Directors & Officers 2023
Director – Jamie Asato
Jamie Asato is an Assurance Managing Director at Accuity LLP. She specializes in serving insurance and retail clients and oversees Accuity’s captive insurance practice. Jamie has over 15 years of experience auditing captive insurance companies. She received her BABA from Seattle University and is a CPA licensed in Hawaii. Jamie has served a HCIC’s past Secretary and Assistant Treasurer.
Vice Chair/Director – David Beyer
David has served as the Director of Risk Management for the Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) companies – including Alaska Airlines, Horizon Air and McGee Air Services for the past decade. David also chairs the board of ASA Assurance, ALK’s Hawai’i based captive and serves as ASA’s General Manager and Corporate Secretary. David holds both an MBA and JD from Gonzaga University and is a licensed attorney in Washington State.
Secretary/Director – Christina Kamaka
Christina Kamaka joined Aon in 2003 and currently leads the Captive Insurance team in Hawaii. Prior to joining Aon, she was an audit manager at Ernst & Young LLP. Christina has served as HCIC’s past Vice President, Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and is currently Director and Assistant Secretary.
Vice President/Director – Denys Kazama
Denys Kazama is Associate Director/Senior Account Executive at Willis Towers Watson Management (Hawaii) and heads the captive management operations in Hawaii. Denys has over 15 years of captive management experience as well as audit and tax experience in public accounting and as a CFO of non-profit organizations. Denys has a CPA license from the State of Hawaii and earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Director – Alyson Lewis
Alyson Lewis is SVP and Chief Underwriting Officer of the Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc. (CAP), a physician-owned and governed organization known for its medical professional liability protection and unparalleled practice resources for California’s finest physicians. She has 30 years of experience in the healthcare professional liability industry. She earned her BA degree from the University of Southern California and her Juris Doctor from Concord Law School. Additionally, she holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and is a licensed Property and Casualty and Surplus Lines insurance broker in the state of California.
Treasurer/Director – Jill Miura
Jill Miura is with KMH LLP.
Director – Fay Okamoto
Fay Okamoto is with Artex Risk Solutions.
Director – Edwin Quan
Edwin Quan is with Bank of Hawaii.
Director – Matthew Reece
Matt has been an active member of HCIC for the past seven years and leads Webcor’s Paramount Insurance captive, which has been domiciled in Hawaii for 20 years. He has been a presenter at the last several HCIC Forums and presented on a panel at the 2022 Forum. He was also recently on a recorded panel led by Ward Ching to discuss cyber insurance that can be accessed from the HCIC website.
Matt has nearly 30 years of professional experience in finance, accounting, and leadership, the majority of which have been in the construction industry. He is a CPA, CCIFP, and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Idaho State University.
President/Director – Paul Shimomoto
Paul Shimomoto is a Partner with Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel and is also the HCIC Domicile Liaison.
Chair/Director – Denise Straka
Denise Straka, Vice President of Insurance, is responsible for leading and managing all aspects of Calpine Corporation and its subsidiaries’ insurance programs. Ms. Straka has been with Calpine Corporation since 1990. Her team is responsible for placement of property, casualty, and management liability coverage and associated claims as well as surety bond placement. In addition, she manages Calpine’s captive subsidiary, CPN Insurance Corporation, which provides primary property and casualty insurance coverage for Calpine and currently serves as both a Director and Officer of the captive. Ms. Straka plays a vital role in developing and maintaining relationships with insurers, brokers, claims administrators, and a number of third-party service providers. She graduated, with honors, from the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Science degree in applied economics. Ms. Straka has been a recipient of the YWCA’s Tribute to Women in Industry Award which recognizes women who excel in executive positions and the companies who employ them. Ms. Straka currently serves as a Director & Secretary for the Hawaii Captive Insurance Council as well as being a member of Energy Insurance Mutual’s Insurance Advisory Committee. She has been a director for the Silicon Valley Chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, served on various Risk Manager’s Advisory Panels for insurers, and holds a property and casualty brokerage license in the State of California.
Director – Jerelyn Sullivan
Jerelyn Sullivan is with First Hawaiian Bank. Jerelyn has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. She is an investment officer in the Institutional Advisory Services Division of First Hawaiian Bank and is responsible for institutional client servicing and focuses on captive insurance customers. Jerelyn has served on the Board of Directors of the Hawaii Captive Insurance Council (HCIC) in various capacities since 2010 and currently serves as a Director for HCIC. She holds a Masters of Business Administration from Chaminade University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Director – Matt Takamine
Matt brings extensive experience and commitment to the HCIC. Matt previously served two 6-year terms on the HCIC board of directors and has held positions with the HCIC as its board chair, president, VP, treasurer, forum committee chair, and has spoken at various HCIC forums, webinars, and the Tokyo seminar. Matt also serves as the HCIC’s government relations liaison.
Matt is executive managing director and captive operations leader Beecher Carlson’s captive practice. Matt is a CPA with over 20 years of experience working with captive insurance companies. Before joining Beecher Carlson, Matt was a senior manager with KPMG LLP. Throughout his career at KPMG, Matt specialized in working with captive insurance companies and insurance carriers, including some of the largest companies in the U.S. Matt has extensive experience with all aspects of captive operations, regulatory matters, and complex accounting & operational issues.
Matt previously served a 6-year term on the board of directors of the International Center for Captive Insurance Education (ICCIE), which is the first comprehensive captive insurance education program in North America, and one of the largest such programs worldwide.
Director – Elaine Ziemba
Elaine is currently the Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for the Stanford Medicine Enterprise. Additionally, Elaine is Executive Vice President of the Hawaii domiciled captive, Professional Exchange Assurance Company (PEAC) – serving the insurance needs of the Stanford Medicine Affiliated Physician Network. With over 30 years of healthcare related operational, strategic, insurance, legal and risk expertise, Elaine continues to build on her foundational knowledge and experience to develop creative and practical solutions to the ever-changing insurance and healthcare landscape. Elaine holds BA degree from the University of Maryland, a Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration from The George Washington University and a JD from Golden Gate University.