Deputy Director Appointed for Hawaii Airports

The Hawaii Department of Transportation has announced the appointment of Ross Higashi as Airports Division Deputy Director. He will join the HDOT leadership team led by Director Ford Fuchigami.

Higashi, who will oversee 15 state airports across the islands, will have the responsibilities of oversight of numerous modernization and facility improvement projects representing billions of dollars in construction.

Most recently, Higashi has served as HDOT Interim Director and as Interim Deputy Director for the Airports Division. Prior to that he served as Fiscal Management Officer for the Airports Division since 2007 and has more than 25 years of public service in state government. Higashi received his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
His start date was effective Dec. 8, 2014.

Attachment:

Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.