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Board of directors

HCL’s board members provide oversight and direction for the organization, while sharing understanding and appreciation of our core values. Like many of our staff members, they are knowledgeable, compassionate leaders of native Hawaiian ancestry who are working to help solve Hawai‘i’s housing crisis. This group of individuals also shares impressive credentials in the community.

HCL’s returning board members are Felicity “Kui” Meyer (treasurer) and Billy Pieper (president) and HCL’s new board members include Kawena Beaupré and Alapaki Nahale-a. We are grateful for this team’s leadership!

Billy Pieper - Hawai‘i Community Lending Board

Billy Pieper
President

Hawai‘i Community Lending Board

Alapaki Nahale-a
Vice President

Hawai‘i Community Lending Board

Felicity “Kui” Meyer
Treasurer

Board of Directors, Hawai‘i Community Lending

Kawena Beaupré
Secretary

About Chanel Josiah

Chanel was born and raised on Oʻahu and now resides on Kaua’i with her husband and seven children. As a 5th-generation Hawaiian Home Lands lessee and homeowner, she has firsthand knowledge of the challenges families face in accessing housing, financial opportunities and resources both on and off homesteads. Her lived experiences and professional expertise inspire her passion for supporting others and strengthen her commitment to helping local and native Hawaiian families secure and sustain homes on their ancestral ‘āina, building lasting stability for themselves and generations to come.

Chanel also serves as the Board President of Pa‘a Lima, a nonprofit organization that offers support services and education to address houselessness, mental health challenges, financial literacy, and income instability. The organization is committed to breaking generational cycles and changing lives, with a special emphasis on supporting youth aging out of foster care.

As Operations Director, Chanel oversees marketing, community engagement, technical assistance, and operations. A key aspect of her role is connecting directly with communities to understand their needs and challenges. Drawing on her personal and professional experiences, Chanel approaches these challenges holistically, blending diverse perspectives to create innovative strategies that drive meaningful and lasting change for the communities she serves. “I’m grateful to be able to share our organization’s moʻomeheu (culture), moʻolelo (story) and kaunu (passion) with communities across Hawaiʻi, partners and investors who believe in the work we do.”

Chanel is inspired by her keiki, motivating her dedication to ensuring they can build their futures here in Hawai’i. She is also inspired by her tūtū kāne, Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox. “He was a fearless kānaka ‘ōiwi champion who encompassed the spirit of aloha ‘āina – the love of his land, and home just as we do now.” Outside of work, Chanel enjoys reading, practicing hula, and spending time at the beach with her ʻohana.

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About Aikū’ē Kalima

Aikū’ē Kalima, former Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund Manager for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, joins Hawaiʻi Community Lending as its lending director.
Kalima comes to HCL with more than 25 years of experience in community development and mortgage lending. In his new position, Kalima will direct HCL’s consumer, construction, mortgage and small business lending.
“As a native Hawaiian and Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary, I understand the financial needs for economic development and quality housing for kānaka is great,” said Kalima, who led OHA’s deployment of $9.8 million in loans to 286 native Hawaiians statewide over the last five years. “For over 25 years, I have worked tirelessly at the grassroots level, educating kānaka on the skills necessary to achieve the dream of homeownership and providing resources to achieve financial sustainability. I plan to continue serving the lāhui empowering ‘ohana and communities as the lending director for Hawai‘i Community Lending.”
Kalima takes the reins of HCL’s $16-million revolving loan fund and will oversee a team of seven staff members statewide. “HCL is honored to have Aikū’ē join us in our mission to help tackle our housing crisis by funding native Hawaiian and local families to build, buy and save homes from foreclosure,” said HCL Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath. “He has proven leadership in both the public and private sectors and has the passion to get families on the land through homeownership.”

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About Felicity “Kui” Meyer

Felicity “Kui” Meyer was raised on the island of O‘ahu. She is a Branch Manager and Residential Loan Officer at Security National Mortgage Company. With more than 30 years in the mortgage industry, Kui knows how to work with homeowners, buyers, builders and real estate professionals to help members of her community gain and retain homeownership. Over the years, she has served as a board member for many local nonprofits dedicated to building foundations for future generations through homeownership, with a particular focus on native Hawaiians and transactions on Hawaiian Home Lands.

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About Billy Pieper

Board President - Billy Pieper is born and raised on the island of O‘ahu. He is senior vice president and director of strategic partnerships for American Savings Bank (ASB) and has over 20 years of experience in the financial industry.

Billy serves as the board chair for ʻIolani Palace and is a board member for RiseHI Collective and the Daniel Kahikina Akaka Foundation. He served as board chair for Bishop Museum and the Ke Aliʻi Pauahi Foundation. Billy holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. He is an Omidyar Fellow and Pacific Century Fellow and a graduate of the First Nations’ Futures Program.

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About Thomas Atou

Thomas Atou is born and raised on the islands of Kaua‘i and O‘ahu. He is a planner with the City and County of Honolulu Elderly Affairs Division. Thomas has more than 25 years of experience in community-based economic development, and recently served as manager of the $27-million Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund.

He is knowledgeable in managing federal and philanthropic grants and contracts, as well as in providing entrepreneurship training, management of a business incubator, and administration of a micro-loan program for Pacific Islanders.

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About Alapaki

Alapaki believes in a future “where every family is part of a thriving community and where individual and collective well-being manifests a better world for all.” Principal at Islander Institute, Alapaki strives to address issues using island values. He leads initiatives around locally rooted community leadership development, sustainable local food system innovation, and community empowered education initiatives. Inspired by Hawaiian ways of living in reciprocity with the earth, Alapaki was responsible for launching and leading ‘Iole Global Resilience Hub in 2022. For 10 years, he was senior director of the team that manages all Kamehameha Schools land on Hawai‘i Island and has previously served as the director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. He believes that land plays a central role in the health and well-being of native Hawaiians.

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About Jaclyn

Jackie is the executive director of Kaua‘i Economic Development Board (KEDB), a position she has held since 2022. A proponent of “transformational and servant leadership,” Jackie is an experienced leader who knows what it takes to help communities thrive. Since she began working for KEDB in 2015, she has focused on areas that include development and construction of the Kauai Creative Technology Center, the update and implementation of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategic Plan (CEDS), as well as initiatives in food and agriculture, science and technology, renewable energy, and education. For Jackie, working with the community and having the ability to “give back” is the most rewarding part of her job.

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About Kawena

Kawena Suganuma Beaupré, Esq. is senior vice president & general counsel at the Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF). The great granddaughter of preeminent Hawaiian scholar and educator Mary Kawena Pukui, Kawena has built her career and personal life around helping others, fostering community and building a network of trusted relationships. Prior to HCF, she was an associate in the tax department of Cades Schutte LLLP where she practiced in the areas of tax and finance. Kawena is a graduate of Kamehameha Schools, UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business and UH Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. Kawena is also a certified public accountant. In 2021, Kawena was selected as a Pacific Business News Women Who Mean Business Honoree. She serves on various boards including the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, Partners In Development Foundation, and the Mary Kawena Pukui Cultural Preservation Society.

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About Sean

Sean Perez loves hearing about the great things Hawai‘i Community Lending is doing for the Hawaiian community. And now as HCL’s new director of finance, he is excited to be part of the team making it happen.

“I enjoy hearing the success stories of new homes that we will soon be building and finding for these families,” he says. “HCL’s mission resonates well with me and my passion to help others and assist our community.”

To this end, Sean will manage HCL’s finances, accounting, compliance, and information technology matters; working with HCL Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath and supervising three division managers. He comes to HCL with over eight years of experience in financial management in the nonprofit and private, for-profit sectors having worked in the legal, social service, health, and telecommunications industries as well as with the US Attorney’s Office of Guam and CNMI. In his previous job as director of operations for the Hawai‘i State Bar Association where he was responsible for directing the organization’s finances, Sean grew his experience in nonprofit financial management and gained extensive background in accounting, grants management, IT and human resources. These skills, in conjunction with his drive to work with the Hawai‘i community through nonprofit assistance, led Sean to HCL.

Currently living in Honolulu, Sean was born in Tamuning, Guam. When he was 10 years old, he moved to Oxnard, Calif., where he attended school and eventually community college. The Air Force Reserves beckoned him after graduation, leading him to serve three and a half years as an aircrew flight equipment technician at March Air Reserve Base. After his military service, Sean returned to his childhood home of Guam, where he went to college to obtain a degree in finance and economics, and then to pursue an MBA.

On O‘ahu, Sean enjoys family life with his fiancée and toddler son; fishing and surfing in his time off. “I look forward to accomplishing great things with HCL and creating new success stories,” he says.

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About Nikki

Nikki Hollern is a mother of five, born and raised in Upcountry Maui, but she spent the last 15 years in the beautiful town of Lahaina. Lahaina stole her heart, with the people and the town being unlike any other. After the fire, her family had to relocate to Kahului.

Her heart remains in Lahaina, and her goal is to help this amazing community get back to where they belong. She feels blessed to have the opportunity to be part of the HCL ‘ohana, helping navigate this incredibly hard time and hopefully serving as a guiding light to assist the community in returning home and coming back even stronger.

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