Incoming Business Dean Appointed First Hawaiian Bank Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Management

Dr. Vance Roley to join UH Manoa College of Business on January 1

Upon the recommendation of University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Chancellor Peter Englert, UH Interim President David McClain has appointed Dr. Vance Roley to be the First Hawaiian Bank Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Management in the UH Mānoa College of Business. Roley was recently selected by the university‘s Board of Regents as dean of the UH Mānoa College of Business.

"I‘m most grateful for First Hawaiian Bank‘s continued generosity toward our community, the University of Hawaiʻi in general, and the College of Business on our Mānoa campus in particular," said McClain. "Dean Roley exemplifies the qualities of leadership that will transform the lives of our students, give them the ingredients for success, and prepare them to change the world."

This academic chair position was made possible through a $1 million gift made by First Hawaiian Bank in support of innovation and leadership at the College of Business. The gift endowed a professorship in leadership and management to be held by the dean of the college. The endowed funds provide annual income in perpetuity to supplement the chair holder‘s salary and provide financial support for professional and academic activities of the chair holder as well as for the College of Business.

"Dean Roley brings to the University of Hawaiʻi‘s business college an amazing record and set of skills. He has big shoes to fill, since David McClain was so successful as the initial holder of the First Hawaiian Chair. We look forward to working with Dean Roley to train the future leaders of business in our islands," said Walter A. Dods, Jr., Chairman and CEO of First Hawaiian Bank.

"First Hawaiian Bank has been a generous supporter of our business school programs for many years," said UH Mānoa Chancellor Peter Englert. "With deep roots in the community, the bank has recognized the impact of the school on the future of our state, and we are grateful for this continued vote of confidence as Dean Roley leads the school into the university‘s second century."

Roley is currently the acting dean and the Hughes M. Blake Professor of Finance at the School of Business at the University of Washington. He is an accomplished scholar with a distinguished career in both the private and public sector, and worked to maintain and enhance joint MBA programs with business schools in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Prior to his appointment at the University of Washington, Roley held administrative and teaching positions at Harvard University, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and the Council of Economic Advisors. He received a bachelor‘s degree in economics and statistics at UC Berkeley, and master‘s and doctoral degrees in economics at Harvard.

Roley will assume the position of dean of the UH Mānoa College of Business and First Hawaiian Bank Distinguished Professor of Leadership and Management on January 1, 2005.