ROBBIE ALM

Robert Alm is senior vice president of public affairs at Hawaiian Electric Company. Robert sits as a lecturer for the Public Administration program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He serves in more than a dozen community organizations including Helping Hands Hawaii, Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii, and Family Independence Initiative, to name a few.

Robbie is an Honorary Ali’I of the Royal Order of Kamehameha I. He received the Volunteer of the Year Award 2000 from the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of Honolulu. In the same year, the National Society for Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE) awarded Robbie the Outstanding Volunteer Fund Raiser Award.

According to Robbie, a key for companies to successfully build a relationship with the community is to listen. He notes that businesses thrive because of the communities they are in and these communities have expectations on how they should conduct their activities. Without having to meet these expectations, or effectively negotiate a win-win deal, businesses won’t flourish.

“Communities have expectations about how they want to be treated,” says Robbie. “I think you start not by what you want to do as a company, but by what people want you to do—what they have been angry that you’ve done in the past, what they’ve liked that you’ve done, especially when you’re a regulated business like us because we are dependent on what government says is ok for us to do, what the public says.”

“If you don’t ask them, it’s kind of hard to get it right. So the first thing we do is listen. I spend a lot of time listening and we still do that today. It is very important,” he adds.

Greater Good Radio brings Robbie Alm as he talks about his involvement with the Live Aloha Program. Robbie says that the program has drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters from Hawaii and other regions around the world. Since its inception 12 years ago, Live Aloha continues to gather followers, who want to imbibe in themselves a simple yet crucial tenet of individual responsibility.

Learn about the Robbie Alm, the Live Aloha program and much more only here on Greater Good Radio.

BIO:
ROBERT (Robbie) ALM
Brief Biography

Education: University High School
University of Hawaii (BA in Political Science)
University of Iowa School of Law (Juris Doctor w/ Distinction)

Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc:
Senior Vice President, Public Affairs (7/01 to present)

University of Hawaii at Manoa:

Lecturer, Public Administration Program (1/02 to present)
Teach a graduate course, PUBA 622, “Leaders and Leadership: Strategies
for Change

First Hawaiian Bank:
Executive Vice President and Manager of FMG (1/99 to 6/01)
Senior Vice President and Manager of FMG (2/96 to 12/98)
Senior Vice President and Deputy Manager of Financial Management
Group (FMG) (11/94 to 1/96)
Vice President and Trust Officer, First Hawaiian Bank (2/93 to 11/94)

Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs:
Director (6 yrs.: 1987-1993)
Deputy Director (1984-1986)
Senior Hearings Officer (1982-1984)

Staff of Senator Daniel Inouye in Washington D.C.: 1979-1982

Private Practice: 1976-1979

Board Member Helping Hands Hawaii (Chair)
and Community Hawaii Institute of Public Affairs (Board of Directors)
Service (currently): Bishop Museum (Board of Directors)
Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii (Board of Advisors)
Community Links Hawaii (Board of Directors)
Family Independence Initiative (Board of Directors)
The Friends of ‘Iolani Palace (Board of Directors)
Hawaii Nature Center (Board of Directors)
Hawaii Public Television Foundation (Board of Directors)
Social Science Association (Member)
Sutter Health Pacific (Kahi Mohala) (Board of Directors)
Disciplinary Board of the Hawaii Supreme Court (Hearing Committee Member)
Judicial Performance Committee (Committee Member)
University of Hawaii Community Partnership (Steering Committee Member)
Live Aloha (Coordinator/Volunteer)

Board Member Aloha United Way (Board of Directors)
and Community Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii (Board of Directors)
Service (past): Catholic Charities Hawaii (Board of Directors)
Hawaii Community Foundation (Board of Governors)
Hawaii Justice Foundation (Board of Directors)
He Au Papa ‘Olelo (Steering Committee Member)
‘Olelo: The Corporation for Community Television (Board of Directors)
Straub Foundation (Board of Directors)
Temari (Center for Asian and Pacific Arts) (Board of Directors)
American Judicature Society, Special Committee on Judicial Selection
and Retention (Committee Chair)

Awards/Honors: Volunteer of the Year Award 2000, Alexis de Tocqueville Society of Honolulu
Outstanding Volunteer Fund Raiser Award 2000, National Society of Fund
Raising Executives (NSFRE)
Honorary Ali’i, Royal Order of Kamehameha I
Hawaii Public Administration Award 1992 from the American Society
of Public Administration
Freedom of Information Award 1989 from the Society of Professional
Journalists

Born and raised in Hawaii. Married to Cynthia Alm (Attorney, Mediator, and Real Estate Broker); and they have two daughters (Kristin and Rachel).

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