{"id":200474,"date":"2024-07-12T10:17:38","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T20:17:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=200474"},"modified":"2024-07-12T10:20:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T20:20:11","slug":"couch-wo-uh-foundation-board-of-trustees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/07\/12\/couch-wo-uh-foundation-board-of-trustees\/","title":{"rendered":"Couch, Wo join UH<\/abbr> Foundation Board of Trustees"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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John C. Couch and C. Scott Wo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The former Chairman, President and CEO<\/abbr> of Alexander & Baldwin Inc. John C. Couch and an owner and executive of C. S. Wo & Sons, C. Scott Wo, have joined the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Foundation<\/a> Board of Trustees. Their three-year terms started on July 1, to coincide with the start of the 2025 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

John C. Couch<\/h2>\n

Couch spent 22 years working in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, most recently as the former chairman, president and CEO<\/abbr> of Alexander & Baldwin Inc. (A&B), and prior to that was president of Matson Navigation Co.<\/p>\n

After retiring from A&B in late 1999, Couch joined C.M. Capital Corp.in Palo Alto, California, in 2000 and served as its president and CEO<\/abbr>. He is currently C.M. Capital\u2019s vice chairman.<\/p>\n

Couch previously served on the UH<\/abbr> Foundation board from 1992 to 1998. He recently gave $3.76 million to establish the first-ever gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship program<\/a> at the UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine<\/a> to train physicians to treat liver diseases, including cancer, in the islands.<\/p>\n

He has also served on a number of other nonprofit boards in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, including Aloha United Way, Hawaii Business Roundtable, Aloha Boy Scouts Council, Bishop Museum, Kauai Economic Development Board and the Maui Economic Development Board.<\/p>\n

Couch currently serves as a board director of C.M. Capital Foundation; treasurer on the board of Avenidas in Palo Alto; as an advisor to the University of Michigan\u2019s College of Engineering; and as a trustee at Webb Institute.<\/p>\n

Additionally, he has served on a variety of public and private company boards, including Matson, A&B, Pacific Resources, First Hawaiian Bank, California & Hawaiian Sugar Co., Big Island Abalone Co., Foss Marine Holdings and Focus Management Inc.<\/p>\n

Couch holds a bachelor of science degree in naval architecture and marine engineering and a master\u2019s in engineering from the University of Michigan, and received a master of business administration from Stanford University.<\/p>\n

C. Scott Wo<\/h2>\n

Wo is an owner and executive of his family\u2019s home furnishings business, C. S. Wo & Sons, which was established in 1909. He is also a partner in Kunia Country Farms, a commercial aquaponic farm, and an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School.<\/p>\n

Wo started his career working for Shearson Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston in New York.<\/p>\n

Wo returns to the board after a one-year hiatus. He previously served on the UH<\/abbr> Foundation board from 2004 to 2023 in various capacities, as board chair, vice chair, secretary and chair of the investment committee.<\/p>\n

He is currently president of the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, a member of the board of directors of First Hawaiian Bank and serves on the board of advisors for the American Red Cross – Hawaii State Chapter, where he previously served as board chair and treasurer.<\/p>\n

He also previously served on the boards of The Queen\u2019s Health System and Aloha United Way and is a past president and finance committee chair at Waialae Country Club.<\/p>\n

Wo earned his bachelor\u2019s in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, his MBA<\/abbr> from Columbia Business School, and his PhD<\/abbr> in finance from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John C. Couch and C. Scott Wo returned to the UH<\/abbr> Foundation Board of Trustees on July 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1193],"tags":[319,947],"class_list":["post-200474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-administrative","tag-uh-foundation","tag-uh-system","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t