Our Team
Keliʻi Akina Ph.D.
President/CEO
Keliʻi Akina, Ph.D., is a recognized scholar, public policy spokesperson and community leader in Hawai’i. A graduate of Kamehameha Schools, he holds advanced degrees from Northwestern University and the University of Hawaii, is an expert in East-West philosophy and ethics, and has taught at universities in China and the United States, including Hawaii Pacific University. In 2016 and again in 2020, he was elected to statewide public office as trustee-at-large for the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
Joe Kent
Executive vice president
Joe Kent grew up on the Big Island and attended the University of Hawaii at Hilo and Minnesota State University, where he obtained his degree in education. Kent was a public school teacher for eight years, at King Kamehameha III School in Lahaina, Maui, and Sleepy Eye Public School in Minnesota. He also is a former student fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.
Ted Kefalas
Director of strategic campaigns
Ted Kefalas is a graduate of the University of Virginia, where he double majored in political science and media studies while playing football for the Virginia Cavaliers. Prior to joining the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, he worked as a government affairs and crisis communications professional with Capital Results in Richmond, Va., representing clients in diverse industries nationwide. His experience and established relationships help him build coalitions and view policy issues with a distinct point of view.
Ryan Nichols
Director of development
Ryan Nichols holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He quickly changed career paths and has spent more than 25 years building a track record of strengthening government, private and nonprofit organizations through strategic leadership and development. Early in his career, he traveled to every college campus in Hawaii and led a Youth Leadership School in Honolulu. Since then, he has managed teams, development programs and major events for five nonprofit organizations, earning a reputation as a respected organizational entrepreneur and strategic leader.
Sean Mitsui
Finance director
Sean Mitsui is a graduate from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa with a major in finance and minor in political science. He was born and raised in Hawaii, but also has lived in Japan and California. Mitsui worked at a local insurance company before joining the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. During his spare time, he is an avid runner who participates every year in the Honolulu Marathon. He also enjoys reading books about history and economics.
Malia Blom Hill
Policy director
Malia Hill comes to the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii with a background in law, politics and communications. She completed her undergraduate studies at Mount Saint Mary’s University and obtained her J.D. from the Catholic University of America. After working in Hawaii politics at the state level, including a brief period with the Office of Rep. Mark Moses, she went on to work for several advocacy groups based in Washington, D.C., where she currently resides. As policy director for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, she works on both national and state issues affecting the future of Hawaii.
Sarah Zoellick
Managing editor
Sarah Zoellick is a former reporter at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, where she covered three consecutive sessions of the Hawaii Legislature. She has a journalism degree from the University of Missouri, where she also minored in business and sociology. Following three years as an award-winning criminal justice reporter in Cheyenne, Wyoming, she signed on with the largest healthcare system in southwest Ohio as a writer and coordinator of its internal communications. She signed on with Grassroot while living in northern Colorado and has since returned to her Midwest roots, settling down in Ohio.
Jonathan Helton
Policy analyst
Jonathan Helton is a summa cum laude graduate of Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee. He has interned for the Tennessee General Assembly and was a fellow in the inaugural class of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy’s Vibrant Communities Program. Jonathan is also a high school debate coach and enjoys gardening in his free time. His research interests include anything dealing with land and the built environment.
Brenner Danielson
Marketing associate
Brenner Danielson is a 2023 summa cum laude graduate of Hawaii Pacific University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration focusing on finance and economics. His dual minors were in international studies and marketing. Outside of work, he enjoys SCUBA diving, bodysurfing and hiking.
Melissa Rabideau
Events director and executive assistant to the executive vice president
Melissa Rabideau was born in San Diego, Calif., and raised in Phoenix, Ariz., where she graduated from Cactus High School. As a young adult, she moved to Seattle, Wash., where she graduated from Olympic College. She has lived in Hawaii since 2018. She is a longtime business management and administrative professional.
Mark Coleman
Editorial consultant
Mark Coleman is a veteran journalist who spent almost three decades with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, a decade with Honolulu-based Pacific Business News, and two years with the Pacific Daily News on Guam. He has communication degrees from Florida State University and the University of Hawai’i, was a Herbert J. Davenport Fellow in Business and Economic Reporting at the University of Missouri, reported from Japan as part of an International Press Institute journalist exchange program, and is a former Hawaii chapter president of the Society of Professional Journalists. He also has been published widely as a freelance writer.
David Swann
Cartoonist, illustrator
David Swann is a graduate of the University of Alabama with a degree in history. He was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, and is a U.S. Air Force veteran. He was an editorial cartoonist for the Huntsville Times in northern Alabama for nine years before settling in Hawaii in 1994. He worked as a graphic artist for the Honolulu Advertiser until 1997, then switched to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for 19 years, as both papers merged to become the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. He has won numerous local and national awards for graphics, cartoons and illustrations.
Wendy Fujimoto
Finance assistant
Wendy Fujimoto is a human resources expert who first worked for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii from 2005 to 2009. Before rejoining Grassroot in 2025, Fujimoto was the human resources compliance manager for Bank of Hawaii, and before that a tax and employee benefits attorney at Carlsmith Ball LLP. She is a graduate of Punahou School in Honolulu, as well as of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science, and from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco, where she focused on labor and tax law.
Drew Luff
Research associate
Drew Luff currently attends Georgetown University where he is studying public policy. As a military child, he has lived in Virginia, Connecticut, Washington state, Italy, Georgia and Hawaii, where he attended Radford High School. He is interested in how land-use regulations affect housing affordability and the built environment in general. In his free time, he enjoys running, cycling and hiking.
- dluff@grassrootinstitute.org
Kevin Phan
Research associate
Kevin Phan is a graduate of ‘Iolani School in Honolulu and currently a student at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where he studies mathematics and economics. His experiences before joining the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii include serving as a research assistant at the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization, a strategic analytics intern at Bank of Hawaii, a learning assistant in UH Mānoa’s Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department and an undergraduate research fellow at Denison University in Ohio. His research interests are finance, industrial organization and public choice theory.
- kphan@grassrootinstitute.org
Ahryanna McGuirk
Research associate
