Hawaii Nonprofit People in the News:
Symphony names Mechling new executive director
The Honolulu Symphony Society on Sept. 14 announced the appointment of Majken Mechling as executive director of the historic arts and music education organization. Mechling, a dedicated and proven leader who has served nonprofit organizations in Hawaii for 25 years, joins the Symphony as the orchestra prepares to open its 110th season following an administrative re-structuring that has brought greater stability to the organization. Most recently, she was executive director of the American Diabetes Association Hawaii.
“Majken brings clear and forceful leadership and vision to the position of executive director: she is creative, strategic, consistent and goal-oriented in her management style,” said Peter Shaindlin, chairman of the Honolulu Symphony Society Board of Directors. “What Majken values most however is a profound respect for our local culture, and for the paramount importance of trust and relationships that are the very bedrock and spirit of Hawaii.”
- Lily Bloom Domingo
Lily Bloom Domingo leaves HANO staff
but will continue consulting services
Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organization’s chief operating officer and program director, Lily Bloom Domingo, is leaving the organization’s staff on Sept. 30, but will continue to work with HANO and nonprofit clients on a consulting basis.
“I want to share with you that after nearly 10 years with Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations (formerly the Hawaii Community Services Council), I have decided that it is time for me to move in a new direction and free some of my time to focus on my family,” she said. “For me, it is the season of the sandwich – a son entering high school and parents who aren’t driving anymore. I want to savor time with both.”
Bloom Domingo will will continue to work with HANO on projects as appropriate. “My HANO email (lbdomingo@hano-hawaii.org) will remain open and you can contact me there directly should you need to do so,” she said. “For a more immediate response regarding HANO training and consulting services, please contact Lisa Maruyama at (808) 529-0454 or Jennifer Cornish Creed at (808) 529-0453.”
She continued: “It has been such a pleasure and privilege to work at HANO. It has afforded me the best of colleagues among the HANO staff and board members, nonprofit colleagues and many others. There have been many opportunities to learn and to contribute to building a vital nonprofit sector and community, and I look forward to keeping in touch even though the seasons are changing.”
- Former Gov. Ben Cayetano
Former Gov. Cayetano joins Blue Planet board
Former Hawaii Gov. Ben Cayetano is joining the board of directors of the Blue Planet Foundation, a nonprofit working to end the use of carbon-based fuels by making Hawaii a global leader for energy independence in 10 years. Cayetano joins eight current board members: Henk Rogers, a Hawaii entrepreneur and the organization’s founder; businesswoman Akemi Rogers; Peter Crouch, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; attorney Stanley Hong; Elizabeth Kapuuwailani Lindsey, a filmmaker and cultural anthropologist; Bob Lloyd, chairman of the V Foundation for Cancer Research; David Williams, retired senior vice president of the Whirlpool Corp.; and Maxine Burkett, associate professor of law at the UH William S. Richardson School of Law and director of the Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy.
Tresler and Farias named to UH Foundation Board
The University of Hawaii Foundation has elected Michael Tresler and Brandt Farias to its board of trustees. Tresler is the senior vice president of Grove Farm Co., headquartered in Lihue. Farias is an executive vice president in charge of the Marketing Communications Division at First Hawaiian Bank.
- Daniel Kelin
HTY’s Kelin named Fulbright-Nehru Scholar
Honolulu Theatre for Youth Director of Drama Education Daniel A. Kelin II has been named a 2009-10 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. Government’s flagship international exchange program, providing grants for international educational exchange for scholars, educators, graduate students and professionals.
Under the auspices of the United States-India Education Foundation, and in partnership with the Sharma Center for Heritage Education, located in Chennai, Kelin will conduct a research-based project entitled, “Animating Mythological History: Investigating a Drama-based Pedagogy.” The project includes a six-month stay in India as he works with upper elementary students in two different schools in and around Chennai, guiding the students in an exploration of mythological stories represented in the carvings of local temples through drama.
The project will build on oral history work Kelin has spearheaded here in Hawaii, helping students view their community and neighbors as places of learning; and on the folklore work he has done in the Marshall Islands. He plans to explore the potential for drama to help the student develop a better understanding of, and personal connection to, the stories and the temples of their own culture, as well as encourage them to look more closely at things they take for granted around them.
Kelin has taught in Vanuatu, the Marshall Islands and Samoa, and developed specialty programs for Pacific Island English as a Second Language Learners throughout Hawaii. The American Alliance for Theatre and Education awarded him the 1995 Youth Theatre Director of the Year award and in 2002 he was honored with the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Barbara Karlin grant.
In 2006, Klein was awarded the prestigious ASSITEJ/USA Ann Shaw Fellowship; that same year he became a recipient of the Montalvo Arts Center’s new Teaching Artists Fellowship. His published works include Marshall Islands Legends and Stories; To Feel As Our Ancestors Did, Collecting and Performing Oral Histories; and In Their Own Words: Drama with Young English Language Learners.
