Aiea’s Kusumoto Has High Hopes For Family-oriented PACT

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Parents and Children Together president and CEO Ryan Kusumoto.

As the new president and CEO of nonprofit Parents and Children Together (PACT), Aiea resident Ryan Kusumoto is leading the organization toward its goal to create healthy individuals, families and communities.

“Kusumoto was selected from an extremely talented pool of candidates. He is a creative problem-solver and a respected leader,” stated PACT board chairman Dave Shibata.

“He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in both the for-profit and not-for-profit business sectors, and we are confident that PACT’s services will continue to grow and be successful under his leadership.”

A veteran of the nonprofit sector, Kusumoto joined PACT last month after several years at Goodwill Industries of Hawaii, where he served as vice president of business operations. Prior to that, he worked at Queen’s hospital and Hawaii Pacific Health.

“I have a personal investment in seeing to the well-being of our communities, since I was born here and am raising my family here,” said Kusumoto, who is a graduate of Iolani School and University of Hawaii at Manoa. “To have the ability to provide vital services to Hawaii’s people is what drew me into the not-for-profit sector.”

Targeting low-income individuals and families, PACT offers programs that include early childhood education, child abuse prevention and treatment, domestic violence prevention and treatment, mental health support and economic development.

“It’s because of this and their mission to help people help themselves that made me join PACT — to have the ability to strengthen the lives of young people and build strong families, and subsequently communities,” Kusumoto explained.

“I hope to grow PACT’s reach in the community,” he added. “PACT is led by exceptional staff and has the ability to positively impact more people in the community who could benefit from its services.

“I’d like to see PACT use this expertise and grow the types of services it provides to families to create new lines of business to support its work in the community.”