About – CIO Council

Our Mission

We’re here to facilitate the collaboration of IT leaders across Hawaii so they can confidently and effectively educate, mentor, and lead their teams and organization, boldly advocate for technology innovations, and generously invest in our state’s future IT leaders and our local community.

Our Vision

We envision IT leaders across Hawaii who are innovatively moving their organizations forward, powered by experienced teams and supported by and supporting an expanding local IT community.

Our Values

We're ready to help.

If a fellow IT leader or our team needs assistance, they know they can count on us.

We aren't afraid to share.

Generously and boldly sharing failures and successes helps us all grow and become better.

We welcome new tech.

Although change can be difficult, we promote and advance new technology for long-term success.

We invest in the future.

We are focused on volunteering and donating for a specific result: expanding Hawaii’s IT resources for years to come.

A Message From Our President

Gregory Hester, CIO Council of Hawaii President & Ulu HI-Tech CTO

Dear Colleagues:

I am honored to lead the CIO Council of Hawaii and feel blessed to have worked with so many of you over the years. These past few years have been trying to say the least with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when I hear the many stories of how we rose to the challenge and quickly equipped our teams to be able to utilize technology resources in a secure, efficient, and remote manner, I am in awe. Kudos to all of you for your part in enabling our various company’s staff to be able to continue to work safely, securely, and effectively while being remote.

Since its inception in 2008, the Council fostered education and information sharing amongst its members to address community issues of common concern. In 2014, workforce development, and more specifically, the preparation of recent graduates from our educational institutions, rose to the top of common issues of concern.

As we move forward and look to the future, we will continue to build on our roots by working closely with other like-minded organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce HI on it’s IT Sector Partnership initiative and with other organizations such as CyberHawaii and (ISC)2. We will partner with educational institutions and impart what we have learned to the next generation. We will heavily invest in improving the IT Workforce within Hawai’i so that our keiki have options within Hawai’i to work in IT while also enabling employers to hire locally when looking for IT personnel.

If you are already a member, congratulations. If you’ve been attending some of our events and would like to become a member, please do so today so that you can benefit as a member and experience the true joy of giving back to our community. Additionally, if you’ve not joined one of our committees, please do so today. We have openings in our Membership, Education, Programs, and Social Media committees which need your help.

Let’s be those IT leaders in Hawai’i who innovatively move our organizations forward, powered by experienced persons from our expanding local IT community.

Aloha!

Gregory Hester