Meet The Team
Leina Ijacic, BS-RN, LSSBB
Leina is a seasoned executive healthcare strategist with 20 years of experience leading mission-driven organizations through growth and transformation. She brings deep financial and operator experience across acute care, behavioral health, social services, and senior living sectors—grounded in a nurse’s perspective and disciplined as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Leina also serves as CEO and Administrator of One Kalakaua Senior Living in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi’s only fee-simple assisted living community. Previously, she was Chief Administrative Officer at the Institute for Human Services, where she helped the organization grow from $17M to $45M. She helped scale services and launched high-impact programs, including Oʻahu’s first medically monitored drug detox and psychiatric stabilization center, hub-and -spoke bridge clinic, and integrated housing-and-health initiatives. Earlier in her career at The Queen’s Medical Center, she led quality, patient safety, regulatory readiness, and enterprise improvement efforts across Hawaiʻi’s largest hospital system.
Leina holds degrees in Health Care Administration, Nursing, Economics, and Biology/Biotechnology, and is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. She serves on the board of Our Kupuna, on the Advocacy Committee for the Health Care Association of Hawaiʻi, and the Sponsorship Committee for the American College of Healthcare Executives. Her leadership has been recognized with honors including Pacific Edge Women in Business (2025), Hawaiʻi Business Magazine Black Book Leader in Healthcare (2024), Pacific Business News Nonprofit Business Leadership (2022), Pacific Business News Women Who Mean Business (2021), and the Chaminade Hogan Nonprofit Business Plan—1st Place (2020), among others.
Jarod Baker, MBA
Jarod is a seasoned economist and strategic advisor with more than 15 years of experience supporting governments and multilateral partners across the Pacific and Indo-Pacific. He brings deep expertise in macroeconomic assessment, fiscal and financial diagnostics, and investment feasibility—helping translate international finance into practical, bankable projects for small and vulnerable island economies.
Jarod is also the co-founder of Pacific Economics, where he serves as lead economist for a regional consultancy focused on converting international finance into investable development and infrastructure initiatives for Pacific Islands. Previously, he was Hawaii Program Manager in Economic Advisory at KPMG, where he led economic modeling and risk assessments and helped launch the Economic Advantage platform. He has also held senior roles with U.S. Special Operations Command Pacific (Chief, Economic Intelligence & Counter Threat Finance), Maxar Technologies, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation—applying economic analysis to development strategy, regulatory strengthening, and economic security.
Jarod holds an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, an M.A. in International Policy and Practice from The George Washington University, and a B.A. in International Economics from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, with additional study at the University of International Business & Economics in Beijing. His recent work includes financial landscape analyses and strategic financing feasibility studies supporting regional climate and infrastructure priorities, including efforts aligned with the Micronesia Challenge 2030 and Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity.
Tyrus Lefler, LNHA
Tyrus has over 20 years of operating and overseeing Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living Facilities and CCRCs. He has made a career with his passion for serving the elderly and turning around struggling facilities and companies. From his start with the Ensign Group as an assisted living administrator to many regional and executive level positions. He empowers and grows leaders to create positive outcomes for the individuals they serve.
He also currently serves as the Administrator for Pearl City Post Acute and as the Vice President of Pacific Skilled Healthcare. Tyrus currently serves on the Boad of Directors of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii and is very active advocating for the healthcare system in Hawaii. His passion for giving back to the underserved population drives his daily decisions. He strives to always create long term sustainable solutions to the challenges impacting our Kupuna and Keiki.
Chris Hong, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB
Chris is an architect with 19+ years of experience leading complex institutional projects in healthcare across Hawaiʻi. He brings deep knowledge of island construction realities, regulatory environments, and cultural context, with a focus on innovation, sustainable design, and workflow efficiency to deliver high-value outcomes to healthcare design.
Chris is also the Lead Project Manager for MK Think, guiding project delivery and strategic design initiatives for healthcare, institutional, and commercial clients. His experience includes healthcare planning and facility projects such as the Tripler Army Medical Center, Hale Pawaʻa Medical Center medical office, as well as statewide public-sector planning efforts—most notably a Hawaiʻi Department of Education initiative requiring multi-agency coordination.
Chris earned his Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and is licensed in Hawaiʻi and Washington. He is on the Board of Trustees for the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, Board of Directors for Honolulu Habitat for Humanity, and the City and County of Honolulu Building Board of Appeals. His past leadership includes the President of the AIA Honolulu Chapter and the Hawaiʻi Architecture Foundation. His work has been recognized with the AIA National Young Architect Award (2015), Pacific Business News 40 Under 40 (2017), and Pacific Edge Young Professional of the Year (2017).
Jarod Baker
Annie is a strategic, mission-driven philanthropy executive with 15+ years of cross-sector leadership in healthcare, government, and nonprofit systems across Hawaiʻi. She brings deep experience securing multimillion-dollar gifts, building high-performing teams, and aligning resource development strategy with public health, equity, and community priorities—grounded in trusted relationships and a practical, outcomes-focused approach.
Most recently, Annie served as Advisor for Public Health in the Office of Governor Josh Green, M.D., where she supported policy and initiatives spanning homelessness, healthcare, housing, justice, and wellness—including launching Hawaiʻi’s first crisis hub, expanding Kauhale services, and activating the administration’s first community Kauhale. She previously led philanthropy for Adventist Health Castle as Director of Philanthropy and served as Senior Development Officer for Hawaiʻi Pacific Health’s Pali Momi Foundation, advancing major gifts, campaigns, and donor engagement to support clinical expansion, workforce development, and community impact. Annie was also the Founder and longtime Executive Director of Project Vision Hawaiʻi, which she built into a statewide health services organization and successfully merged with the Hawaiian Eye Foundation to expand reach and capacity.
Annie holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and a B.A. in Environmental Science with a minor in Art History from UC Santa Barbara. Her leadership has been recognized through honors including Omidyar Leaders Lab (2024), Pacific Centuries Fellow (2019), Pacific Business News 40 Under 40 (2015), and the Weinberg AIM for Excellence Award (2015), among others.
Chad Y. Koyanagi, M.D., is a board-certified psychiatrist and addiction psychiatrist with more than two decades of clinical and systems leadership experience serving Hawaiʻi’s most complex behavioral health needs. He brings deep expertise across crisis care, community psychiatry, addiction treatment, and street medicine—grounded in frontline clinical practice and informed by long-standing work at the intersection of health, housing, and public systems.
Dr. Koyanagi currently serves with the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health, Adult Mental Health Division as Psychiatrist for the Crisis Continuum and Medicaid Services Medical Director, supporting statewide efforts to strengthen access, quality, and continuity across the behavioral health continuum. He also provides ongoing street psychiatry services with the Institute for Human Services and on Hawaiʻi Island, and maintains hospital-based practice with Adventist Health Castle, where he served as Medical Director of Behavioral Health and Psychiatric Hospitalist. His prior roles span correctional psychiatry, rural mental health services (including neighbor islands), and academic medicine, including faculty appointments at the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine and clinical leadership positions at The Queen’s Medical Center.
Dr. Koyanagi earned an A.B. from Harvard College and his M.D. from the University of Hawaiʻi John A. Burns School of Medicine, completing psychiatry residency training in Hawaiʻi and an Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. He holds board certification in Psychiatry with added qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. His leadership and advocacy have been recognized through honors including the Mental Health Association of Hawaiʻi “Outstanding Community Leader,” NASW-Hawaiʻi’s Friend of Social Work Award, and other professional recognitions, reflecting a career-long commitment to improving care for people with serious mental illness, substance use disorders, and those experiencing homelessness.
Chris Hong, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB
Annie Valentin, MPH
Chad Koyanagi, M.D.
Dr. Kushel is a nationally recognized physician-scientist and health equity leader with more than two decades of experience advancing evidence-based solutions at the intersection of homelessness, health, and housing. As a board-certified internist and academic leader, she brings a rigorous research lens paired with real-world clinical and community partnership experience to strengthen systems of care for people experiencing homelessness and other underserved populations.
Dr. Kushel is a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and serves as Division Chief of the Division of Health Equity and Society, Director of the UCSF Action Research Center for Health Equity, and Director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. She leads multidisciplinary teams that translate data into actionable strategies for public agencies, health systems, and community organizations—supporting interventions that improve health outcomes and reduce homelessness.
Dr. Kushel earned her A.B. from Harvard University (cum laude) and her M.D. from Yale School of Medicine (cum laude), completing her internal medicine training and a general internal medicine fellowship at UCSF. Her work has been recognized with numerous honors spanning scholarship, clinical teaching, and mentorship, including membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation and awards for excellence in mentoring and health services research.
Reno is an implementation and delivery leader with 21+ years of experience managing complex, cross-functional technology and operations programs across healthcare, government, nonprofit, telecommunications and financial services. He is frequently tapped to stabilize high-risk, high-visibility initiatives—bringing strong expectations management, vendor leadership, and the ability to coordinate onshore and offshore teams to deliver measurable business value on time and within budget.
Reno currently serves as a Senior Product Manager at Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association (HMSA), leading a large cost-savings initiative expected to generate more than $20M in first-year savings and managing the IT delivery roadmap for the Customer Relations portfolio. Previously, he served as President and Senior IT Consultant at Laulima Consulting and held senior program and PMO leadership roles at Hawaiian Telcom, where he led enterprise strategic projects, improved end-to-end delivery processes, and oversaw large, complex initiatives. He also served as Director of Change Management at the Institute for Human Services, where he helped modernize operations by migrating housing assistance workflows into Salesforce, standing up new EMR and practice management systems, and streamlining tracking and reporting across multiple shelter sites.
Reno holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and is a longtime Project Management Professional (PMP®). Outside of work, he founded and continues to run a 501(c)(3) boxing club focused on providing a safe, positive environment for youth and young adults from underserved communities.
Margot B. Kushel, MD
Reno Abihai, PMP
Contact us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!