Kamehameha Schools CEO abruptly resigns

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hamilton McCubbin, who brought stability to Kamehameha Schools after years of scandal and controversy, unexpectedly announced his resignation yesterday as the billion-dollar trust's first chief executive officer.

Hamilton McCubbin discussed his resignation as chancellor and chief executive officer of Kamehameha Schools at a news conference at Five Waterfront Plaza yesterday. He said he was never meant to stay in the position permanently. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"The change is not as dramatic as it may seem," McCubbin said at a 15-minute news conference at his attorney's office. McCubbin referred to himself as a "transitional CEO" who was meant to help the trust get back on track, but said he was never meant to stay in the position permanently.

He said he resigned to spend more time with his grandchildren on the Mainland and possibly return to teaching at the university level.

"I really am looking at my health," McCubbin, 61, told The Advertiser. "I have a son in the Middle East and family considerations."

However, people familiar with the situation said the Kamehameha Schools trustees for months had been investigating a complaint about an inappropriate relationship between McCubbin and a female employee. The sources asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation and that the trustees had decided not to publicly acknowledge the allegation.

Asked whether the investigation led to his resignation, McCubbin told The Advertiser that he was unaware of any suggestions that he had an inappropriate relationship with anyone at Kamehameha. He said he spoke with trustees over the weekend, "and the question was whether I had moved the organization in the last three years, and whether I was challenged."

"What we have accomplished in the last three years is really quite significant," McCubbin said.

Colleen Wong, vice president for legal affairs and acting CEO

Kamehameha Schools President Michael Chun

State Attorney General Mark Bennett

Roy Benham, member of Kamehameha's board of advisers Advertiser library photos

"As a personnel matter, it is not in the best interest of this institution to discuss the details of Dr. McCubbin's departure," the statement said. "What is best for Kamehameha has always guided us and will continue to guide us. This includes our decision to accept Dr. McCubbin's resignation."

A similar complaint about McCubbin's professional conduct preceded his return to Hawai'i. In 1999, McCubbin resigned as dean of the school of human ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a female faculty member.

At the time, McCubbin told a Milwaukee newspaper that he resigned because he was "burned out" and that "no allegations are pending and none were proven accurate."

But John Dowling, senior legal counsel for the University of Wisconsin-Madision, told The Advertiser yesterday that the university paid the woman as part of a settlement and that both the woman and McCubbin had to leave the university.

No formal disciplinary action was taken against McCubbin, Dowling said, but his resignation was a condition of the settlement.

"I don't know if you know how difficult it is to discipline a tenured professor," Dowling said. "As a dean, he was also a tenured professor."

Trustees dismiss incident

Six months later, as McCubbin was on track to become the CEO of Kamehameha, reports about the Wisconsin incident circulated but were dismissed by the trustees and Kamehameha Schools president, Michael Chun, who said: "I have known Dr. McCubbin personally and professionally for 40 years. He knows our mission and our goals and will serve Kamehameha with honor and distinction."

McCubbin grew up in Kaimuki and graduated from Kamehameha in 1959. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He focused his research on families coping with stress.

McCubbin is married to Marilyn Ann McCubbin, a professor of nursing at the University of Hawai'i. They have three grown children.

To replace McCubbin, the trustees yesterday selected Colleen Wong, vice president for legal affairs, to serve as acting CEO.

"We affirm the CEO governance structure and we are committed to keeping the CEO management structure in place," the trustees said in their statement. "We plan to have a new CEO in place within six months."

Trustees Constance Lau and Doug Ing also met with state Attorney General Mark Bennett and deputy attorney general Hugh Jones yesterday to brief them about McCubbin's resignation. The attorney general's office has oversight responsibilities for charitable trusts, such as Kamehameha Schools.

"At this point, it does not look like the attorney general's going to get involved in this situation," Jones said.

Bishop Estate scandal

Before McCubbin took over the top job in January 2000, Kamehameha Schools, then known as the Bishop Estate, suffered through years of scandals. State and federal investigations ultimately determined that the nonprofit institution was improperly managing its money and that some of the trustees had used their positions for financial and political gain.

Trustees also were criticized for interfering with everything from admissions to curriculum and for refusing to delegate the trust's financial operations to professional money managers.

The five trustees were ousted in a series of legal maneuvers in 1999 and were replaced by a new board, which determined that it was better to have an executive in day-to-day operational control of the far-flung institution.

In a short time, McCubbin won praise for his vision and professionalism and also some criticism for allowing a non-Hawaiian student into the system on Maui.

"He got the system working and the school back on the right track," said Roy Benham, a member of Kamehameha's board of advisers.

Benham said he was not concerned that the school would revert to the problems that surrounded the former board of trustees.

"I have confidence in the second-in-commands, that they will continue to function until the replacement is made," Benham said. "The trustees have the situation well in hand. They know there's no need for them to step in and take over. Their primary mission now is to touch more Native Hawaiian children and I'm confident that will keep going."

McCubbin's plans

Unlike Benham, Beadie Kanahele Dawson said she is "very concerned" about the future direction of Kamehameha without McCubbin.

"I think that he was a substantial key to the rehabilitation of the estate and the school," said Dawson, an attorney who represented a group of parents, teachers and students that pushed for the removal of the former trustees.

Over the past few months, Dawson said she had heard "all kinds of rumblings in the background" about McCubbin.

"But I have the greatest admiration for him," Dawson said. "He's really an education professional's professional. I don't know immediately what it is, but I strongly suspect that he has been made an offer that he can't refuse. In Hawai'i this often happens when there's a good person. It's not unusual for people to, to put it crudely, raid the treasure."

For now, McCubbin said his immediate plans include attending his daughter's graduation in Wisconsin, where she is earning a doctorate.

"Then I want to reconnect with my grandchildren, who feel I've been preoccupied with Kamehameha Schools, and rightfully so," McCubbin said.

Perhaps he will return to teaching, but not at Kamehameha.

"I'm an educator," he said. "I'm really a university-professor type."

Advertiser staff writers Jim Dooley and Jennifer Hiller contributed to this report. Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.