Officers:
President: Gail Higashi-Takehara
Served EMP-HI since 2013 as President, Treasurer, and Board Member, contributing to the website, elections, membership programs, and Neighbor Island outreach. EM Professional with over 25 years of experience across non-profit, State and Federal agencies, emphasizes the value of building trust and mutual understanding before and incident occurs, and values collaboration across agencies.
Vice President: Colby Stanton
Colby Stanton is a founding member of EMP-HI and previously served as a director. She is currently an Emergency Management Officer and Environmental Compliance Officer for the State of Hawaii’s Department of Transportation. Past positions include Director of Readiness and Director of FEMA Region 9’s Pacific Area Office, Director of the Center for Radiological Emergency Management at the Environmental Protection Agency, and On-Scene Coordinator in EPA Region 3
Secretary: Currently Vacant
Treasurer: Elvin Arroyo
Elvin Arroyo currently serves as the Emergency Management (EM) Program Manager for Tripler Army Medical Center. He oversees the medical center’s emergency preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response to, and recovery from natural and manmade disasters. In addition, he coordinates, delivers, and oversees all EM training and exercises for the medical center and subordinate organizations.
Past President: Michael Kern, CEM
Michael Kern retired from FEMA’s Pacific Area Office after 15 years serving as the Voluntary Agency Liaison and then Preparedness Specialist for the Pacific Islands. He has deployed to more than 40 disasters and logged over 1,100 days on FEMA travel. He is a founding member of EMPHI and has previously served as vice president and director.
Directors:
Director for Education: Niea Gardner, CEM
Niea Gardner is the Training & Exercise Supervisor for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA). In this role, she provides training and advisory services to state and county government staff to ensure awareness and competence in their roles and responsibilities related to emergency readiness and response. She facilitates sessions for internal and external stakeholders across governmental levels and within the nonprofit and private sectors on emergency response, coordination, and communication.
Director for Professional Development: Hannah Ritz, CEM
Hannah Ritz is currently an Emergency Management Specialist for ReadyZoneHQ, a Hawaii-based consulting firm whose mission is to assist organizations to become better prepared to respond to and recover from disasters. Hannah is a member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) and active in the IAEM Children and Disaster Caucus. Hannah has also supported mitigation operations as a Greyshirt volunteer with Team Rubicon.
Director for Communications: Matt Nishimura
Matt Nishimura is a Healthcare Emergency Management Specialist with Hawaii Healthcare Emergency Management. He oversees logistical support for the healthcare coalition, which includes emergency equipment, communication, and warehouse and inventory management. In addition to logistics, he is also involved in other duties such as training, data analytics, and alert and warning.
Director for Membership: Jon Shear, CEM
Jon has lived in Hawaii since 2010, and is a founding member, and a past‐president of the Emergency Management Professionals of Hawaii with over 30 years of experience in emergency management (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonshear/). He is also an active member of IAEM, serving in leadership positions in the Emerging Technology Caucus, on the conference committee, and as current Region 9 President. Jon is interested in encouraging emergency management professionals in Hawaii to join EMP-HI, and hopefully to pursue their AEM/CEM to support the profession.
Contact Us:
Emergency Management Professionals of Hawaii 