Kule’ana: The Journey of Nahua Maunakea

"That really resonated with me," he says, coming from Hawaii where values such as Kina'ole—doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time, for the right reason, the first time—are important. "Not delight at some point, not once a year, not when we get around to it. Every day."

Dedication to client satisfaction, he explains, is an essential element to the risk management program at IHS. The company serves 72% of the U.S. Fortune 1,000 and 77% of the global Fortune 500, supplying top-level intel and data in a variety of fields to clients including a number of multinational corporations.

IHS' portfolio of companies has been bolstered by an aggressive strategy of acquisitions, with some 60 of them executed in the past six years alone. Among them: Dodson Data Systems, a provider of strategic information for companies engaged in oil and gas operations located in the offshore Gulf of Mexico and onshore U.S.; GlobalSpec Inc., which provides digital information tied to key product engineering and design workflows for engineers; and Dyadem International Ltd., which provides software and services for managing risk in the design and manufacturing processes.

Last July, IHS' single biggest acquisition to date—particularly in terms of the number of employees and the number of offices included, Maunakea notes—added auto-data company Carfax and its parent corporation R.L. Polk to IHS' stable for $1.4 billion.

With such resources at its disposal, IHS' data informs high-level decisions and influences some of the world's biggest corporate players—the impact of which is not lost on Maunakea. "We have data and information that our customers use every day as part of their decision-making process," he says. "We work with governments, large businesses, consultants, a wide range of entities. Every single one of those decisions matters."

ROLLING FIRE

Maunakea's professional journey began in his native Hawaii, where he grew up in what he calls an "economically depressed" area. The first in his family to go to college, he says many of his relatives thought it would be more acceptable to join other family members and become a fireman, police officer or join the military. "They ruled out the other 'acceptable' option for a Hawaiian male, of being an entertainer, as I can't carry a tune in a bucket," he jokes.

In 1982, at First Insurance Co. of Hawaii (now a member of the Tokio Marine Group), Assistant Vice President/Claims Ben Bondroff took a chance by hiring Maunakea as a claims adjuster trainee at age 28. At the time, the company was growing its claims department and hiring college kids; Maunakea was older than the other candidates, but Bondroff took him under his wing and became his mentor. In time, they would become close friends.

Under Bondroff's tutelage, Maunakea learned the essential principles for a career in mitigating risk. "Ben taught me that the only good claim is the one that didn't happen," he recalls fondly. "The next best is one that's been settled and closed. That gives you the basis for risk management and loss control. You've got to analyze: what are your exposures? Then you have to establish protocols to limit those exposures."

Maunakea spent 11 years on the Big Island with First Insurance Co. The year after he signed on, he found himself helping settle claims wrought by one of the more geographically specific types of exposure in the property insurance sphere: lava.

The eruptions of Pu'u 'O'o began on Jan. 3, 1983, on the East Rift Zone of the Kilauea Volcano, marking the start of one of the largest and continuous eruptions in Hawaii's history; incredibly, lava continues to flow from the site to this day. The Royal Gardens subdivision was located adjacent to Kilauea's East Rift Zone—and between 1983 and 1985, many homes were destroyed and portions of the subdivision were overtaken by creeping disaster.

"Think about this," he says. "If you have a home and it's damaged by fire, windstorm or something similar, if you have insurance, you clean up and rebuild. In the case of lava, what was [once] your lot is now covered with several feet of rock and the roads and utilities are also cut off, so you can't rebuild there. If you still have a mortgage on the house, you're in a bit of a bind as you need to deal with that and find a new place."

As molten rock began to inexorably slide toward homes insured by First Insurance Co., Maunakea was able to secure a ride in a Hawaii County Civil Defense helicopter to ascertain the scope of the damage, an experience he says he'll never forget. The aerial views helped First Insurance Co. settle claims for property owners—with the lava flow being classified as "rolling fire"—in some cases before the homes were inevitably consumed.

ADJUSTING WITH ALOHA

Maunakea next went to work for a regional broker, Beck Kudlich & Swartman (acquired by Aon Risk Services in 1998), assisting their various commercial accounts—including country clubs, banks, construction projects and hotels—in establishing loss-prevention programs and mitigating claims.

There, he says, the leadership team of Butch Beck, Gayle Kudlich, Bill Swartman and Neal Nakashima taught him that brokers can be trusted partners to the accounts they represented. "We developed deep relationships with clients that helped you truly understand your customers—your friends—and then develop programs to meet those needs," he notes.

"You make yourself invaluable to the client, and if you're fortunate, you become friends," he adds. "It's not just a transactional relationship."

While at Beck Kudlich & Swartman, one of Maunakea's co-workers approached him about becoming a risk manager for one of his accounts, Outrigger Hotels & Resorts, based in Honolulu. That opportunity afforded him the experience of focusing entirely on one specialty, as opposed to servicing various accounts. "It was a wonderful experience to deal in just one industry [hospitality] and develop a depth of skills," Maunakea says. "By joining Outrigger I was able to take a deeper dive and see more projects through to fruition."

The Outrigger way of doing business is set forth in a set of family values/corporate philosophy referred to as Ke 'Ano Wa'a, which emphasizes flawlessness and accountability, a sense of trust and fairness in all business dealings, and the courage and discipline to act upon one's responsibilities, or Kule'ana.

Emphasis on many of the core values of Hawaiian culture engendered a spiritual homecoming of sorts for Maunakea. "Being born in 1954, our generation was told that to be successful, you had to do things the Haole [Caucasian/western] way. My parents' generation, as well as my grandparents' generation, were discouraged from practicing the Hawaiian ways. In fact, there were stories of punishment in school if they spoke Hawaiian and not English."

When he entered the workforce, he continues, "a couple of folks who had my best interests in mind suggested that to further my career, I should tone down the Hawaiian side and be more 'professional.' Through the years, when I was asked to describe myself, depending on the setting and who was asking, I might say that I'm a coconut: brown on the outside and white on the inside."

However, once Maunakea started at Outrigger, "I was able to see firsthand how the Hawaiian and other local cultures were not only accepted, but encouraged. It felt like I was coming back home to a place I never knew existed. Many of the concepts outlined in Ke 'Ano Wa'a are practices and beliefs that I personally identify with."

In 2008 he went to work for third-party administrator AIMS (Acclimation Insurance Management Systems), where he ran its Hawaii division. There, he says, President/CEO Dominic Russo embraced the idea of creating an "Adjusting with Aloha" approach that would set them apart from the other claims-adjusting operations in the islands.

"When you think about handling insurance claims, it can be pretty tough at times—but if you handle things with dignity, humility and integrity, you can have peace of mind knowing that you went about things the right way and the resolution of the claim will be what it is," he says.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY

Maunakea first became aware of RIMS around 1993 via his risk manager partners; he joined the national risk management society's Hawaii Chapter in 2001. As a member of the chapter services committee, he would aid in evaluating other chapters' accomplishments for awards; he savors the irony of once delivering the news to the Rocky Mountain Chapter that it was being honored.

In 2006, he became the Hawaii chapter's president; today, Maunakea enjoys the distinction of being the only individual in RIMS history to serve as the local chapter president in two separate host states during the risk management society's annual conference.

One can't help note a pattern of sorts throughout Maunakea's career: First Insurance Co. of Hawaii was a "local" company, BKS was a local/regional broker, Outrigger was a family-owned company, AIMS was a family-owned company, and IHS was family-owned until going public in 2005. "I guess that may be why I was able to fit in with those cultures," he says. "None of them were large bureaucracies that would be interested in having me conform to their version of what's 'correct' and expected."

So how did a Hawaiian-born-and-bred risk professional who begins every one of his e-mails with "Aloha" end up in the Centennial State?

While still at AIMS, Maunakea and his wife, Lynn, learned that their older daughter, Malia (who had graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in civil engineering) and her husband, Dave, were starting a family there. "Lynn said to me, 'I'm moving to Colorado. Are you coming? By the way … I'm retiring, so you've got to find a job.' And that was that," he says. "She's a great negotiator."

In 2007, after their granddaughter was born, Maunakea had his first interview with IHS on Dec. 24. After a few more meetings later, he had the job. "Within a 30-day period, my wife and I sold our house and two cars in Hawaii, and bought a new house and two cars [in Colorado]," he laughs. "Talk about jumping into the deep end of the pool carrying a lead weight."

Naturally, managing risk for a company of IHS' size and scope is a team effort. Maunakea is quick to praise Teresa Spencer, IHS' senior director of global risk management, who started the department 13 years ago as "an army of one" as the company was about to go public and leads the risk team's efforts.

Risk Management Specialist Monica Rios, who also came on six years ago when Maunakea did, and Risk and Insurance Manager Georgia Leslie (who joined the team six months ago as part of the R.L. Polk/Carfax acquisition, and is based in Detroit) complete the squad.

The primary areas for IHS' risk management team, he explains, are risk transfer (which includes researching and buying the appropriate cover, and processing what few claims the company does incur); business support ("reviewing contracts, master service agreements, RFPs, so that the customer is comfortable that we'll be able to deliver what we say we will"); and M&A ("evaluating the exposures of the target entity as well as their insurance program and the contracts involved to make sure it's a good fit. Ours is one contribution to the overall evaluation.")

"The biggest opportunity we have in the risk management department is trying to find the balance between what our customers want and making both sides comfortable in the process," Maunakea says. "When I get a request for assistance from a co-worker, I try to put myself in their shoes and provide them with a timely and complete response the first time, along with the basis or explanation for my decision. While I may not always give them the news they were seeking, they usually understand how the decision was arrived at and accept it."

In the meantime, this Hawaiian transplant will continue to show up for work in Hawaiian business attire (an Aloha shirt and business pants) on days when the temperature climbs above 70; that's the deal he's struck with Spencer. It's an outward display of a spirit that won't be contained, let alone subdued.

"I enjoy working at IHS because of the variety of opportunities we're presented with on a daily basis," Maunakea adds. "It's not the same company it was nine years ago [when it went public], and it won't be the same tomorrow or the next day. The content is always widely varied. That's how I like it."