Matilda “Mattie” Yoshioka has been named managing director of the Kauai Economic Development Board (KEDB), allowing acting president and board member Dr. Bruce MacDonald to get back to his real job with Loea Corporation. The high-technology company Loea manufactures advanced
Matilda “Mattie” Yoshioka has been named managing director of the Kauai Economic Development Board (KEDB), allowing acting president and board member Dr. Bruce MacDonald to get back to his real job with Loea Corporation.
The high-technology company Loea manufactures advanced telecommunications equipment at its facility in the second phase of Lihue Industrial Park.
Yoshioka’s appointment is effective Monday, Jan. 6.
MacDonald said Yoshioka replaces Gary Baldwin, former managing director, who retired from KEDB last month.
Baldwin is scheduled to go on trial in Arizona on theft and fraud charges at the end of next month, and could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Yoshioka joins KEDB after a lengthy career in county government, most recently as director of the Offices of Community Assistance, an appointed position under Mayor Maryanne Kusaka.
Prior to that, she was County Housing Agency administrator, and Kaua’i coordinator for the federal Community Development Block Grant program.
“Mattie brings to KEDB a strong track record in county and state governmental affairs, management, operations, accounting, and grant-writing,” said MacDonald.
KEDB is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering economic growth on Kaua’i. To learn more about KEDB, please call 245-6692, or see www.kedb.com.
Baldwin was arrested by FBI agents at his Waipake home near Kilauea in July, on a charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Maricopa County Sheriffs’ records indicate Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury near Phoenix, in 1986, for allegedly defrauding a prominent eye surgeon of around $300,000.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
