MEDIA RELEASE

Gov. Neil Abercrombie has appointed Cheryl Kakazu Park as the Director of the Office of Information Practices.

A 1981 graduate of the William S. Richardson School of Law, Park was a partner at the Honolulu law firm of Watanabe, Ing, & Kawashima before moving to Europe in 1992 and to Nevada in 1995.

In addition to her legal experience, Park applied her Masters of Business Administration from the University of Hawaii Manoa to work in the business world with American Express Financial Advisors and Wells Fargo Insurance.

Park was a staff attorney at the Nevada Supreme Court since 2003, and has returned to the islands where she was born and raised.

In addition, Abercrombie has announced the appointment of Mary Alice Evans as Deputy Director to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).

“Ms. Evans brings institutional insight to our dynamic team at DBEDT,” Abercrombie said. “Her experience is valuable as we move forward towards encouraging more public and private partnerships with government.”

Evans has a record of working towards improving the accountability performance in State government. She been a State employee for more than 35 years, eight of which she served in the Office of Planning at DBEDT.

Most recently, Evans served as the Planning Program Manager in the Special Plans Branch. She has also served on the Hawaii Chapter of American Planning Association, the Hawaii Economic Association, Honolulu City Planning Commission, and the Urban Land Institute.

Evans, 63, earned her BA in Sociology from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and a MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Evans resides in Waimanalo.