Carrie K. S. Okinaga

As university general counsel and vice president for legal affairs, Carrie K. S. Okinaga serves as a member of the president’s executive leadership team and is responsible for overseeing the provision of legal services to the Board of Regents, the president, the university administration and its operating units. Okinaga joined the university system in June 2015, with legal experience gained in both the private and public sectors.

Following 12 years in private practice in Honolulu, Okinaga worked with three mayors as the City and County of Honolulu’s corporation counsel from 2005 to 2011. From 2012 to 2015, she served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of First Hawaiian Bank. Okinaga also served on the board for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation from its inception until June 2015, serving as HART’s first board chair for two years until 2013.

Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, Okinaga attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, participating in the honors program. She received her bachelor of arts degree in government/public policy from Pomona College in 1989, graduating magna cum laude. She graduated from Stanford Law School in 1992, and served on its Board of Visitors from 2006 to 2014.