A Letter from Outgoing APAHI President, Jeff Seastrom

Aloha Kākou,

Mahalo to all our chapter members for continuing to be energetic and inspiring planners in 2025. This will be my final newsletter as your chapter president, and I wanted to give my deepest appreciation to all of you for making our APA Hawai‘i Chapter such a diverse, thriving, and supportive community.

I first joined our chapter’s Executive Committee in 2017 as a Programs Co-Chair, later serving as Treasurer from 2019 through 2023, before beginning my term as President in 2024. Across these years, from pre-COVID, through the pandemic, and now in our post-pandemic chapter, we have seen the world we live in change in ways we could not have imagined. Yet through it all, Hawai‘i’s planning professionals have remained steadfast, providing guidance, stability, and leadership to help our communities navigate these unforeseen challenges and to create positive opportunities along the way.

I am proud of our members for continuing to remain active in all aspects of our Chapter, including nominating multiple successful FAICP candidates, to recognizing a wide range of chapter award winners annually, and even relaunching in-person Hawai‘i Congress of Planning Officials conferences on Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i Island, O‘ahu and coming soon – the 2026 HCPO on the island of Maui. We also have continued to strengthen our relationship with the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, perpetuating and investing in the future of our profession through scholarships and our on-going mentor program. Having represented the Hawaiʻi Chapter at National Planning Conferences in Minneapolis and Denver, I can personally attest to other Chapters expressing their admiration with APAHI’s level of engagement, innovation, and progressiveness despite being the most remote State in the Country.

Looking ahead, the Chapter is well positioned to build on these successes by further strengthening our inter-island connections and deepening our relationships with APA National, APA Divisions, and our fellow APA Chapter Presidents. Hosting APA National President Sue Schwartz as the 2025 HCPO keynote speaker was an excellent step forward, and expanding this connectivity will only create more opportunities for our members and for Hawai‘i as a whole.

As I transition into the role of Past President, I am extremely grateful for the privilege to serve you over the past eight years in my various chapter capacities, it has truly been an honor. As a single father of two keiki growing up in Hawai‘i nei, nothing is more important to me than helping foster safe, caring, and thriving communities statewide, and APAHI will continue to play an important role in that effort.

Our Chapter is in excellent hands with incoming President-Elect and current Vice President Greg Nakai; incoming Vice President and current Hawai‘i Island Liaison April Surprenant; Secretary Matthew Fernandez; Treasurer Janice Jensen; Directors-at-Large Ollie Lau and Jerilyn Hanohano; and the rest of our dedicated Executive Committee. I have full confidence APAHI will continue to E ulu pono i nā kaiāulu.

Mahalo nui loa and a hui hou!

Jeff Seastrom, AIA, AICP, LEED BD+C

2024-2025 President

APA Hawai‘i Chapter