The LavaNet Board of Directors

Board Members:

Mr. Robert Brewer, Chair
Mr. R. Scott Belford
Prof. Philip Johnson
Mr. Paul Lemcke
Mr. Clifton Royston

revised 12/2003

Chairman of the Board, Mr. Robert Brewer

Robert Brewer has extensive experience as systems administrator at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, currently Hawaii's largest net access provider. In the summer of 1993, Robert was the principal force behind the configuration, installation and maintenance of the new terminal servers at the university. He configured the terminal server to allow dialup IP access, and wrote documentation for the installation of Macintosh dialup IP clients. Roberts practical experience with installing and supporting dial-up IP has been a crucial factor in LavaNet's success. While attending Reed College, Robert worked as a UNIX system administrator and in technical support for students. During the summer and winter vacations from Reed he worked for four years at Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica. When he started with Wolfram, it was a small start-up; he was employee #9. Robert took on a variety of roles: sole initial technical support person, technical writer for portions of the Mathematica manual, Macintosh network systems administrator, UNIX network systems administrator, Macintosh Quality Assurance group head, and assistant user interface designer for the Macintosh version of Mathematica. Robert has had experience with what it takes for a successful start-up.

Robert graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics. In 1993, he entered the Masters program in Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa; he took leave from that program in order to work with LavaNet. While at the University of Hawaii, he also joined the Collaborative Software Development Lab where he developed and implemented a prototype for a collaborative Usenet reading system. He completed his Masters with a thesis on mailing list condensation systems, which he presented at an IEEE conference in Ireland. He has since returned to LavaNet as a senior Systems Administrator.

Board Member, R. Scott Belford

cott is the IT Development Director for Pricebusters, a Hawaii 9-store retailer. His deep interests in Linux and Open Source software led him to found The Hawaii Open Source Education Foundation (HOSEF), a local 501(c)(3) charity that donates refurbished hardware running open source software to schools. His enthusiasm for Open Source Software and his work with HOSEF have been recognized by Hawaii Business Magazine.

In 1999, Scott received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Augusta State University, a division of the University of Georgia. He is currently enrolled in master's programs at the University of Hawaii. He completed his MBA in summer, 2003, and seeks an MA in communications in 2004. He enjoys practicing his political rhetoric through the observation of as much political programming as possible on NPR and PBS.

Board Member, Professor Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson joined the LavaNet board of directors in April, 2002. He is a professor of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii. He received B.S. degrees in both Biology and Computer Science from the University of Michigan, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Hawaii since 1990. His research interests include software engineering, computer-supported cooperative work, and software quality assurance.

His entrepreneurial experience includes co-founding hotU, a local high tech company, serving on the board of directors of the Hawaii Strategic Development Corporation, the High Technology Development Corporation, and a non-profit medical information service for breast cancer survivors and their families, "BreastCancer.org". He has provided technical advisory services for Referentia, Inc. and hotU.

Board Member, Mr. Paul Lemcke

Paul Lemcke joined the LavaNet board of directors in November, 2000. He is a Vice President in the Special Assets Department at City Bank and was most recently a Business Banking Officer, who was recognized by the Small Business Administration for the third year in a row with the Gold Award for Lender of the Year. He also manages the finances of a medical partnership and occasionally teaches professional banking courses.

Active in community service, Paul Lemcke serves as a director on the Board of the Honolulu Symphony and Chamber Music Hawaii, and is a member of Mercury Business Association and Rotary Club of Honolulu Sunrise.

Paul graduated from the University of Montana, receiving a B.A. in Elementary Education. He has also earned an M.B.A. in Business Management from the University of Arizona.

Board Member Mr. Clifton Royston

LavaNet's original President, Clifton Royston has been using the Internet and Usenet since 1990, and founded LavaNet with his partners in 1994, to bring quality public Internet access to Hawaii. In 1998 he became LavaNets Senior Systems Architect. Before founding LavaNet, Clifton Royston had programmed and worked with computers professionally for eighteen years. For eleven years, he worked for VeriFone, Hawaii's high-tech success story. As employee #25, he was there when VeriFone was a small start-up quadrupling in size each year. He stayed with the company as it grew to become the world leader in transaction terminals, with over 1800 employees. While at VeriFone, he was co-author of a VeriFone patent on the ZAPD programming language; chief programmer for large projects involving VeriFone and large companies such as Barclays Bank, Southland, J.C. Penneys, and BellSouth; manager of the software tools department; project and team manager for a number of major projects including a complete C development package. He was privileged to work with the staff at Bellcore, the former Bell Labs telecom research group, on one project.

Before VeriFone, Clifton worked for the University of Hawaii Computing Center, the UH College of Tropical Agriculture, as a consultant, and as a programmer for Decision Research Corporation. He has also worked for the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory (where he used the original ArpaNet in 1976), and the Tongan Ministry of Finance, which still uses an invoice system he designed for CP/M in 1982.

Clifton entered the University of Chicago at the age of 15, receiving a Mathematics B.A. from the U. of Chicago in 1980. He has taken intensive courses in computer science from the Western Institute of Computer Science at Stanford. From 1990 to 1993, he attended the U. of Hawaii, working towards an MBA.

Company Officers:

Ms. Yuka Nagashima, President
Ms. Kit Grant, Vice President
Mr. Baron Fujimoto, Secretary
Mr. Pali Kaaihue, Treasurer

revised 5/2003

President Ms. Yuka Nagashima - president@lava.net

Yuka originally came to Hawaii under contract to Punahou School where she was an award winning educator in mathematics and physics, winning grants and participating in programs sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the GTE Growth Initiative for Teachers (GIFT). She is one of the original working group that designed and started LavaNet. She joined LavaNet as an employee in 1996, first as a sales representative, then promoted to projects coordinator, handling a variety of responsibilities from Human Resource tasks to purchasing. Yuka then took over the management of the Technical Support team - a key aspect of LavaNet's customer service, from Robert Brewer. Yuka has managed the training, set the standards and provided continuing education for the technical support staff.

She turned LavaNet from a high tech start-up to a proven company with a track record, by establishing the right type and amount of infrastructure for her staff to serve the customers best. Her high personal ethics and standards serve the company well, as LavaNet has an ongoing reputation for providing truthful information and helpful service. Her work has been recognized by Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Program (finalist), Pacific Business News' "Women Who Mean Business" and "Forty under 40" awards, and by Pacific News Net's "Hawaii's 150 High Tech Leaders" award.

A native of Kobe, Japan, Yuka has also worked extensively with Japanese clients in her professional life. Yuka holds a B.A. in Physics from Reed College. She serves as a director for the board of the Better Business Bureau of Hawaii and of the Hawaii Women's Business Center.

Vice President Ms. Kit Grant - vp@lava.net

Kit Grant is a longtime island resident originally from Philadelphia, PA. She holds a bachelors degree in Liberal studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has been a Creative Director, designer, artist and executive manager for over 15 years. As Creative Director for LION Coffee she managed the art department (nicknamed the Ministry of Fun), retail outlet, and mailorder departments. Kit has completed the 10 week Dale Carnegie Management Training Course as well as AMA courses in Project Planning, Strategic Management. She is an experienced trainer and public speaker. Her graphics and copy writing work has won awards ranging from Print Magazines national computer design awards to a local IABC Ilima award for excellence in design.

Kit joined the founders of LavaNet in 1994 to manage the creation of the company logo and advertising on a freelance basis. In 1995 she joined LavaNet full time as Manager of Sales and Marketing, developing the infrastructure for the sales crew, simultaneously managing all advertising creative, production and placement as well as coordinating special events including numerous tradeshows and press conferences. She was named Vice President of LavaNet in 1998. Kit is a member of the American Marketing Association. Her volunteer board work includes the Broadcast Communications Authority at UH Manoa and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii.

Corporate Secretary, Mr. Baron Fujimoto - secretary@lava.net

Baron Fujimoto joined LavaNet's starting line up in 1994 as a system administrator and a technical support specialist, who often attended to LavaNet's sales and administrative needs as well. In 1998 he was named the corporate secretary in addition to being elected as a director. During his long tenure at LavaNet, he has established himself as an in-house email and security leader. Baron was instrumental in automating many of the internal tasks required to create accounts, add customers, and in maintaining the integrity of LavaNet's servers.

Before joining LavaNet, Baron spent over 2 years as a system administrator at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, currently Hawaii's largest net access provider. Baron was instrumental in the upgrade, design and implementation of the UH UNIX network security measures in 1994. Baron helped with the original deployment of UH's Access For All (AFA) program, which opened up Internet access to all of UH's students, faculty, and staff.

Baron graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, specializing in computer and data communications.

Treasurer Mr. Pali Tuan W. Ka'aihue - billing@lava.net

Pali Ka'aihue is the Treasurer and Billing Department Manager for LavaNet. He has been with the company since 1996, bringing his extensive experience in retail management and customer service.

His daily responsibilities include accounts payable and payroll. Pali has overseen several key projects including the move of LavaNet operations from a series of three suites into a main administrative suite and Network Operations Center. He also recently researched, tested and managed the successful conversion of LavaNet's billing systems from a system that the company had outgrown to one with ample capacity for future expansion. Other accomplishments include his ongoing oordination of LavaNet's finances with the CPA, managing company tax compliance, overseeing the Y2K readiness project, and more.

Pali works closely with President Nagashima to secure favorable leases and contracts for LavaNet. He is a skilled manager and negotiator. Prior to working at LavaNet, Pali managed his own music store at the Aloha Tower Marketplace and is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the upcoming local band, Pali.