Gov. David Ige has named eight potential nominees for members of the new state agency to manage Maunakea.
A law Ige signed earlier this year established the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, an agency that will eventually take over management of the mountain’s summit lands from their current steward, the University of Hawaii.
The Authority will consist of 11 voting members.
Ige’s eight nominees include:
• Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a land resource management expert with experience in Hawaii Island-based management
• Gary Krug, education specialist
• Rich Matsuda, chief of operations and external relations at the W. M. Keck Observatory
• John Komeiji, business and finance specialist
• Pomaikai Bertelmann, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner
• Lanakila Mangauil, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner
• Paul Horner, president and CEO of Na Leo o Hawaii
• Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner
Matsuda, Horner and Wong-Wilson were selected from lists of three candidates submitted by the Maunakea Observatories, Senate President Ron Kouchi and House Speaker Scott Saiki, respectively.
The remaining three members are ex-officio: Board of Land and Natural Resources Chair Suzanne Case, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth’s representative Douglass Shipman Adams, and University of Hawaii regent Eugene Bal III.
UH-Hilo Chancellor Bonnie Irwin will also serve as a non-voting member of the Authority.
“I want to thank these individuals for stepping forward,” Ige said of the nominees in a statement. “Through this new stewardship model, I believe we can find a way for science and culture to coexist on Mauna Kea in a mutually beneficial way.”
The list of nominees has been submitted to the Senate for confirmation.