Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 3, 1 March 2004 — with Dee Jay Mailer Kamehameha Schools' new CEO [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

with Dee Jay Mailer Kamehameha Schools' new CEO

lnterview by Derek Ferrar On Jan. 19, Dee Jay Mailer took over as CEO of Kamehameha Schools, eight months after Dr. Hamihon McCubbin, the schools' first-ever CEO, resigned abruptly. By all accounts, Mailer — a 1970 graduate of Kamehameha — is an extraordinarily eapahle executive, and in person she certainly comes across as an extremely energetic and personable leader. lnterestingly, Mailer's background is in heahh rather than education. She holds nursing and businessadministration d.egrees from the University of Hawai'i, and worked for Kaiser Hawai'i for more than a decade, eventually working her way up to the CEO post from 1 995 to 1999. Most recently, she headed the Global Fund, a multi-billion-dollar, Geneva, Switzerland-based trust that raises and distributes money to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Last month, after Mailer had been on the job just a few weeks, Ka Wai Ola managed to squeeze a few minutes into her monumenial schedule and settled into her beautifully appointed Kawaiaha'o Plaza office to get acquainted: KWO: So how did you land this amazing position? DJM: You know, I found out from some friends who were passing through Geneva that Dr. McCubbin had left. The next day, I was talking to my husband, and I said, "Gosh, wouldn't that be fantastic if I could work with Kamehameha Schools?" He said, "You know, I've always thought that someday you would return home, and you would do something with the school." I said, "No, they wouldn't choose me, because I don't have an educational background." But then I called a friend in Hawai'i and said, "Well what do you think?" And I remember his exact words; he said: "You know what, Dee Jay, throw your hat in the ring, and Ke Akua will take care of the rest." And so I did. I sent my rēsumē in and said, "I realize I don't have this background, but here's what I ean do," and things just happened. It's been a remarkable journey for me — full circle." What are your top priorities coming into the job? Number one is the goal of extending our reach. I think it's fair to say

that the entire Kamehameha Schools family wants to provide mueh greater education access for Hawaiian children. But we know that our campuses are limited, so mueh of our effort will actually be going out to the community. There are many programs right now, with early childhood education, with Kamehameha preschools. There are charter school startups that we're actively involved in. We have distance learning. Basically, as mueh as we ean do in our communities in terms of reach, we will do. The number two priority is strengthening our endowment, so we're not totally reliant upon one particular asset in the event the world turns. In this past fiscal year, it's taken a huge step in terms of becoming stronger, so that's good news, but we need to continue to do that. The third area I think we need to strengthen is building partnerships. We understand that Kamehameha Schools does not stand alone in its desire to improve education for Hawaiian children. In fact, there are not only Hawaiian communities who want to participate, and are already doing an incredible job, but there is the business community that wants to pitch in. I've met with all the other independent schools, and they are all interested in eollahorating with us to provide access to Hawaiian children who wouldn't necessarily have the ehoiee of going to an independent school. The other partnership that's really important to us is with the Department of Education, and we will continue to work with them on a number of different efforts. You're a graduate of the school, and your mother and both your daughters also attended. What are some of the changes you see now, compared to when you were there? I actually see more similarities than changes. The biggest similarity is that there is still this very, very strong sense of family, and that was so important for me when I was there. In terms of change, one of the biggest I see is that when I was going through Kamehameha, there was less focus on Hawaiian studies and culture. Now there's this incredible cultural enrichment that is so tangible when you go into the Kamehameha system. That's different from when I was there. In our strategic plan, also, one of the goals is about building Hawaiian culture into everything we do. When we look at how we manage all of our lands, for

instance, we have built-in questions about how a particular decision gives us opportunities to build our culture and our educational aspect. So in every one of our decisions, there is a cultural sensitivity. To wrap up, let's talk for a moment about the admissions lawsuits. What was the reason for settling the Mohica-Cummings case, and what are the plans for dealing with the appeal in the Doe case? I think the decision by the trustees to settle was the right thing to do, and I certainly applaud the campuses for working with Brayden and making him feel really at home at Kamehameha Schools. As for what our strategy is or what the outcomes might be as we go through appeal, I don't know. Obviously, I hope that our preferenee policy will prevail, because it is the only way that Hawaiian ehildren will get the attention they need, until they get to a point where they are at parity with other ehildren. And unless resources are dedicated to these children, to give them the advantages that other ethnicities have had, it's going to be a long time. So I am fully supportive of Hawaiian preference, and I just hope that the courts prevail in our favor. ■

"I think it's fair to say that the entire Kamehameha family wants to provide mueh greater education access for Hawaiian children. But we know that our campuses are limited \ so mueh of our effort will actually be going out to the community. Basically as mueh as we ean do in our communities in terms of reach , we will do."

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