Paddy Kauhane

With over 30 years of nonprofit experience, Paddy Kauhane is the first woman and Native Hawaiian to serve as CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii (BGCH). Since taking the helm of the organization, Paddy has expanded access to the critically needed after-school youth development services to more than 3,800 members and thousands of youth in the communities BGCH serves each year.

Under her leadership, BGCH continues to cultivate increasing support to invest in operations, enhance programming and access to healthy meals, improve members’ graduation rates and test scores, and positively change the lives of thousands of at-promise children. Prior to her role at BGCH, Paddy served on the executive team at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and Life Foundation.

Paddy is a member of the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship Cohort and Hawai‘i Community Foundation’s Hawai‘i

Emerging Leaders Cohort. She was also named one of Hawaiʻi’s Most Admired Leaders in 2023 by Pacific Business News, and earned the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement’s ‘Ōiwi Leadership Award in 2022 for her positive impact on the Native Hawaiian community and particularly in the lives of local youth.

As a U.S. and Canadian citizen, Paddy has a passion for fostering diversity, equity and inclusion and enjoys sharing the traditions and culture from both places, including as kumu and board director of Hālau Hula Ka ‘Uhane O Ka Pakipika in British Columbia and po‘o and director of Hālau Hula Kawaikahe Lani Malie a me Kahulaliwai. The loves of her life include her daughter, Cassandra; her son, Chris; and her daughter-in-law, Melanie, who are parents to her beloved granddaughter, Kalia. Paddy is married to her husband Les, her high school sweetheart of 45 years.