University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Shidler College of Business alumnus Jordan Odo (EMBA ’17) is a proactive leader driven by purpose, innovation and community. These qualities came together during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when he started a virtual summer internship through the Jordan and Cara Odo Scholarship Foundation with classmate John Doyle (EMBA ’17) and his former colleague Jeff Berlin.
Odo described it as a challenging but rewarding time. The program continued for four more years as the Next Gen Leaders Program, empowering dozens of students with essential leadership skills.
“The overwhelming feedback we received from student interns was that they felt inspired to make a difference in the community and we helped them grow as collaborators and problem-solvers,” Odo said.
These days, he wears many hats, including first vice president and compliance associate at American Savings Bank, president of the Jordan and Cara Odo Scholarship Foundation, chair of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaiʻi’s (COCH) Young Professionals Program and serves as director on the larger COCH board. He also serves as fund development chair and director at Family Promise Hawaiʻi and sits on the U.S.-Japan Council’s Annual Conference Host Committee.
Odo’s time in Shidler’s EMBA program had a big impact on where he stands today, and for him, the people were the most valuable part of his experiences. He said the program was the driving force in transforming a young attorney into a multifaceted changemaker.
From law to leadership
When he entered the EMBA program in 2015, Odo was working full-time as an attorney at a local law firm and had recently started the Jordan and Cara Odo Scholarship Foundation with his wife. The program helped him become comfortable with business topics he once avoided, such as finance and strategy. He said that his foundation in those early days was his “educational laboratory.”
From its humble beginnings in 2014, the organization has now awarded more than $85,000 in scholarships to students thanks to the generosity of donors and hard work of volunteers. Odo’s long-term vision for the organization is to have a lasting impact on Hawaiʻi through empowering the next generation of leaders.
“One day, I hope to see more thoughtful, action-oriented civic discourse in Hawaiʻi, so we—as a community—can solve problems quickly and not have them linger for years,” he said. “I have a lot of faith that our young people can pave the way.”
For the entire story and more stories like this, see the spring/summer 2025 edition of Shidler Business (PDF).
