Telecommunications company Hawaiian Telcom has named Jason Thune as vice president of fiber strategy and deployment, and Filifotu “Fotu” Vaai as vice president of consumer products and sales.
“Jason and Fotu are exceptional leaders who are committed to Hawaii,” Su Shin, president and general manager of Hawaiian Telcom, said in a statement announcing the promotions on Wednesday. “Our company is fortunate to have leaders who are passionate, caring and dedicated to ensuring that Hawaiian Telcom is successful in our endeavor to expand our fiber network statewide and improve digital equity here in Hawaii.”
The two leaders will drive Hawaiian Telcom's fiber deployment.
The announcement comes as part of the company's goal of extending access to fiber broadband service across Hawaii as quickly as possible. As previously reported by PBN, the company extended its fiber-optic infrastructure to 22,000 homes and businesses between January and June, and has a larger goal of extending its fiber service to 50,000 homes and businesses by the end of the year.
Thune has worked at Hawaiian Telcom for nearly 25 years, and has held leadership roles in different areas, including customer operations, network operations, network planning, and IT, according to Hawaiian Telcom. He was named executive director of fiber strategy and deployment in February 2021, and will continue to manage the planning, engineering and construction of Hawaiian Telcom's fiber expansion, the company said.
Thune has a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Vaai has worked at Hawaiian Telcom for nearly five years, and has nearly 20 years of experience in the technology industry, according to Hawaiian Telcom. She was named executive director of consumer products and sales in May 2021, and will continue to manage Hawaiian Telcom’s consumer revenue, product pricing and sales teams.
Vaai has a bachelor's of commerce and administration degree in information systems from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, and received a graduate certificate in telecommunications and information resource management and a master's degree in communications from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
