Trustees approved the selection of Kirk O. Belsby as chief investment officer last week after a yearlong search to replace longtime Hawai'i real estate veteran Wendell Brooks Jr., who resigned in November over differences with the estate's vision.

Hamilton McCubbin, Kamehameha Schools chief executive officer, said a search committee conducted two comprehensive nationwide searches to fill the position with the unanimous choice of Belsby.

"It is important that we took the time to reach a high degree of satisfaction that we were getting the right person for the job, and the trustees and I are comfortable that Kirk is that person," McCubbin said in a statement.

Belsby will start work Jan. 6, but will immediately begin his orientation to the assets and operations of Hawai'i's biggest private educational trust.

Kamehameha Schools has an endowment group with 66 employees to assist Belsby with managing the trust's portfolio of real estate and financial assets, which are used to support the trust's mission to educate primarily Native Hawaiians.

Belsby has a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California-Davis, and is a licensed real estate appraiser in Hawai'i and other states.

His professional experience includes being a stockbroker with Shearson Lehman from 1982 to 1983, a project feasibility analyst and asset manager for American Diversified Capital Corp. from 1984 to 1987, and vice president of real estate valuations for California appraisal firm Michael Frauenthal & Associates from 1988 to 1992.

From 1993 to earlier this year, Belsby was with Arthur Andersen, as managing partner of the company's Pacific Southwest business and more recently regional managing partner for the Western region out of the firm's Los Angeles office.