It was interesting reading the Honolulu Advertiser's front page this morning where the lead story blared, "Kamehameha Schools sees endowment drop by $1.7B". Because of the world-wide economic downturn, the estate's assets have lost almost two billion dollars or 18% of it's value. Despite the massive losses, the article stated "the investment downturn is not expected to have a severe impact on Kamehameha Schools educational spending policy. That policy is based not on single-year returns, but on a five-year rolling average of the value of Kamehameha Schools." Kirk Belsby, KS VP for Endowment, seemed confident that Kamehameha had the portfolio to survive the storm.
What makes this interesting to me is that it was just 10 short years ago that the Bishop Estate was racked by mis-management and disgraced by trustees that were more focused in their own self-interests than the mission of Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Try googling "Bishop Estate Trustees" and you'll be disgusted to find the first links that appear detail the antics of Lokelani Lindsey, Dickie Wong, Henry Peters and Gerard Gervis. It's disgusting because that's what people find when they want information on the Bishop Estate.
Since the courts "cleaned house" ten years ago, the quiet leadership of present trustees Douglas Ing, Nainoa Thompson, Diane Plotts, Robert Kihune and Corbett Kalama have rebuilt the Estate to profitability and respectability. We should be hearing more about the Schools, their programs and the students and not the activities of trustees. Remember when we were in school and we only saw the trustees at founders day, song contest and graduation?
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