HUGS Announces Two New Members to the Board of Directors

June 13, 2023

HONOLULU – HUGS (Help Understanding & Group Support), a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping Hawaii’s families with seriously ill children, announced the addition of new members and the 2023 officers for its Board of Directors.

Newly elected Board members are:

• Kanani Kaopua, Sr. Vice President/Sr. Community Portfolio Manager for Hawaiian Properties, Ltd., where she oversees the annual operating and reserve budgets for medium to large scale association communities and trains new and senior association managers in areas of governance, finance, contracts, and communications. Kaopua is also Chapter President of CAI Hawaii and was most recently President of the HUGS Young Professional Committee, and was PBN’s Hawaii 40 Under 40 Awardee in 2021.

• Gregory Charles Pietsch, is the Owner and Operator of Sunset Ranch Hawaii: a 27.44 acre ranch on the North Shore of Oahu with a mission of advancing land conservation and sustainability. Through Pietsch Properties LLC, Pietsch also advises on land conservation projects, manages a diverse portfolio of investments and real estate assets for a broad range of clients,and is the designer and developer of a comprehensive web-based financial software platform. Pietsch has 30 years of corporate finance and real estate experience and started his career with Ernst & Young. Pietsch’s professional affiliations include the CFA Institute, American Society of Appraisers, Hi’ipaka, LLC (Manager), Haleakala Ranch (Outside Director) and the Historic Hawaii Foundation (Board Member).

“I’m delighted to welcome Kanani and Greg to the HUGS Board of Directors.” said Amy Morton-Sogi, HUGS Executive Director. “Their unique knowledge and passion for our mission will add invaluable experience, perspective, and skills to our Board. Both Kanani and Greg are inspiring leaders, and I’m confident they will strengthen our organization and help us to further our mission of supporting Hawaii’s families with a seriously ill child.”

Media Contact:
Alex Wereszczynskyj
alex@hugshawaii.org