Mike McCartney in as President and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority

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As expected, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) has selected Mike McCartney as its new president and Chief Executive Officer. The announcement was made late Friday afternoon during a special board meeting at the Hawaii Convention Center. McCartney will replace Lloyd I. Unebasami, HTA’s chief administrative officer, who has served as interim president and CEO since October 9, 2008.

Fomer HTA president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, Rex Johnson resigned last October under a cloud of controversy over inappropriate emails he had viewed and sent on a company computer. The HTA decided that Johnson was too much of a distraction for a state battling to improve its tourism figures.

McCartney will begin in his new position on April 6. McCartney is currently the executive director of the Hawaii State Teachers Association. He was the former chair of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, former president and CEO of PBS Hawaii, former director of the Hawaii State Department of Human Resource Development, and served as a state senator for 10 years.  Born and raised in Hawaii, McCartney is a graduate of Castle High School and received his B.S. from Pacific University in Oregon

Visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org.