee
CO-CEO
Pālolo, Waikīkī, Kona, Oʻahu
Keoni Lee brings a wealth of experience to HIR as a successful social entrepreneur and participant in HIR’s inaugural cohort.
He co-founded ʻŌiwi TV – a media production company that leverages the power of media to reshape the narratives of the modern Hawaiian experience. He also co-founded Waiwai Collective – a contemporary Hawaiian gathering space growing a community and movement grounded in collective values and shared responsibilities to mobilize social change in Hawaiʻi.
Recruited in 2018 by co-founders Lisa Kleissner & Neil Hannahs as HIR’s founding CEO, Keoni also served as a founding Board Member and has served as Co-CEO alongside Miwa Tamanaha since 2024.
Keoni has a MBA from the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His leadership accomplishments garnered his selection as a fellow in the Omidyar Fellows program, the First Nations Futures Program, the Just Economy Institute, and was named 2021 HVCA Investor of the Year along with HIR Co-Founder Lisa Kleissner. He is a member of Toniic, the global action community for impact investing, and serves on numerous non-profit boards with a focus on education and local food production.
Miwa Tamanaha
CO-CEO
Waipiʻo, ‘Ewa, Oʻahu
Miwa Tamanaha’s ancestors first came to Hawaiʻi from Okinawa in the late 1800s to work sugar plantations; she is the fifth generation of her family to call Hawaiʻi home. She considers herself a “recovering economist,” holding undergraduate and graduate degrees in Economics from the University of Southern California.
An experienced community organizer, network weaver, and organization builder, Miwa brings a unique lens on community-based economic development, community planning, and Beloved Community practices. She credits Aunty Puanani Burgess, Uncle Henry Chang Wo, Jr., Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaʻole, Aunty Lynette Paglinawan, and many others as important teachers.
Over the last 25 years, Miwa has worked in environmental justice advocacy and policy in communities and ecologies from Baja California to Tanzania. She has served as Executive Director of KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance and a co-founder and co-director of Kuaʻāina Uu ʻAuamo (KUA) – a local non-profit that facilitates networks of practitioners in rural Hawaiian communities advancing Indigenous and local knowledge in fields of science, planning, and policy. She continues to serve as an advisor and member of the Limu Hui, a network of native seaweed practitioners she helped to establish in 2014.
Miwa joined the HIR team in 2022 as HIR’s first Artist-in-Residence in Community Building (Impact Residency) and has served as Co-CEO alongside Keoni Lee since 2024.
Lisa Kleissner
CO-FOUNDER, BOARD CHAIR
Big Sur, California + Kapapala, Kaʻū, Moku o Keawe
Lisa Kleissner is co-founder and President of the KL Felicitas Foundation, a family foundation dedicated to empowering impact entrepreneurs worldwide and investing 100% of the foundation corpus into impact across asset classes.
The foundation was cited by the World Economic Forum for its impact portfolio investment leadership. The foundation is the recipient of the BNP Paribas Grand Prix in Philanthropy and the Magis Award for Social Entrepreneurship from Santa Clara University. Lisa was cited as one of 35 world-changing women in conscious business in 2019 by the Conscious Company.
Lisa is co-founder and Chair of Toniic Institute, and Hawaiʻi Investment Ready. She sits on several impact investment committees and has held the position of Treasurer/CFO for several impact organizations.
Neil Hannahs
CO-FOUNDER, DIRECTOR
Pālolo, Waikīkī, Kona, Oʻahu
Neil J. Kahoʻokele Hannahs is Founder and CEO of Hoʻokele Strategies LLC, a consulting enterprise to support the emergence and growth of values-driven leaders and enterprises that forge a thriving environment, a robust economy and social equity.
From 2000 to 2015, Hannahs directed the Land Assets Division of Kamehameha Schools and was responsible for a portfolio of 358,000 acres of agriculture and conservation lands in Hawai`i and also co-founded the First Nations Futures Program and Hawaiʻi Investment Ready Program. The work of this division earned the Innovation and Outstanding Leadership Awards of the Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance. In addition, Hannahs’ impact has been acknowledged with the Kamaʻāina of the Year Award from the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, I Ulu I Ke Kumu recognition from the UH Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge and Kalanianaʻole Scholarship Honor of Prince Kuhiō Hawaiian Civic Club.
Hannahs is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and received BA and MA degrees from Stanford University. He is active in community affairs, serving on the boards of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Hawaiian Islands Land Trust, Aloha Kuamoʻo ʻĀina and Awaiaulu.
Pia Chock
CO-FOUNDER, DIRECTOR
Mānoa, Kona, O‘ahu
Pia Chock is a strategy consultant on the ‘Āina Pauahi team at Kamehameha Schools. Her work managing Hawai‘i-Targeted Investments brings together her financial acumen along with her passion for community-based solutions.
Prior to KS, Pia worked at McKinsey in its Shanghai office, consulting for US businesses on China market strategy. She is a graduate of Punahou, Harvard University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Margaret Peebles
ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR, PROGRAM MANAGER
Kāneʻohe, Koʻolaupoko, Oʻahu
Margaret Peebles’ early career was devoted to managing operations at the family medical business. She went on to support the growth of her husband’s global photography practice.
For the last six years, she has covered several roles at HIR instrumental to keeping the ship sailing. Participating with the last two cohorts was deeply inspiring for her and encouraged her to play a bigger role in helping HIR move from a program to an incorporated nonprofit enterprise. This led her to apply for the Administrative Director role which she has held since March 2017.
Chloe Hartwell
NETWORK COORDINATOR
Wailupe, Waikīkī, Kona, Oʻahu + Kalaloa, Kona, Moku o Keawe
Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Chloe Seto Hartwell is committed to serving Hawaiʻi’s communities by shifting resources and power to build pathways towards equity, justice, and liberation.
Before joining HIR in 2020, she was with Hawai’i Public Radio in nonprofit development, and helped launch community resourcing platform Kūkulu Switchboard before serving as its first Operator.
Chloe manages HIR’s community programs and networks and consults with enterprises on mission-driven marketing strategy and fundraising. She brings a decade of experience in nonprofit development, business strategy, marketing, and community-driven philanthropy.
She serves on nonprofit and philanthropic committees, boards, and fellowships focused on reduced inequalities, health equity, and building just, peaceful and inclusive societies.
Kim Moa
NARRATIVE CHANGE DIRECTOR
Kalauao, ʻEwa, Oʻahu
Tyler Takahashi
INVESTMENT ANALYST
Nuʻuanu, Honolulu, Kona, Oʻahu
Tyler Takahashi joins Hawaiʻi Investment Ready as an Investment Analyst. Tyler is a graduate of Punahou School and Cornell University, where he studied Finance. He previously interned for HIR, supporting social enterprises with strategic planning, and is excited to continue working with folks committed to aligning economic sustainability with aloha ‘aina sensibilities. His professional journey extends to roles at GE Vernova and American Savings Bank, where he developed his financial analysis skills.
For guidance and inspiration in his work on community issues and the local economy, Tyler draws upon the wisdom and support of his family and friends and his core experiences living in Hawaiʻi, including going to the beach, working in the lo‘i, and playing music.
Debbie Gowensmith
RESEARCH & EVALUATION
Denver, Colorado + Waikīkī, Kona, Oʻahu
Debbie Gowensmith, PhD is a community-based researcher and participatory evaluator providing evaluation and research design and implementation, technical assistance, process design, capacity-building, facilitation, and planning. Dr. Gowensmith’s content area specialties include community and economic development and community-based resources management. She is trained and experienced in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods in the social sciences using participatory, culturally responsive approaches. Recent clients have included First Nations Oweesta Corporation, Hawai‘i Community Foundation, Hawai‘i County, Indigenous Aquaculture Collaborative, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, Mālama Pūpūkea-Waimea, NiiJii Capital Partners, and University of Hawai‘i Office of Indigenous Innovation. Dr. Gowensmith holds a doctorate in Research Methods & Statistics from the University of Denver and a M.S. in International Economic Development from Eastern University. She is also Adjunct Faculty at the University of Denver, where she teaches graduate courses in program evaluation.
Kanoe Enos
IMPACT STRATEGY & LEADERSHIP COACH
Moanalua, Kona, Oʻahu.
Kanoe Enos is co-founder/partner of ʻAʻaliʻi Alliance, a place-based consulting firm that helps clients build more effective, efficient, and just programs, processes and organizations. They specialize in strategy, stakeholder-driven, community-engaged planning, and project management.
Kanoe supports HIR enterprises with leadership, strategy, executive, and governance coaching.
Kanoe brings over 10 years of experience as a social worker to create a better life for residents of Hawaiʻi. Growing up at the Cultural Learning Center at Kaʻala Farms in Waiʻanae Moku, Oʻahu has helped Kanoe bring a culturally grounded approach to his many roles as a case manager, youth development worker, collective impact convener, and educator. Kanoe is rooted in place and is a tireless advocate for the natural resources, peoples and cultures that make Hawaiʻispecial. Kanoeʻs gifts include the ability to take cultural and community knowledge and weave it into tools and strategies that are effective, efficient, and pono. Kanoe has a degree in Hawaiian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, a Masterʻs Degree in Social Work. Kanoe serves on numerous boards, community groups, and collective impact initiatives.
Megan Talley Womble
GRANT WRITING & DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
Waimea, Kona, Kauaʻi
Megan Talley Womble is a dedicated and passionate non-profit grant writer, strategist, and consultant committed to empowering Hawaiʻi’s community organizations. With a breadth of business experience, Megan excels as a versatile generalist, specializing in diverse niches such as agriculture, marine conservation, community wellness, Native Hawaiian initiatives, food security, sports and recreation, and youth programming.
Megan lives in the ahupuaʻa of Waimea, Kauaʻi.
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