{"id":4332,"date":"2020-03-06T12:39:17","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T22:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/?p=4332"},"modified":"2026-05-01T12:02:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T22:02:57","slug":"news-release-new-administrator-named-for-hawaii-emergency-management-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/news-release-new-administrator-named-for-hawaii-emergency-management-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"NEWS RELEASE: New Administrator Named for Hawai\u2018i Emergency Management Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#2020-001 March 6, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">HONOLULU&#8211; State of Hawai&#8217;i Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Hara, has named Luke P. Meyers, former executive officer for Hawai&#8217;i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA), as the new administrator for HI-EMA effective March 15, 2020. Former administrator, Tom L. Travis, announced his resignation in January and will remain on staff to provide continuity assistance until March 31, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTom came in as the HI-EMA administrator at a critical point for our state and he did an amazing job in a very short time,\u201d said Hara. \u201cTom restored confidence following successful responses to disasters in 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2018, Travis led HI-EMA in the face of historic rains that swept over the counties of Kaua&#8217;i and East O\u02bbahu causing severe flooding and mudslides. K\u012blauea erupted with lava flows that resulted in the devastation of over 700 homes. During the same year the state also responded to Tropical Cyclones Lane and Olivia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has been an honor to serve the people of Hawai&#8217;i and keep them safe,\u201d said Travis. \u201cI am certain I leave the well-being of our islands in more than capable hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As HI-EMA\u2019s Executive Officer, Meyers was responsible for administrative management, fiscal monitoring, legislative coordination, and disaster mitigation, as well as many other duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLuke\u2019s emergency management education, prior emergency management positions and experience gained as HI-EMA\u2019s executive officer definitely prepared him for the challenging role as the administrator for HI-EMA,\u201d said Hara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meyers\u2019 professional experience includes several federal, state, local, and non-profit entities, including: the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Islands Water Science, American Red Cross Mt. Rainier Chapter, FEMA Region X, Pierce County Department of Emergency Management, City of Bellevue as City Emergency Manager and City of Seattle as a Strategic Advisor. He has also served as a City Council member for the City of Edgewood, and a Board Member of the Mt. View-Edgewood Water Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI am honored to have this opportunity to lead the Hawai&#8217;i Emergency Management Agency,\u201d Meyers said. \u201cThere is a solid team in place and Tom has established a strong foundation for our State Emergency Management Program. I look forward to strengthening the resilience and disaster preparedness for Hawai&#8217;i.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">###<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Media Contact:<br>MAJ (RET) Jeff Hickman<br>Director, Public Affairs<br>State of Hawai\u2018i, Dept. of Defense<br>808-441-7000<br>jeffrey.d.hickman@hawaii.gov<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>#2020-001 March 6, 2020 HONOLULU&#8211; State of Hawai&#8217;i Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Kenneth S. Hara, has named Luke P. Meyers, former executive officer for Hawai&#8217;i Emergency Management Agency (HI-EMA), as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"7754,3396,7613,8946,7350,10240","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[352,351],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-2021","category-news-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4332"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15453,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332\/revisions\/15453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dod.hawaii.gov\/hiema\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}