The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is pleased to welcome John C. Couch and C. Scott Wo to the Board of Trustees. Their three-year terms are effective July 1, to coincide with the start of the 2025 fiscal year.
John C. Couch spent 22 years working in Hawaiʻi, most recently as the former chairman, president and CEO of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., and prior to that was president of Matson Navigation Co.
After retiring from A&B in late 1999, Couch joined C.M. Capital Corp.in Palo Alto, California, in 2000 and served as its president and CEO. He is currently C.M. Capital’s vice chairman.
Couch previously served on the UH Foundation board from 1992 to 1998. He recently gave $3.76 million to establish the first-ever gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship program at the UH Mānoa John A. Burns School of Medicine to train physicians to treat liver diseases, including cancer, in the islands.
He has also served on a number of other nonprofit boards in Hawaii, including Aloha United Way, Hawaii Business Roundtable, Aloha Boy Scouts Council, Bishop Museum, Kauaʻi Economic Development Board and the Maui Economic Development Board.
Couch currently serves as a board director of C.M. Capital Foundation; treasurer on the board of Avenidas in Palo Alto; as an advisor to the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering; and as a trustee at Webb Institute.
Additionally, he has served on a variety of public and private company boards, including Matson, A&B, Pacific Resources, First Hawaiian Bank, California & Hawaiian Sugar Co., Big Island Abalone Co., Foss Marine Holdings and Focus Management Inc.
Couch holds a bachelor of science degree in naval architecture and marine engineering and a master’s in engineering from the University of Michigan, and received a master of business administration from Stanford University.
C. Scott Wo is an owner and executive of C. S. Wo & Sons, his family’s home furnishings business established in Hawaiʻi in 1909. He is also a partner in Kunia Country Farms, a commercial aquaponic farm, and an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School.
Wo started his career working for Shearson Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston in New York.
Wo returns to the board after a one-year hiatus. He previously served on the UH Foundation board from 2004 to 2023 in various capacities, as board chair, vice chair, secretary and chair of the investment committee.
He is currently president of the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council, a member of the board of directors of First Hawaiian Bank and serves on the board of advisors for the American Red Cross – Hawaiʻi State Chapter, where he previously served as board chair and treasurer.
He also previously served on the boards of The Queen’s Health System and Aloha United Way and is a past president and finance committee chair at Waiʻalae Country Club.
Wo received his bachelor’s in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, his MBA from Columbia Business School, and his PhD in finance from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
FOR UH • FOR HAWAIʻI, The Campaign for the University of Hawaiʻi, is focused on raising $1 billion to support UH priorities on all 10 campuses across the state, including student success; research that matters; kuleana to Native Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi; sustainability, resilience and conservation; innovation and entrepreneurship; building Hawaiʻi’s workforce; and engaging our community. Learn more at uhfoundation.org/4UH4HI
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The University of Hawai‘i Foundation, a nonprofit organization, raises private funds to support the University of Hawai‘i System. The mission of the University of Hawai‘i Foundation is to unite donors’ passions with the University of Hawai‘i’s aspirations by raising philanthropic support and managing private investments to benefit UH, the people of Hawai‘i and our future generations. uhfoundation.org
