Board of Directors

S. Haunani Apoliona has been a Bank of Hawai‘i board director since 1994 and a Bank of Hawai‘i Corporation board director since 2004. Her more than 40 years working with and on behalf of Native Hawaiians, combined with her depth of knowledge of Native Hawaiian culture and charitable causes in Hawaii, add valuable and unique perspectives to deliberations of the board and on the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee.

In 1996, Ms. Apoliona was elected statewide as a Trustee of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs ("OHA"), an entity established by the Constitution of the State of Hawaii to improve the conditions and protect the entitlements of Native Hawaiians. She served 5 terms, 20 years, until 2016. As Chair of the OHA Board of Trustees from 2000 through 2010, Ms. Apoliona led the pursuit of federal recognition for Native Hawaiians, resolution of long-standing ceded land revenue disputes, and a vast array of advocacy initiatives for Native Hawaiians.

Prior to OHA, Ms. Apoliona spent 19 years at Alu Like, Inc. a nonprofit with a mission to assist Native Hawaiians in achieving social and economic self-sufficiency, with her final six years as its president and CEO.
Ms. Apoliona earned bachelor’s degrees in sociology and liberal arts (Hawaiian studies) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, in addition to a master’s degree from the School of Social Work.

Over the years, Ms. Apoliona has served on nearly three dozen community boards, committees, and commissions. Ms. Apoliona was appointed by Governor David Ige to the seven-member Commission on Salaries for the State of Hawaii from 2019 through 2020. Ms. Apoliona is a noted composer, slack-key artist, and musician with over 35 years of performance accomplishment and recognitions.