On the Horizon: Leeward Community College
Zoom
Online
Thursday, December 3, 2020
11:00am -
12:00pm
Join Chancellor Carlos Peñaloza for a webinar discussing the exciting progress of the Wahiawa Product Development Center (WPDC) and the Chancellor’s vision for Leeward’s future.
Moderator
Ron Umehira, Dean of Career and Technical Education (CTE) at Leeward Community College
Panelists
Chad Buck, Founder and Owner of Hawaii Foodservice Alliance LLC and HFA Logistics LLC
Fred Lau, Owner of Mari's Gardens
Tune in to hear how WPDC will grow the Hawai‘i agricultural industry, offer small business support to local communities, and become Leeward’s premier education and consulting resource for entrepreneurs.
Meeting ID and password will be emailed upon registration. Questions for the speakers can be submitted on the registration page.
About the On the Horizon series
This new University of Hawai‘i webinar series will showcase programmatic endeavors, campus goals, and opportunities for support at UH’s 10 dynamic campuses.
Questions? Please contact the UH Office of Alumni Relations at [email protected].
About the panel
Carlos Peñaloza became chancellor at Leeward Community College on July 1, 2019. He has worked actively with underserved populations in higher education and has more than a decade of biomedical research experience. His personal and professional focus has been to promote students’ success and upward financial mobility.
Peñaloza has served as provost and chief academic officer at Saint Luke’s College of Health Sciences in Kansas City; as vice chancellor of instruction and chief academic officer at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City; as well as other faculty and administrative positions.
Peñaloza came to the United States from his native Venezuela to pursue his education. He holds an associate degree in liberal arts and sciences from Queensborough Community College; a BA in biology from Queens College of the City University of New York; and master of philosophy in biology and doctor of philosophy in biology degrees from the City University of New York.
Ron Umehira has been the Dean of Career and Technical Education (CTE) at Leeward Community College since 2009. In his capacity, Umehira oversees the non-credit workforce development programs in the Office of Continuing Education and Workforce Development—including Business and Professional Studies, Computers and Technology, Education and Career Planning, Healthcare and Caregiver Services, Healthcare Technology, Hospitality, Industrial Technology, and Transportation—all of which combined serves over 3,000 students annually. In addition, he oversees the Wai‘anae Moku Education Center which serves over 575 students, of which majority are Native Hawaiians. He also serves as Principal Investigator of the Carl D. Perkins Grant of which the college was awarded over $5 million in the past nine years.
Umehira was selected as Hawai‘i’s 2019 ACT College and Career Readiness Workforce Champion.
Since 2016 he has served as the Executive Director for the Hawai‘i Association for Career and Technical Education which is an association of CTE professionals from the DOE and the UHCC’s.
Chad Buck is the Founder and Owner of Hawaii Foodservice Alliance LLC and HFA Logistics LLC. Hawaii Foodservice Alliance is the only Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) compliant single source solution for dry, chill, frozen - ocean, air, and land distribution in the State of Hawai‘i and serves every grocer, retailer, club, commissary and c-store chain on every island.
In 2005 Buck was recognized by the Small Business Association as Business Man of the Year City and County of Honolulu. In 2003 and 2004 HFA was recognized by Pacific Business News as the Fastest Growing Company in Hawaii, becoming the only company in Hawai‘i to achieve first place in the Fast Growing rating two years back to back.
Fred Lau is the owner of Mari’s Garden, an 18-acre parcel of land in the heart of Mililani. Mari’s Garden is one of the town’s first subdivisions, and it serves as a unique marketplace and agro-tourism resource for the whole island community. Lau started his business with a focus dialed-in on selling gardening supplies and offering landscaping services. Business blossomed and over time, he and his son Brandon began working together to shift their business sights onto a new horizon: food production. Brandon is a UH CTAHR graduate and persuaded his father to farm food on one acre of their nursery instead of growing landscape ornamental plants.