Investment officer resigns at Kamehameha Schools
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
The resignation of Wendell Brooks Jr. yesterday as chief investment officer for Kamehameha Schools marks the second high-level executive departure from the $6 billion estate in recent months.
Brooks was one of several high-level executives from Hawai'i's private industry and public education system hired since the trust adopted a chief executive management structure two years ago to shift day-to-day management duties away from trustees.
Brooks, a local real estate veteran who joined the estate in February 2000 as chief of the trust's endowment group, will leave the estate on Wednesday.
Late last month, Gerald Morihara, a former management analyst at the University of Hawai'i and dean of the College of Continuing Education, resigned from his post as chief administrative officer for Kamehameha Schools. Morihara had been with the trust since June.
Another recently hired trust executive, Sanford Murata, was considering leaving Kamehameha Schools as its commercial assets division director, but has been reconsidering in recent days, according to an estate spokesman.
Murata, a retired co-founding partner of Honolulu's full-service real estate firm Graham Murata Russell who joined Kamehameha Schools in July to oversee the trust's 45 commercial property profit centers in Hawai'i, declined to comment about his future with the trust or why he was thinking about cutting it short.
Observers say the departures are surprising, but note that they could be part of healthy growth following what has been a turbulent time for the estate.
Kamehameha Schools in late 1999 emerged from two years of legal battles and investigation by state and federal authorities and an era of controversial leadership that threatened to break apart the 115-year-old institution ended with the resignation of five trustees.
Yesterday, it was unclear what specifically led Brooks to resign.
In a statement, Brooks said: "I believe that the trustees need a leadership team that aligns with their vision, strategies and implementation plans. There are still challenges ahead, and I wish the trustees, the CEO and the staff the very best in the pursuit of the schools' mission."
Brooks could not be reached for comment.
Hamilton McCubbin, Kamehameha Schools' chief executive officer, said he talked with Brooks and agreed that the time was right to make a change.
"Wendell joined Kamehameha at a time of great turbulence and extensive challenges to the trust's asset management structure, and he responded by moving that operation to a new level of stability and effectiveness," McCubbin said.
McCubbin said he has formed a committee to conduct a nationwide search for a new chief investment officer to guide Kamehameha Schools investments. McCubbin, a nationally respected human-development expert and Kamehameha graduate, will serve as acting chief investment officer until a replacement is hired.
While leading the estate's investment strategy, Brooks presided over divestments of Goldman Sachs & Co. stock that helped the trust generate record revenues of $1 billion last year. He also has been faced with selling remaining residential real estate assets, and boosting revenue from assets to pay for the trust's educational programs.
Brooks operated under a new corporate structure adopted at the insistence of a probate judge. Besides Brooks, McCubbin's management team included several other recent private-sector hires. Among them: Eric Yeaman, a former senior Arthur Andersen executive who joined the estate as chief financial officer; Susan Todani, former hospitality consulting director at KPMG LLP who joined as the trust's senior asset manager for investments; Claire Aniya, a senior tax manager at KPMG who joined Kamehameha Schools as tax director; and Murata.
Overseeing the executives is a well-respected team of trustees who succeeded interim trustees in roles of policy-making and oversight — a sharp departure from the managing ways of former permanent trustees.
The five trustees are Hawaiian canoe navigator Nainoa Thompson, retired Navy Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, American Savings Bank executive Constance Lau, attorney Douglas Ing and real estate veteran Diane Plotts. All five began serving staggered terms in January.
Plotts in August was appointed by a probate judge to a five-year term, and is eligible for an additional five-year term. Ing's term is two years, and will be eligible for two additional five-year terms. Lau's term is three years and is eligible for two additional five-year terms. Kihune's initial term is four years and will be eligible for one additional five-year term. Thompson will serve for five years with eligibility for one additional five-year term.
Kamehameha Schools, formerly known as Bishop Estate, was established by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The trust operates Kamehameha Schools for children of Hawaiian ancestry.
