Nonprofit Organizations Seminar

Trever K. Asam
Partner
Cades Shutte

Trever K. Asam advises nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations on issues including obtaining tax exemption, addressing unrelated business income, and using joint ventures and subsidiary organizations.  He also represents taxpayers in tax controversies and disputes with IRS and the Hawaii State Department of Taxation including audits, appeals, and litigation. He is a regular speaker on Hawaii State taxation and the taxation of nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Cades Schutte, Mr. Asam was in private practice at Miller & Chevalier in Washington, D.C. While at Duke University School of Law, Mr. Asam was the recipient of the Douglas A. Poe Mordecai Scholarship and an editor for the Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems. Before beginning his legal career, Mr. Asam was a teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools.

Tom Yamachika
President
Tax Foundation of Hawaii

Tom Yamachika is the President of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii, a private, nonprofit educational organization dedicated to informing the taxpaying public about the finances of our state and local governments in Hawaii. This means the Foundation looks at how government raises the money it spends, be it taxes, user fees, or borrowing money through the use of debt. While most of the Foundation’s attention is focused on state government, it also keeps a watchful eye on county governments as they annually set real property tax rates in order to fund their respective budgets. Tom received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a Note and Comment Editor of the California Law Review. He received his bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Applied Science from Yale College, where he was elected to Tau Beta Pi and Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated magna cum laude. Tom is a tax attorney in solo practice since early 2013.

Tom Kelly
Vice President for Knowledge, Evaluation and Learning
Hawaii Community Foundation

Tom Kelly joined the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation in 2012 as vice president for knowledge, evaluation and learning after 13 years managing evaluations at the Annie E. Casey Foundation in Baltimore. His work includes the building of internal and grantee evaluation and knowledge-building capacity, evaluation of policy advocacy and community capacity, and foundation performance and results measurement. At Hawai‘i Community Foundation he is focused on the use of evaluation and knowledge to increase nonprofit and philanthropy effectiveness and on strategic planning for the foundation. Tom is a former board member of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations and is a graduate of Harvard College and The George Washington University.

The Hawaii Community Foundation is a statewide charitable services and grantmaking foundation that provides stewardship for more than 900 funds. In 2018, HCF managed over $700 million in assets and awarded $61 million in grants and contracts including $4 million in scholarships to Hawai`i students.

Scott Hayashi
Tax Director
CW Associates CPAs

Scott W. Hayashi, Tax Director, joined CW Associates, CPAs as a Tax Director in 2017 after serving as the Director of Tax at one of Hawaii’s oldest and largest companies. He has over 24 years of accounting experience including 12 years in public accounting and 12 years of private industry experience in corporate tax departments. Scott has a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Georgetown University and a law degree from Washington University School of Law. Scott has been appointed to serve on the Honolulu Real Property Tax Board of Review and the State of Hawaii Council on Revenues. Scott also serves on the board of various nonprofit organizations, including the Hawaii Community Reinvestment Corporation (Treasurer), Pacific and Asian Affairs Council (Treasurer) and St. Francis School.

Shari Chang
Chief Executive Officer
Girl Scouts Hawaii

Shari Chang, Chief Executive Officer of Girl Scouts of Hawaii, is a 35-year veteran of hospitality marketing and a highly recognized marketer in Hawaii instrumental in the vision and creative development driving numerous high-profile and award-winning global marketing campaigns. Chang is using her business and marketing background to help guide the local expansion of the world’s largest leadership development program for girls. “Our mission is to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. Through activities in science, technology, financial literacy and entrepreneurship, and outdoor environmental awareness, Girl Scouting provides girls with opportunities to development leadership skills and self-esteem.” She launched a new marketing campaign “We’re More Than Just Cookies!” to bring awareness to the many benefits that Girl Scouts provides girls.

Prior to joining Girl Scouts of Hawai`i Chang led the sales, marketing and revenue management strategies at Aston Hotels & Resorts for eight years as senior vice president of sales, marketing and revenue management. Prior to that, she was senior vice president of Aloha Airlines and senior vice president of the Castle Group. She also served as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Aloha United Way. Chang has been recognized for seven consecutive years as one of the most powerful women in travel nationwide by Travel Agent magazine and is the first woman to be honored in three categories: Hotels and Resorts, Destination Marketing and Airlines. She was named Destination Marketer of the year in 2009 and served as Chair of the Hawaii Tourism Authority. She most recently was honored by Pacific Business News 2017 Women Who Mean Business as an Industry Leader for the nonprofit category and was a finalist for Hawaii Business Woman of the Year in the for-profit category in 2014 and 2013.

Chang is a member of the International Women’s Leadership Federation, a premier women’s networking organization and serves on several nonprofit boards.

Linda Axtell-Thompson
Principal
Axtell Consulting LLC

Linda Axtell-Thompson, DBE, MBA, has 30+ years professional experience in nonprofit management, including 25+ years in healthcare.  Her particular areas of interest include ethical issues of aging, dementia, and end-of-life care, as well as the intersect of professional ethics and personal values.  She is an adjunct faculty in business administration and healthcare management at Chaminade University of Honolulu, in health care administration at University of Hawaii West Oahu, and in ethics in aging at University of Hawaii at Manoa. She is also Principal of Axtell Consulting LLC, which offers consulting and training services in ethics and strategy.   She has a Doctor of Bioethics degree (organizational ethics emphasis) from Loyola University Chicago, MBA (nonprofit management emphasis) from Yale School of Management, and BA in Philosophy from University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Rylan Chong
Co-Director, Data Science Program
Chaminade University of Honolulu

Dr. Rylan Chong is the Co-Director of the Data Science Program in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Chaminade University of Honolulu. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Hogan Entrepreneur Certificate from Chaminade University of Honolulu. Dr. Chong has a master’s degree from Purdue University in Information Security. He specialized in biometric systems and human factors during his master’s degree. His thesis examined the motivations of the community pharmacies to use password, ID-card, and biometric authentication systems. Dr. Chong completed his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Information Security and a Graduate Certificate in Information Security Policy at Purdue University. His dissertation work investigated the relationships of social cognitive career theory factors and cybersecurity research self-efficacy of former and current college students. He was an Alfred Sloan Foundation indigenous graduate scholar and a fellow of the Bilsland Strategic Initiative Fellowship. The Bilsland Fellowship is for outstanding Ph.D. students that demonstrated superior academic abilities and scholarly achievements. Dr. Chong currently serves on committees in cybersecurity and data science. His research areas at Chaminade University of Honolulu are in data science, cybersecurity and human factors, and career development of cybersecurity and data science students.

Spencer Lau, Jr.
Interim Director of Finance
Honolulu Community Action Program, Inc. (HCAP)

Spencer Lau, Jr. is the Interim Director of Finance of the Honolulu Community Action Program, Inc., a nonprofit human services organization providing opportunities and inspiration to enable low-income individuals and families located on Oahu achieve self-reliance. Spencer is a graduate of Chaminade University’s undergraduate class of 2012 with a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies, and a 2018 graduate of Chaminade’s MBA Program. His professional experience includes four years with the Hawaii State Legislature and three years at First Hawaiian Bank. Spencer has spent the last two 1/2 years at the Honolulu Community Action Program (HCAP), and since March 2019 is serving as the Agency’s Interim Director of Finance.

Michael Coppes
Senior Executive Director of Estate and Gift Planning
University of Hawaii Foundation

Mike is the Senior Executive Director of Estate and Gift Planning at the University of Hawaii Foundation, where he provides charitable estate and gift planning counsel to the UH ohana and friends on tax-smart strategies for philanthropic support of the University. He is a licensed attorney, retired from private practice in 2008 after 30 years of practice focused on wills, trusts, estate administration, general probate law, and advising non-profits on charitable gift planning. Mike’s charitable gift planning expertise encompasses charitable bequests, charitable remainder trusts, charitable lead trusts, business and real estate planning, and charitable gift annuities. Mike was also certified by the Indiana Supreme Court as a civil law mediator, and is a former Master Commissioner of the Marion County (Indiana) Superior Court, Probate Division.

Mike received his Juris Doctor (JD) from Indiana University McKinney School of Law, and his BS in Marketing from Indiana University Kelley School of Business. He is a member of the State Bar of Indiana, Federal Bar of the Southern District of Indiana, Hawaii Estate Planning Council (past president ), Financial Planners Association of Hawaii, National Partnership for Philanthropic Planning (past president and board member of its local chapter, the Hawaii Gift Planning Council.)

Mike has old ties to Hawaii and the Pacific Rim. He was a professional vacation tour director based in Hawaii from 1972 to 1976, working extensively throughout the islands, and exploring Asia and New Zealand for pleasure. He is privileged to be working for the advancement of the University, State and people of Hawaii.

Hugh R. Jones
Chief Legal Officer
University of Hawaii Foundation

Hugh R. Jones serves as the Foundation’s chief legal officer. In this key role Jones will support the UH Foundation with board corporate governance and legal matters, compliance with State and Federal nonprofit reporting requirements, and the fundraising and asset management mission. Reporting to the President and CEO, he will serve as the primary in-house legal adviser, overseeing compliance, corporate, contract and document review and all UH Foundation’s legal affairs.

Jones is a seasoned legal professional with substantial experience providing legal counsel and advice on corporate, governance, tax, regulatory and transactional matters specific to the nonprofit sector. Jones, a Senior Deputy Attorney General, has served with the Hawaiʻi Attorney General’s office for almost 29 years.  For more than a decade, Jones supervised the Tax and Charities Division of the Hawaiʻi Attorney General’s office. Here he was responsible for developing and overseeing the Attorney General’s charitable oversight program on registration, corporate governance, and charitable fundraising related matters. The Tax and Charities Division provides regulatory oversight over 4,500 public charities, charitable trusts, and private foundations in Hawaiʻi and enforces Hawai‘i’s charitable solicitation law.  Jones also drafted several legislative acts affecting nonprofit governance and fundraising practices.  He was a visiting professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law from 2010 – 2016 where he co-taught “The Law of Nonprofit Organizations.”

Jones earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He is the past president of the Hawaiʻi State Bar Association, and past president of the National Association of State Charity Officials. In recognition of his work, he has received multiple awards including the 2016 AG Senior Staff of the Year award from the National Association of Attorneys General; 2007 Hawaiʻi State Bar Association’s President’s Award; and is a four-time recipient of the Attorney General’s Sustained Superior Performance Award.  Jones is a frequent speaker and faculty member at national and Hawaiʻi conferences and seminars devoted to nonprofit governance and regulatory matters.

Eric Valdescaro
Associate Vice President, Advancement Services
University of Hawaii Foundation

Valdescaro has more than 25 years of experience supporting higher education and foundation advancement. Positions include most recently serving as the Executive Director of Advancement Services at California Lutheran University. Here he oversaw advancement services for the university, its affiliate Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, and KCLU public radio. During the course of his career Valdescaro has been involved with six capital fundraising campaigns including Dartmouth College’s $1.3 Billion Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, and most recently Cal Lutheran’s ongoing $30M Science Initiative.

Eric Valdescaro serves as the Associate Vice President for Advancement Services. He manages several areas within the advancement services operation including gift processing, prospect research and management, reporting and analytics, donor compliance and gift administration and information technology. In this role he establishes principles and applies technical solutions to enhance the organization’s processes and infrastructure to grow the success of the Foundation’s fundraising and alumni engagement mission.

Valdescaro earned his Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Connecticut. Passionate about the advancement sector, Valdescaro serves on both the Records Management and Information Management Best Practices committees for the Association of Advancement Services Professionals which works to strengthen the field of advancement services and the careers of individual professionals by connecting, informing and empowering a network of current and aspiring advancement services leaders.

Aaron Willamson
Associate Professor, Accounting
Chamiande University of Honolulu

Aaron M. Williamson Jr is a distinguished graduate of Florida A&M University where he received his Bachelors of Science in Economics with a minor in Mathematics. Aaron obtained his Masters in Accounting and Business Advisory from The University of Baltimore in Baltimore Maryland. During his time in Baltimore he worked for a Regional Accounting Firm led by ex-Anderson Partners. After graduating from U of B he went on to pursue a 6 year career with KPMG LLP; in that time Aaron obtained his CPA. Aaron is licensed by both the Hawaii and Florida State Boards of Accountancy. His Firm T-SOA, Certified Public Accounting Services is also an active professional corporation registered with the DCCA.

In recent years Aaron has shifted his service capacity to educating the future generation of accountants and business leaders, and running a community serving accounting firm focused on Small Business and Nonprofits in the State of Hawaii. As an educator he exercises the opportunity to continue to share his ever expanding knowledge and experience in the form of teaching and mentorship.

As an auditor Aaron has specialized in servicing Financial, Insurance, Governmental, Not-For-Profit and Healthcare Organizations. Specialization in these types of organizations has contributed to his knowledge and continual use of GAAP & Control Process Development stemming from his knowledge of SOX, FASB and GASB. He has continued to expand his understanding of the needs of Small Businesses and Not-For-Profit’s annually through AICPA approved continuing professional education hours & national and international conferences on accounting and business. He uses this knowledge to better serve his students, clients and employees as an Educator and CPA Firm Principal.

Wayne Tanna
Professor, Accounting
Chaminade University of Honolulu

Wayne M. Tanna is a professor of accounting at Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii. Wayne is a Sam Walton Fellow and a faculty advisor to Chaminade’s Business Ethics Student case study competition team. He is also the advisor to the Samoan Club at Chaminade.

Wayne has executive appointments to federal and state advisory committees including the IRS National Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, the Hawaii Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights and the Hawaii Taskforce on Financial Education and Asset Building.

Wayne has volunteered with Special Olympics for over 38 years and for the past 18 has been the powerlifting coach for the Ducks of Hawaii Special Olympics. He has also for the past 31 years served as a volunteer income tax preparer, instructor, and coordinator for the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance ( VITA ) Program; Wayne has been a reading teacher for Project Literacy U.S. ( PLUS ); volunteer Guardian Ad Litem; and provider of pro bono legal services to individuals and nonprofit community organizations. Wayne’s current law practice is in the areas of poverty law and civil rights and has been performed exclusively pro bono publico for the past 22 years. Wayne was awarded The President’s Volunteer Service Award, 2008, presented by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation. This national award recognizes exemplary volunteer service to the community and country.

Wayne Tanna
Associate Professor, Accounting
Chaminade University of Honolulu

An Associate Professor of Accounting at Chaminade University of Honolulu, Richard teaches a wide range of courses in accounting, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels and his research interests include non-profit accounting, service learning and experiential learning, and accounting education pedagogies. Professor Kido has served as a member of the Board of Regents for Chaminade University in an ex-officio capacity as part of his role as faculty senate president (2009) and was again elected to serve during the academic year 2018-2019.  Richard serves as the academic advisor to accounting majors. An inspiration to his students, he was instrumental in Chaminade University receiving the Presidential Award for its service-learning program. In April 2017, he was awarded the International Excellence in Teaching Award by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education. In June 2015, Richard was honored as the Michael E. Fassiotto Scholar-In-Residence at New York University’s Faculty Resource Network.

Prior to his entering academia in 2002, he was involved in several management positions in private industry, including chief financial officer positions in the savings and loan, real estate development and hospitality industries for over 25 years. Richard has also operated his own firm for several years specializing in accounting and financial consulting. A graduate of Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University and his Masters in Business Administration degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Richard has made presentations at numerous conferences, primarily on non-profit accounting and service-learning.  Richard has been selected to participate in New York University’s Faculty Resource Network Scholars-in-Residence Program every June for the past 12 years.  Richard is active in the Honolulu business community as a consultant and accounting practitioner and is a member of the board of several non-profit organizations.