Native Hawaiian· Veteran· Strategic Leader· Founder
Rooted in Hawaii. Shaped by service.
Building what comes next.
The work is done when it's done right. Not when it's convenient.
I swung my first golf club before I was two years old. My father, a scratch golfer and high school champion who learned the game carrying bags at Waialae Country Club, put a club in my hands before I could speak. Golf was my first language. The game taught me early that most performance lives between the ears, not the mechanics.
After competing as a junior golfer and captaining my high school team, I chose a different kind of challenge. I served as a U.S. Marine and later as a Special Forces soldier, environments that demand clarity under pressure, decisive action with incomplete information, and genuine care for the people alongside you. Those years rewired how I think about leadership, teams, and what it actually means to be accountable.
Today I build. The Ho'i Loa Foundation, a Native Hawaiian Organization focused on language revitalization, community, and economic opportunity for my people. I also write about leadership because I have spent years operating at the highest levels and know what it looks like when organizations fail to recognize and use the people they have.
I write about leadership from the inside. What it looks like when it works, and what it costs when it doesn't.
If strategy sets the compass, tactics move the team. The trap is when you're only seen for your execution. Your strategic value gets buried beneath your tactical output, and that's where career momentum stalls.
Strong leaders set direction before they tighten grip. The best move when things feel chaotic is to slow down and get clear, not clamp down harder.
Being the go-to problem solver feels like a badge of honor. But it may be exactly what's limiting your growth and your visibility.
Burnout disguises itself as progress. Calm leaders create clarity, trust, and better outcomes. Here's how to lead without panic.
Quiet leaders often go unrecognized, not because they lack impact, but because they haven't learned to make their impact visible.
BJJ is a hobby, and a discipline. The mat is one of the few places left where ego gets checked daily and progress is brutally honest. I train because of my son, which makes it something else entirely.
Semper Fidelis. A conviction that things unfold the way they're supposed to. Not as an excuse to be passive, but as the foundation that makes it possible to keep moving when the path is unclear.
Fifty years golfing. Learned from father. Became a scratch golfer with my first hole-in-one at 15. Rarely play today, but the game is in me. It taught me that most performance lives between the ears.
Veteran-owned business based in Northern Virginia, serving clients since 1997. Branded company gear your team will actually use, and websites that work as hard as your business does.
Advancing cultural preservation, language revitalization, and economic opportunity for Native Hawaiians. Identity and economics aren't separate conversations for our people.
The Ho'i Loa Foundation is a Native Hawaiian Organization I founded to advance cultural preservation, language revitalization, and economic opportunity for Native Hawaiians. Built with the conviction that the strength of our lahui lives in our language and our ability to thrive without losing who we are.
Identity and economics aren't separate conversations for Native Hawaiians. They never have been.
Visit hoiloa.org →Leadership, strategy, the Foundation, the mat. I'm open to real conversations with real people.