Mana Pacific Adds Christine Gayagas and Geoff Brown to Board of Directors

KIHEI, Hawaii, April 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Nationally acclaimed renewable energy project developer Mana Pacific announced that Christine Gayagas, an Indo-Pacific Regional Lead for the Institute for Security Governance, and Geoff Brown, former CEO of Powin Energy, have joined its Board of Directors. Increasing its project pipeline by 400% in 2023, the Hawaii-based Pacific Islands project developer adds these key directors to help guide the significant growth and impact of the company in the Pacific.

Dr. Christine (Crissy) Gayagas is a well-recognized expert in the Indo-Pacific with a keen understanding of the cultural diversity and challenges faced by the Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Dr. Gayagas hails from Hawaii and currently serves as an advisor and program lead for the Indo-Pacific region as part of the Institute for Security Governance. Her work is focused on institutional capacity building with partners, enabling their ability to manage security forces. Previously, Dr. Gayagas served as a visiting scholar at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) to educate, and empower international fellows. She also facilitated seminars and supported workshops including the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Following a distinguished professional military career where she last served as the Deputy Commander for a 21,000-service member Expeditionary Command in Iraq, COL (Ret) Gayagas led private consulting firms and non-profits supporting Native Hawaiian organizations, renewable energy programs, and global development. She served on the Queens Health System board, Oahu Economic Development board where she chaired the Renewable Energy Committee, the Governor's Aerospace Committee, and the DKI APCSS Foundation board; and she chairs the Chaminade University Board of Governors. She sold her first consulting company and served as a co-founder for another in support of General Motors' renewable hydrogen fuel cell vehicle pilot program in Hawaii. These experiences make her the ideal choice for the benefit director, the key member of the board responsible for ensuring the public benefit and community contributions of Mana Pacific's efforts as a Hawaii Sustainable Business.

"I am passionate about building partner capacity and my role as the Benefit Director aligns well with Mana Pacific's charter for creating sustainable impact in communities while developing renewable energy projects. It is an honor to serve with fellow board members who are enthusiastic about this mission and I look forward to supporting Mana Pacific's vision in this region." Gayagas shared regarding her new role with the Mana Pacific board.

Geoff Brown is a renewable power and storage expert with 20 years of experience with companies and projects dedicated to building a cleaner world and a personal history of commitment to the Pacific Island community. For over 7 years Geoff served as President and CEO of Powin where he led their growth from a small start up to one of the world's largest battery integrators. With over 8GWh of batteries installed across 100 different projects Powin is working to advance the energy frontier and ensure the world's access to clean, resilient and affordable power. 

Before coming to Powin Geoff had over a decade of experience with wind, solar, and energy storage project development, design and financing for companies including: NRG Renew, Beacon Power, Element Power, and Garrad Hassan America. This included developing microgrid projects in Alaska, Hawaii and Guam with Beacon Power - and several Caribbean island projects at NRG.

Geoff comes to Mana Pacific with early exposure to the challenges and unique energy requirements of the Pacific Islands. He spent a year early in his career volunteering on Unanu, one of the outer islands in the Federated States of Micronesia, helping to build sustainable energy and water projects for the community.

Regarding his new role on the Mana Pacific team, Geoff said, "I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to bring the skills and knowledge I've learned over my career back to the communities where it all began for me. I am so impressed with the work Joe and the Mana Pacific team has done and look forward to supporting their continued success as a thriving benefit company doing well for all our stakeholders."

Mana Pacific's CEO, Joe Reed shared "Mana Pacific is truly fortunate to have such respected and capable thought leaders joining our Board. With our significant growth and the wide reach of our projects, we value the vast expertise Geoff brings to our team. As a Hawaii Sustainable Business, our vision and mission is to keep a keen focus on the impact and contributions we make to all of our island stakeholders as well as our shareholders. Crissy's experiences across the entire Indo-Pacific region will enable us to leverage our community-focused model to achieve the greatest impact in resiliency and energy independence of the Pacific Island Nations and Territories."

About Mana Pacific, Inc. 

Mana Pacific, a Hawaii sustainable business corporation, develops renewable energy projects using top quality technologies to achieve scalable resiliency in Hawai'i and 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories, with projects in 12 Pacific Island countries as a commanding entry. Mana Pacific's mission is to accelerate the renewable energy transition to achieve increased energy independence for Pacific Islands. The company was founded in 2019 as a minority, veteran, and woman-owned enterprise and has grown to be a globally award-winning renewable project developer throughout the South Pacific. To date, Mana Pacific is one of only 6 companies nationwide to win Phases 1 and 2 of the U.S. Department of Energy Community Power Accelerator Prize.

For more information, contact [email protected].

SOURCE Mana Pacific Inc