TRANSFORMATION: A TALK WITH MARKETPLACE LEADERS
Speaker Biographies
Francis S. Oda is Chair of G70, an international architecture, planning, engineering, and interior design firm. Projects include city planning, tourism development, housing and settlements, commercial centers, natural resource management, historic preservation and sustainability. Francis is currently engaged in projects in Tahiti, Indonesia, the Navajo Nation, Mexico, Senegal and Hawaii.
Francis received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and Doctor of Architecture from the University of Hawaii. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Hawaii, a Manoa Forum Fellow and a Distinguished Alumnus of the University.
Francis is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Institute of Certified Planners. He received the 2014 ASB Business Leader of the Year Award from Pacific Business News and was earlier installed in the Hawaii Business Hall of Fame in 2001. His work has received over 55 local, national and international design awards.
Francis is an Apostle of New Life Church and Transform Our World. He also serves as Global Chair of Transform Our World (TOW), a Christian movement in Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America. He also serves on the boards of several local and international organizations.
Francis is married to Caroline Ward Oda, Ph.D. They have two children, Nalani Oda, DDS, and Reid Oda, Ph.D.
Francis received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Cornell University and Doctor of Architecture from the University of Hawaii. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Hawaii, a Manoa Forum Fellow and a Distinguished Alumnus of the University.
Francis is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of the Institute of Certified Planners. He received the 2014 ASB Business Leader of the Year Award from Pacific Business News and was earlier installed in the Hawaii Business Hall of Fame in 2001. His work has received over 55 local, national and international design awards.
Francis is an Apostle of New Life Church and Transform Our World. He also serves as Global Chair of Transform Our World (TOW), a Christian movement in Europe, Africa, Asia, North and South America. He also serves on the boards of several local and international organizations.
Francis is married to Caroline Ward Oda, Ph.D. They have two children, Nalani Oda, DDS, and Reid Oda, Ph.D.
Being emancipated since she was 16 years old, Yancey Unequivocally has been an entrepreneur at heart. After graduating with a B.S. in Management Information Systems, Yancey moved on to get an MBA in Network Security and after going through a lot of life altering experiences, she quickly realized that she desired to own her own company. Pacific Business News recognized Yancey for “40 Under Forty Class of 2011” and "Top 25 Women Who Mean Business 2012 and 2013" and nominated for "20 for the Next 20" in Hawaii Business Magazine. She helped launch Metro Christian Church in January 2012 playing an instrumental role in media. Yancey has spoken at many events and trained on stages with over 1,500 in attendance. She has also been a guest speaker on many WebCast shows and has held many webinars. Yancey is a true leader in her community and is enthusiastic to help people achieve anything and everything they desire! Yancey’s high energy, positive mental attitude, strong spiritual and work ethic, and leadership skills have been vital to the success of many of her clients and their organizations.
Her company, Empowered Presentations, is the reigning winner of the World’s Best Presentation contest from slideshare.com sponsored by 3M and LinkedIn. Since then, they have over 9 million views on all of their online presentations. Empowered Presentations is on the front-page feature story in Pacific News Bytes for branding and marketing specialists. Her company has empowered national clients such as Harvard, Red Bull, and Cisco, and locally iHeartRadio, Hawaiian Humane Society, American Savings Bank, just to name a few. Their company also ran TedxHonolulu2011 where Yancey was on the Executive Board and helped sharpen the presenters’ slideware to improve the clarity, storytelling and impact of the speakers’ ideas. Pacific Business News recognized EP as “2012 Innovative Company of the Year” finalist, and was nominated for "2012 Best in Business and Innovative Business" with Hawaii Business Magazine & a “2011 and 2013 Best New Business” finalist with Pacific Edge Magazine.“ They have also been written about on Forbes.com on Dec. 2011, Sept. 2012, Feb. 2013 and Indezine in Feb. 2012 and Sept. 2012. In 2014, launching a most unconventional political campaign, “AhuForHawaii” made it into the general election after a 70% to 30% win in the primary election because of Empowered Presentations Social Media strategies and implementation of creative work. EP has been selected as a finalist for “2014 Best Social Media Campaign” for Pacific Edge Magazine. Since 2015, Yancey serves in Junior Achievement, BlueStartups, XLR8UH and Elemental Excelerator with Pitch Deck Design, Story Telling and Delivery. EP has also donated many other pro-bono services. Most recently, Yancey was featured in Pacific Edge Magazine April-June 2017 issue as one of the "Top 10 Women in Business” and October 2017 finalist for Pacific Business News “Best in Small Business” and “Best in Family Business”.
Her company, Empowered Presentations, is the reigning winner of the World’s Best Presentation contest from slideshare.com sponsored by 3M and LinkedIn. Since then, they have over 9 million views on all of their online presentations. Empowered Presentations is on the front-page feature story in Pacific News Bytes for branding and marketing specialists. Her company has empowered national clients such as Harvard, Red Bull, and Cisco, and locally iHeartRadio, Hawaiian Humane Society, American Savings Bank, just to name a few. Their company also ran TedxHonolulu2011 where Yancey was on the Executive Board and helped sharpen the presenters’ slideware to improve the clarity, storytelling and impact of the speakers’ ideas. Pacific Business News recognized EP as “2012 Innovative Company of the Year” finalist, and was nominated for "2012 Best in Business and Innovative Business" with Hawaii Business Magazine & a “2011 and 2013 Best New Business” finalist with Pacific Edge Magazine.“ They have also been written about on Forbes.com on Dec. 2011, Sept. 2012, Feb. 2013 and Indezine in Feb. 2012 and Sept. 2012. In 2014, launching a most unconventional political campaign, “AhuForHawaii” made it into the general election after a 70% to 30% win in the primary election because of Empowered Presentations Social Media strategies and implementation of creative work. EP has been selected as a finalist for “2014 Best Social Media Campaign” for Pacific Edge Magazine. Since 2015, Yancey serves in Junior Achievement, BlueStartups, XLR8UH and Elemental Excelerator with Pitch Deck Design, Story Telling and Delivery. EP has also donated many other pro-bono services. Most recently, Yancey was featured in Pacific Edge Magazine April-June 2017 issue as one of the "Top 10 Women in Business” and October 2017 finalist for Pacific Business News “Best in Small Business” and “Best in Family Business”.
Timothy Yi has been President of SAMKOO Pacific, LLC and SAMKOO Hawaii, LLC since 2013. Under his leadership, SAMKOO Pacific, LLC and its team is currently in charge of two real estate development projects in the urban Honolulu area -- “KAPIOLANI RESIDENCE” and “THE CENTRAL ALA MOANA”. They are affordable housing projects sponsored by the Hawaii Housing Finance & Development Corporation (HHFDC) under their 201H Program.
He has been a Youth Pastor for the past 22 years, serving youngsters in Hawaii and overseas to make the right choices with Christian values to become good leaders in their communities. He is also President of a non-profit organization, 501(c)(3), “THE PATHWAY INTERNATIONAL”, which is actively supporting the building of schools for childrens’ education in Cambodia. It also supports children who are in need of daily food and medical attention in the Philippines.
Timothy Yi was born and raised in South Korea and came to Hawaii in July 1983 as an immigrant at the age of 15. After graduating from Kaimuki High School in 1987, he attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa studying Travel Industry Management. He transferred to San Jose Bible College in California, and then completed his Bachelor of Theology in Christian Psychology from International Theological Seminary of California. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 8 years.
He has been a Youth Pastor for the past 22 years, serving youngsters in Hawaii and overseas to make the right choices with Christian values to become good leaders in their communities. He is also President of a non-profit organization, 501(c)(3), “THE PATHWAY INTERNATIONAL”, which is actively supporting the building of schools for childrens’ education in Cambodia. It also supports children who are in need of daily food and medical attention in the Philippines.
Timothy Yi was born and raised in South Korea and came to Hawaii in July 1983 as an immigrant at the age of 15. After graduating from Kaimuki High School in 1987, he attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa studying Travel Industry Management. He transferred to San Jose Bible College in California, and then completed his Bachelor of Theology in Christian Psychology from International Theological Seminary of California. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve for 8 years.
From a very early age, Ryan Kalei Tsuji knew he was going to be a TV reporter. Whether it was pretending to be a sports commentator in elementary school or serving as an emcee at most of his high school functions, there was no denying that Ryan's talents would ultimately lead him to a career in communications.
Growing up in the small town of Hilo Hawaii, Ryan attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa on the island of Oahu where he earned a bachelors degree in both Communications and Political Science and later went on to obtain a masters degree in Public Administration. During his collegiate career, Ryan also served as a manager and was later promoted to an assistant coach for the nationally ranked Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team.
Ryan's television career began in 2009 when he started working as a color commentator covering University of Hawaii athletics. In 2011 he became a sports reporter at the NBC/CBS Honolulu affiliate Hawaii News Now.
In 2012, Ryan joined the morning news team at ABC affiliate KITV4 where he reported on breaking over-night news, covered feature stories, reported live on location, anchored at the news desk and produced a variety of segments specific for the lighter morning show audience. It was during this time on the morning news while interviewing celebrities and telling human interest stories that Ryan discovered a passion for entertainment news and hosting. In 2014, Ryan realized the value of sleep and happily smashed his alarm clock and decided to leave the morning news.
Today Ryan is staying busy, focusing on his new media company, RKT Media Hawaii, a video production company specializing in web and social media videos and video news releases. He serves as the President and CEO of the company that employees videographers and other former television journalists that cover stories in the community and develop profile videos for clients such as Back of Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific Health and Hawaiian Airlines just to name a few.
In 2017, Ryan partnered with fellow former KITV4 News Anchor and former ABC News National White House correspondent Yunji de Nies to launch the Honolulu Star Advertiser Digital Billboard Network (DBN). Together they anchor and deliver a digital daily newscast on the digital and social media platforms of the Star Advertiser and on digital screens located in retail stores throughout the state. Yunji and Ryan also host a weekly Facebook LIVE show called Hashtag Hawaii every Wednesday at noon
You can catch Ryan on television where he continues to serve as a sports reporter for Spectrum Sports covering UH athletics. Ryan is also the co-producer of the award winning documentary "Rise of the Wahine", co-founder of the non-profit Rizen Hawaii Organization, and sits on the Young Leaders Board of the Make A Wish Hawaii Organization. In 2017 Ryan was named "Big Brother of the Year" by the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization of Hawaii for his dedication and commitment serving as a mentor to his "little brother" Michael.
In 2017, Tsuji was awarded the American Marketing Association Young Marketer of the Year for his success in growing and developing RKT Media. He was also named to the 2018 class of Pacific Businesses News' 40 Under 40 list.
Growing up in the small town of Hilo Hawaii, Ryan attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa on the island of Oahu where he earned a bachelors degree in both Communications and Political Science and later went on to obtain a masters degree in Public Administration. During his collegiate career, Ryan also served as a manager and was later promoted to an assistant coach for the nationally ranked Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team.
Ryan's television career began in 2009 when he started working as a color commentator covering University of Hawaii athletics. In 2011 he became a sports reporter at the NBC/CBS Honolulu affiliate Hawaii News Now.
In 2012, Ryan joined the morning news team at ABC affiliate KITV4 where he reported on breaking over-night news, covered feature stories, reported live on location, anchored at the news desk and produced a variety of segments specific for the lighter morning show audience. It was during this time on the morning news while interviewing celebrities and telling human interest stories that Ryan discovered a passion for entertainment news and hosting. In 2014, Ryan realized the value of sleep and happily smashed his alarm clock and decided to leave the morning news.
Today Ryan is staying busy, focusing on his new media company, RKT Media Hawaii, a video production company specializing in web and social media videos and video news releases. He serves as the President and CEO of the company that employees videographers and other former television journalists that cover stories in the community and develop profile videos for clients such as Back of Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific Health and Hawaiian Airlines just to name a few.
In 2017, Ryan partnered with fellow former KITV4 News Anchor and former ABC News National White House correspondent Yunji de Nies to launch the Honolulu Star Advertiser Digital Billboard Network (DBN). Together they anchor and deliver a digital daily newscast on the digital and social media platforms of the Star Advertiser and on digital screens located in retail stores throughout the state. Yunji and Ryan also host a weekly Facebook LIVE show called Hashtag Hawaii every Wednesday at noon
You can catch Ryan on television where he continues to serve as a sports reporter for Spectrum Sports covering UH athletics. Ryan is also the co-producer of the award winning documentary "Rise of the Wahine", co-founder of the non-profit Rizen Hawaii Organization, and sits on the Young Leaders Board of the Make A Wish Hawaii Organization. In 2017 Ryan was named "Big Brother of the Year" by the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization of Hawaii for his dedication and commitment serving as a mentor to his "little brother" Michael.
In 2017, Tsuji was awarded the American Marketing Association Young Marketer of the Year for his success in growing and developing RKT Media. He was also named to the 2018 class of Pacific Businesses News' 40 Under 40 list.
“Who needs coffee when you’ve got Dawn O’Brien?!” Dawn is a self-proclaimed, “Big Mouth for a Big God” & has the rap sheet to prove it! She’s a speaking dynamo who travels the world. In 2017 she released a book, “Spirit Speak: Pulpit Speaking 101”—to equip God’s Army with His Word. You may also get breaking “Prophecy Updates” on her YouTube channel.
You may recognize her from her morning radio show, “Dawn of a New Day,” & yes she misses it! Today her passion is greater than ever: To ignite & inspire everyone — from keiki to kupuna, both men & women — for God’s Greatest JOY!
You may recognize her from her morning radio show, “Dawn of a New Day,” & yes she misses it! Today her passion is greater than ever: To ignite & inspire everyone — from keiki to kupuna, both men & women — for God’s Greatest JOY!