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Master of Business Administration

MBA Alumni Gather for Pau Hana

October 29, 2024

The gathering was a celebration of growth and connection

The MBA Alumni Pau Hana last week was more than a gathering, says Vice President of Advancement Jill Higashi. It was a celebration of growth, connection and the lasting impact of a Chaminade education.

“Events like this allow us to acknowledge the significant contributions that our alumni have made in their communities,” Higashi added.

The 39 MBA alumni who attended the gathering on October 24 graduated between 1980 and 2023.


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In addition to hearing from Chaminade President Lynn Babington, attendees also got the latest developments on the MBA and MBA Professional programs from MBA Director Eddie Merc, Ph.D.

Alumni mingled and networked at the Oahu Country Club event, enjoying wines donated by Chaminade Regent Rodney Harano MBA ’84 and gourmet pupu. One of the evening’s highlights was hearing about the journeys alumni had undertaken since graduation.

At the event, Chaminade Director of Alumni Relations Jodi-Anne Yoshida MBA ’23 encouraged alumni to continue to engage with their alma mater—and keep connected with fellow Silverswords.

She also invited alumni to join her as a member of the Chaminade Fund Society, which aims to help shape the future of Chaminade and the lives of its students.

Posted by: University Communications & Marketing Filed Under: Alumni, Featured Story, Homepage Tagged With: Alumni, Master of Business Administration

Students Reflect on MBA Experience

September 18, 2024

Graduating cohort members are excited to apply their new skills

Embrace the process—and cherish the time you have with your cohort.

That was a common piece of advice members of the Professional MBA graduating class had for incoming MBA students at a special Aloha Event on campus. The Sept. 14 event provided incoming and outgoing students an opportunity to share laughs, stories and, of course, some pearls of wisdom.

After more than two decades of being in the hotel and entertainment industry, Connie Kramer ’25 decided to pursue her Professional MBA at Chaminade, saying it had been a lifetime goal.

“Being in the program jarred my interest in academia,” says Kramer, who hopes to continue her Chaminade education by pursuing a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership for Adaptation and Change. “It crept up on me, even though academia is in the fabric of my family.”

Designed in an innovative, accelerated format, the one-year Professional MBA aims to advance the skills of those who already have years of business experience in their respective industries. The degree puts a strong focus on strategic decision-making, career advancement and entrepreneurial innovation.

Completing the Professional MBA program are, from left, Jon Watase, Connie Kramer, Gustaf Soderholm, Jacob Murphy, Lauren Hamrick and Stacey Robinson.
Completing the Professional MBA program are, from left, Jon Watase, Connie Kramer, Gustaf Soderholm, Jacob Murphy, Lauren Hamrick and Stacey Robinson.

Chaminade offers a Professional MBA along with a traditional two-year MBA program.

A defining feature of the 12-month curriculum is its “lockstep” structure, which means that all students take the required courses together—as a cohort. Lauren Hamrick ’25 said that helped her build her confidence, along with relationships that she hopes to keep as she advances her career.

“It’s amazing to look back to see what we’ve learned and how to apply those theories into real life circumstances,” she said.

A farmer and small business owner, Jon Watase ’25 said that with the help of the Professional MBA program, he was able to expand his website, grow his company’s presence and participate in the Made in Hawaii Festival. He also learned about accounting principles and strategic decision-making.

Learn more about Chaminade’s MBA programs by clicking here.

In a “Shark Tank”-style presentation, Watase even pitched his idea to a panel of professors and won a business competition. “I actually received funding, which helped my business grow,” Watase said.

“I couldn’t have done any of this without being a part of this cohort.”

Graduating students said one of the biggest benefits of the Professional MBA is its one-year timeframe.

Additionally, classes are held on alternating weeks and supplemented by online coursework, offering flexibility. “The faculty is amazing,” added Stacey Robinson ’25, adding that you can also learn lots from your peers “who will help you see the bigger picture.”

Another attractive selling point of the Professional MBA program is an international trip that’s full of hands-on learning opportunities. “The international field experience in Japan was the biggest seller for me,” said Kramer, who was recognized with the Outstanding Student Award. “We met with so many consequential leaders and had so many thought-provoking conversations.”


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Posted by: University Communications & Marketing Filed Under: Business & Communication, Featured Story, Institutional Tagged With: Master of Business Administration, School of Business and Communication

Hogan Speaker Series

November 16, 2023

Panelists share their insights into entrepreneurship

What guides you? How do you find mentors? How do you overcome failure? What advice would you give your younger self?

These questions and many more were posed to three diverse and accomplished community leaders who served as panelists during the Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program speaker series on Nov. 15 in a packed Keifer Hall Room 9. Panelists Haelee Tallett ’18, Shane Hanson ’16 and Julie Morikawa navigated the questions with ease and decorum, freely sharing their personal and professional experiences with students, alumni and faculty, all eager to soak in knowledge and insight. 

Tallett is the founder, owner and lead designer of Ocean Creations, which she started as an online business and now has several brick-and mortar-locations. Alumnus Shane Hanson is founder and owner of Freedom Fiduciaries. Morikawa, a hospitality industry executive, is the president of non-profit ClimbHi, which creates bridges between high school and college students from education to career paths, and is dedicated to workforce development in Hawaii.

Hogan program director Roy Panzarella opened the discussion by asking the panel, “What is your ‘Why?’” or “Why do what you do?” 

Hanson shared that being an entrepreneur is something innate, that he would rather work 80 hours for himself than 40 hours for another corporation. He also shared that he came to Chaminade to play basketball and eventually participated in a competiton in which student groups created their own products and marketing plans. The fulfilling and exciting experience has remained with him and sparked his entrepreneurial spirit. 

Being an entrepreneur is more important than being a jewelry designer to Hallett. While her company’s product is jewelry, what really motivates her is bringing a sense of confidence and beautiful design to customers who wear or give jewelry as gifts. Jewelry is the means to achieving that goal of the entrepreneurial journey of ideation to product to customer satisfaction. 

When asked how to create sustainable products that are not as profitable, Morikawa replied, “Why do they have to be separate, sustainability and profitablity?” She described a federal grant that ClimbHi recently received that involves partnering with local environmental and sustainability-focused organizations to maintain and improve an important ahupuaʻa (land division) on Oʻahu.

The 90-minute panel discussion served its purpose. The community leaders on the panel thoughtfully answered questions. Students respectfully asked questions. And all left the room with an understanding and insight into how following one’s dream is what it takes to be fulfilled and to have a meaningful impact.

The next Hogan Program speaker will be Gary Hogan on Wednesday, Nov. 29 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Kiefer Hall Room 9. Hogan is the CEO of Hogan Hospitality Group and Hawaiian Hotels & Resorts, as well as CEO and Board Chair of Pleasant Travel Service. 

Posted by: University Communications & Marketing Filed Under: Alumni, Business & Communication, Featured Story, Hogan Entrepreneurial Program, Institutional, Students Tagged With: Guest Speakers, Hogan Entrepreneurs Program, Master of Business Administration, School of Business and Communication

Welcome to MBA Alumnus and Kaiser Permanente COO’s World

March 11, 2022

Andrew Giles, MBA '17, COO of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii

To say that Andrew Giles, MBA ’17, has been busy over the last few years is putting things mildly.

It’s more like he’s been running a marathon—at a sprinter’s pace.

Giles was recently selected to serve as the chief operating officer of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii’s Moanalua Medical Center. Previously, he was the assistant administrator of hospital operations and support services. And in early 2020, he was also tapped as Kaiser’s COVID incident commander.

It’s a role that required him to “live and breathe” epidemiology and virology while also working to understand ever-changing facility needs, secure needed supplies and expand to meet new demand.

Testing centers, hospitalization surges, mass vaccine clinics. Welcome to Giles’ world.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Giles said, huffing a laugh. “Educating, testing, and from a leadership perspective, keeping the staff motivated and ensuring they have the appropriate equipment.”

And that’s not all Giles has been up to.

In December, Giles wrapped up a one-year term as president of the Hawaii chapter for the American College of Healthcare Executives, an organization that provides scholarships, networking, and continuing education opportunities. He’s also active in American Hospital Association and other industry groups.

All that hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed.

In 2021, Giles was honored as one of Pacific Business News’ “40 under 40” Hawaii professionals.

“On a day-to-day basis, my priority typically lies at the hospital, ensuring we’re providing safe and quality care to patients,” said Giles. “I really like to engage with staff and serve as a conduit to make sure they have the tools they need to be successful, including looking at our operational metrics and targets.”

Giles moved to the islands about a decade ago, after wrapping up an undergraduate degree in Organizational Management at Wilmington University and working in operations and environmental services. He worked at other Hawaii hospitals before finding a spot at Kaiser Permanente as director of support services, overseeing everything from hospital communications to patient transport.

It was around that time that Giles started to look at MBA programs.

He considered several different universities but ultimately decided on Chaminade’s MBA program after taking a tour of the campus. Giles said he wanted to take classes in person and liked the university’s strong Marianist mission, individualized approach to the degree and emphasis on hands-on learning.

“The mission and involvement in the community, it certainly resonated with my faith,” he said.

Giles added that the small class sizes also helped students create stronger relationships and bring the content to life. “I had a really diverse group of people in my classes,” said Giles. “There were folks earlier in their careers. There were later careerists in the military. I made some really good connections.”

Looking back, he said several projects he undertook as an MBA student still resonates with him.

In one, he explored the delivery of healthcare to medically-underserved communities, including the Waianae Coast, Wahiawa and the North Shore. He said he also appreciated the Hawaiian Studies course he took that helped him better understand culturally appropriate ways to serve patients.

And while at Chaminade, Giles also participated in the signature Hogan Entrepreneurial Program and described it as a highlight. “The Hogan program was an extremely valuable learning experience, hearing the inspirational stories from entrepreneurs and connecting with community leaders,” he said.

Shortly after graduating with his MBA degree, Giles was promoted to the assistant administrator role at Kaiser.

And he said he’s just as excited today about his work as he was when he started.

“I’m really thankful for what I do,” he said. “I just genuinely enjoy helping people.”

Posted by: University Communications & Marketing Filed Under: Alumni, Business & Communication, Featured Story, Hogan Entrepreneurial Program Tagged With: Master of Business Administration

MBA Alumnus’ Mission: Be a Force for Good

June 1, 2021

Ethan West works with local farmers to curate the ingredients for his baby food.
Ethan West works with local farmers to curate the ingredients for his baby food.

When entrepreneur and CEO Ethan West ’16 was getting his Master of Business Administration degree at Chaminade, he remembers encountering the kinds of questions that still resonate with him today. Like: “What does it mean to be a force for good as a for-profit company?” and “How do you make decisions grounded in ethics?”

“I came up with a personal mantra back then at Chaminade: profit should be a byproduct of a mission achieved,” West said, adding he recalls being inspired by professors and business executives who understood the importance of taking a “business for good” approach to making money.

West’s personal mantra is now baked into the mission of his fast-growing company, Piko Provisions, which produces organic baby food with a commitment to sustainability. The company uses only naturally- and locally-grown ingredients and shuns preservatives and additives (like sugar). 

The baby food is produced 100% locally, too, before being sent off to Hawaii stores.

A Foundation in Farming

West’s journey to co-founding Piko Provisions in 2020 started years earlier.

Before he was an MBA student, or in banking on the mainland, he was a kid who lived on a farm.

In fact, West grew up on a small organic dairy and produce farm in Maine. He says he used to wake up at 4 a.m. to help tend to the animals before heading off to school. And on weekends, the whole family would head off to the farmers market to sell what they’d grown and made to their neighbors. 

His dad was a chiropractor “but a farmer at heart.” 

Ethan West inspects the ripeness of bunches bananas.
Ethan West inspects the ripeness of bunches bananas.

“That was how we would take care of our community,” West said, adding his dad would even tote produce into the office to hand out to his patients. “It really set the foundation for the rest of my life.”

West attended the University of Maine, majoring in Political Science, and after graduation found a position in banking. That was when one of his best friends, who was living in Hawaii, reached out to him with a question: want a change of scenery? West jumped at the opportunity to move to the islands and “immediately hit the ground running.” He found a job and enrolled in the MBA program at Chaminade.

There, he found professors and peers who were just as interested in becoming drivers of positive change in business. He recalls his mentors making it clear that while leadership in business is about making decisions, leadership in the community—leadership that considers the welfare of your family, friends, and neighbors—is about making decisions “grounded in ethics and who you are as a person.” 

West took that advice to heart.

Inspired to Make a Change

Punahele Provisions baby food

After graduating from Chaminade with his MBA, he set to work on a passion that he first developed during those early days on the farm: helping to feed his community. He took a managerial position at Kunoa Cattle Company, where he focused on partnering with local companies to deliver a quality local product. And from there, he jumped out on his own to form what would become Piko Provisions.

He credits his young niece and nephew for the inspiration.

In late 2019, shortly after they were born, he stumbled across a report about toxic heavy metals contained in baby foods. Mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead. As a new uncle, the findings appalled West. As a businessman, it galvanized him. Change was needed—and he was in a position to help. 

“From that point on, there was no turning back,” he said. “It was a responsibility that I had to create a better option that honored Hawaii and used the incredible ingredients that are growing here. Ingredients like taro, ulu and Okinawan sweet potato that are perfect for babies.”

To get started, West enrolled in an online course about child nutrition and cooking. He started making and tasting baby food—lots of it—and partnered with local community groups to find parents who would offer feedback about what they wanted to see in baby food (and in a local company).

More Than Just Baby Food

Ethan West '16, CEO of Punahele Provisions

All that outreach was central to West’s mission-focused approach.

Because, West said, “we don’t want to just be a baby food company. We want to help shift the paradigm. We want to be resources for parents and oh, by the way, we make really great baby food.”

In early 2020, West and his team were just about gearing up for a crowdfunding campaign. But a roadblock stopped them in their tracks: the COVID-19 pandemic. “From a human aspect I could not in good faith ask anybody for money when so many people were struggling,” he said.

So West went back to the drawing board, picking everything apart.

The pandemic also redoubled his resolve to ensure he was keeping his money in the state. That prompted him to take a hard look at how his products were to be shipped off to the mainland and processed—a common practice because of a lack of infrastructure in Hawaii. 

West was able to change things up and keep his processing in the state.

A Mission-driven Company

Piko Provisions was born shortly afterward. The brand bears the Hawaiian word that’s best translated as “to treat as a favorite” and it refers to how the company wants to “favor all the children of Hawaii and beyond by providing them with nothing but the healthiest baby food.”

Punahele Provisions baby food

It was also created as a public benefit corporation—a company, as West describes it, “beholden to a publicly stated mission.” That mission includes “strengthening the future” with healthy food and a more sustainable food system, supporting local agriculture, and caring for the environment.

West said that looking ahead, he’s optimistic about the change he—and others—can make with business and community actions. “I’ve been cursed and blessed with a case of eternal optimism. I think many entrepreneurs are, otherwise you wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning,” he said.

“But I am optimistic about the direction in which our food system is heading.” And that, West said, is because of a growing community awareness about where food comes from—and a desire to ensure it’s not only healthy but sustainable. “The market is demanding a better way of doing things,” he said.

His message to consumers: don’t be afraid to ask about the origins of your meal.

“That is probably the simplest and easiest things,” he said, “that you can do as a community member.”

Posted by: University Communications & Marketing Filed Under: Alumni, Business & Communication, Featured Story Tagged With: Master of Business Administration

School of Business and Communication Receives Reaffirmation Accreditation

May 17, 2021

IACBE logo

Chaminade University is proud to announce the International Accreditation Council for Business Educators recently granted reaffirmation of accreditation to all the University’s School of Business and Communication business and management programs for seven years.

“We are honored to have been granted reaffirmation of IACBE accreditation for seven years. It’s a testament to the School of Business and Communication’s rigor and high academic standards and something only made possible by the incredibly hard work and dedication of our faculty, staff and students,” School of Business and Communication Dean Bill Rhey said.

“The accreditation process is rigorous and includes not only a months-long self-evaluation, but a comprehensive independent peer review. The reaffirmation of IACBE accreditation means our School is continuing to meet nationally recognized standards of academic quality and public accountability.”

In achieving reaffirmation of accreditation, the School had to show it was meeting compliance with nine critical IACBE accreditation principles, including those dealing with quality assessment and advancement, resources for programs and innovation in business education. 

Chaminade President Lynn Babington said the reaffirmation of accreditation is incredibly well-deserved and underscores the School of Business and Communication’s commitment to providing a hub for excellent, relevant and innovative business and management education in the islands.

“Across its undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs, the School of Business and Communication demonstrates an unwavering commitment to not only excellence but continuous improvement and growth,” Babington said. “Congratulations to the entire School for this and special thanks to Dr. Rhey and his team for their tireless efforts to ensure quality programming while continuing to think outside of the box to meet existing and emerging community needs.”

Indeed, the School of Business and Communication is preparing to launch its new One Year MBA program this Fall. The innovative offering, with a hybrid schedule that includes Saturday instruction and online coursework, is geared toward working professionals seeking to take the next step in their careers.

The program is built on a “business for good” philosophy that encourages community partnership. The School also offers a host of other programs, including undergraduate degrees in Business Administration, Communication, International Studies and more. Its traditional MBA program includes several timely concentrations—from Healthcare Administration to Science and Technology Innovation—that allow students to pursue their passions as they seek to maximize their positive impact.

Posted by: University Communications & Marketing Filed Under: Business & Communication, Featured Story, Institutional Tagged With: Accounting, Business Administration, Communication, Management, Master of Business Administration

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