Bank of Hawaii Announces New Senior Vice Presidents: Matthew Hunter, Andrea Wilson Ignacio, Susan Thoemmes and Melissa Torres-Laing

Matthew Hunter, learning development manager, has been promoted from vice president to senior vice president in the bank’s People Services Division. In his role, Hunter develops and maintains systems and processes to ensure that bankwide learning needs are identified and met. He is responsible for organizing, planning and executing comprehensive educational strategies and training programs, including the bank’s College Assistance Program and Bank Associates program. He also helps create professional development opportunities for the continued learning of our senior leadership.

Hunter joined Bank of Hawaii in 2011 as a corporate trainer in the Leadership and Employee Development Department. Over the years, he has added responsibility, becoming a key member of the People Services leadership team. Hunter was named manager of the Leadership and Employee Development Department in 2014 and was promoted to vice president in 2016.

Hunter is a graduate of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, earning his bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s in communications.

Andrea Wilson Ignacio has been promoted to senior vice president & controller and principal accounting officer in the Controllers Department from vice president in the Accounting Department. She will supervise the bank’s financial accounting and reporting, regulatory reporting, corporate taxation and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.

Ignacio joined Bank of Hawaii in 2017 as vice president & finance and accounting operations manager in the Accounting Department, where she provided oversight for the bank’s accounting groups and general ledger reconciliation processes.

Ignacio has over 20 years of experience in accounting and human resources. Prior to the bank, Ignacio spent 11 years at Hawaiian Airlines, which included three years serving as a consultant before being appointed director of revenue accounting. Most recently, she served as the senior director of its Payroll & HR Administration Department. Ignacio also served in leadership positions at several companies in Texas, including controller and manager of financial planning at Convio, Inc., controller at NewsStand Inc., controller at eLaw.com, and as audit senior at Ernst & Young, LLP.

She earned her bachelor of business administration degree in accounting and marketing from Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas. Ignacio is licensed as a CPA by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and holds SHRM-SCP certification from the Society for Human Resource Management as well as CPP designation from the American Payroll Association.

Susan Thoemmes, director of technology and operations, has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president in the People Services Division. She will continue to lead this significant unit, which includes Payroll, the People Service Center, all technology related to People Services, and associated reporting functions.

Thoemmes has been with Bank of Hawaii for over 31 years, starting her career as a cooperative education student while attending Kamehameha Schools. She has held a variety of technical and leadership positions. Thoemmes began her professional career in the bank’s Information Technology & Security Division as a systems programmer and progressed into systems consulting roles before entering the leadership realm in project and application management. She transferred to People Services in late 2014 to lead the technology function and has assumed additional operations responsibilities over the years. Thoemmes was promoted to vice president in November 2013 and has served as the director of technology and operations since 2018.

Thoemmes earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration, with a focus on management information systems, from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Shidler College of Business.

Melissa Torres-Laing has been promoted to senior vice president and corporate communications manager from vice president and corporate communications team leader.

In her new role, Torres-Laing will have increased responsibility for areas including corporate media relations, developing and implementing strategic communications initiatives, crisis communications and employee communications.

She joined the bank in 2013 as corporate communications administrator and was promoted to assistant vice president in 2013 and vice president and team leader in 2015.

Prior to joining the bank, Torres-Laing worked as communications director at Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i, communications officer at Punahou School and as web content coordinator at Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA). She began her career in book publishing in her native New York City, where she served in a variety of editorial roles at Scholastic, Simon & Schuster and Hachette Book Group USA.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in English, magna cum laude, from The City College of New York, and is a graduate of The Publishing Certificate Program at CCNY. Torres-Laing earned her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from the Public Relations Society of America in 2016.