UH degrees: BBA in marketing, BBA in management ’79, Mānoa
Roots: Roosevelt High School, Honolulu
Media position: Honolulu Advertiser director of marketing and new business development for 18 years
UH memories: “I loved my years attending UH. The recruiter/counselor who came to talk about UH said that college is academics and beyond; I probably focused more on the beyond.”
Spare time: Golf, surfing, fishing
Service: Member of the Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl Executive Committee
Family: Wife Mae, one son
Secret: “I am a gourmet cook in my own mind.”

“Graduating from any of UH’s 10 campuses is a great and proud accomplishment,” says Alvin Katahara, a Shidler College of Business alumnus and the new executive director of the UH Alumni Association and associate vice president of alumni relations at the UH Foundation.

“It is important that we keep connected to our alumni and friends from all UH campuses, from the community colleges to Mānoa, West Oʻahu and Hilo,” says Katahara, who will guide efforts to provide programming and communication that builds affinity and enhances lifelong relationships between UH System alumni and their campuses.

Katahara joined UH Foundation in 2009 as director of annual giving for ʻAhahui Koa Ānuenue and served as executive director of Nā Koa, the University of Hawaiʻi football club. He coordinated the membership drive and fundraising activities for all athletic clubs and developed an annual giving campaign that supports all athletics programs.

Katahara succeeds previous Executive Director Janet Yoshida Bullard (BFA ’82 Mānoa), who was promoted to the new UH Foundation leadership position of vice president of marketing and communications—alumni and donor relations. Bullard will continue to oversee alumni relations efforts, as well as lead the donor relations, communications and marketing, annual giving and e-communication teams.

Tags: alumni, alumni profile, July11 issue, Shidler College of Business, UH Alumni Association, UH Foundation, UH Manoa