Bank of Hawaii Announces New Senior Vice Presidents: Ryan Kuniyuki, Jennifer Kuon, Melissa Pupuhi and Jason L. Smith

Ryan Kuniyuki has joined Bank of Hawaii as senior vice president and senior wholesale credit administrator in the Wholesale Credit department at Bank of Hawaii. He is responsible for working with the Corporate Banking team and several other credit team initiatives to help with process improvement and provide responsive and collaborative credit management.

Kuniyuki has 17 years of experience, beginning when he first joined BOH in 2004 as a portfolio management officer and bank associate in the Corporate Banking division. Throughout his career, he has held various positions in the financial services industry, including with Bank of America in California and Texas as an underwriter and vice president and credit officer. More recently, he worked with HSBC Bank, first in Houston, Texas before moving to Taiwan in 2017 to establish their corporate banking team and serve as senior vice president and country head of international subsidiary banking.

Kuniyuki earned his bachelor of science degree in business management from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

Jennifer Kuon has been promoted to senior vice president and director, digital commerce solutions and sales from vice president and senior manager, strategy and data analytics in Bank of Hawaii’s E-Commerce department. She is responsible for leading the bank’s digital commerce strategic efforts and digital sales team development.

Kuon joined the bank in 1992 in its Branch Division and has held several positions within the organization over the years. Prior to managing the E-Commerce team, she was a lead in the Digital Channels Administration and Enterprise Operations departments and spearheaded several major bank initiatives, including development of strategies pertaining to fraud, loss and compliance.

Melissa Pupuhi has been promoted to senior vice president and director, operational excellence, from vice president and senior manager, customer and business processes in the Enterprise Operations department at Bank of Hawaii. She is responsible for leading the bank’s process improvement efforts across several teams by identifying, quantifying and improving business processes, including GL automation and digital office transformation.

With nearly 30 years of experience having joined the bank in 1992 as a teller, Pupuhi brings a wealth of knowledge to her role. She’s held several leadership positions in various divisions, including assistant service manager, accounting manager and operations manager.

Jason L. Smith has been promoted to senior vice president and director, operations client solutions, from vice president and senior manager, operations client solutions in the Wire Operations department at Bank of Hawaii. He is responsible for leading several teams within the bank: Wire Operations, ACH Operations, Fraud Loss Mitigation, Dispute Processing, Exceptions Processing and Loan Operations.

Smith has nearly 21 years of experience, beginning when he joined the bank in 2000 as a teller in Branch Banking. Throughout the years, he has held several leadership positions in both the Branch Division and Client Solutions Group, including teller supervisor, service manager and manager payments services.

Smith is a graduate of Bank of Hawaii’s Pathways to Professional Excellence Program, and is a candidate to receive his degree in business management from Chaminade University. He serves on the board of directors of Pacific Payments Alliance.