Our Team
Scott Nakagawa, PMP, LSSMBB
Chief Executive Officer, Principal Consultant
Scott serves as our Chief Executive Officer responsible for managing Mana'olana International's overall operations.
He is a certified project management professional (PMP), is TOGAF 9 Certified, a certified Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints, an IIBA Certified Business Analyst Professional (CBAP), an Oracle Certified Foundations Associate, a Certified Coach from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Care Policy and Clinical Practice, a Certified Emotional Intelligence Life Coach from Transformation Academy, iServer365 Foundation certified by Orbus Software, and a Stanford Certified Advanced Project Manager from the Stanford Center for Professional Development. He has over 35 years of project management and process improvement experience working with various organizations in industries including healthcare, telecom, airlines, logistics, construction, food service, software development, banking, and credit unions. Throughout his career he has done work for Kuakini Health System, SynCADD Systems, UnitedHealth Group, Allscripts, TeamPraxis , Herbert Horita Realty, Business Solution Technologies, The Queen’s Health System, Hawaiian Telcom, Applied Research Works, World Wide Technology, Hawaiian Airlines, and First Hawaiian Bank. Scott has enjoyed growing multiple start ups and is proud that each startup he has contributed to is now a marketplace leader in their respective industries. He also enjoys navigating the complexities involving business improvements in large corporate enterprises.
Scott has served as a Hawaii Award of Excellence examiner and recently served on the Board of Directors of Kamalani Academy (a K-8 Na Mea Hawaii, Arts Integration, Leader In Me Public Charter School).
He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Hawaii and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies - International Trade from Chaminade University.
Ben Yuan, PMP
Chief Financial Officer, Principal Consultant
Ben serves as our Head of Finance and oversees Mana'olana International's financial and internal business operations.
He is a project management professional (PMP), a certified scrum master (CSM), enterprise architect (TOGAF 9.1), six sigma black belt (SSBB) and a project, program, and portfolio management consultant and trainer.
Ben has helped to establish and develop Project Management Offices and Continuous Improvement Practices at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA), State of Hawaii, Kaiser Permanente, Agilon Health and Amazon Web Services (AWS). He has over 16 years of project management and process optimization experience working with various organizations in industries including healthcare, aviation, banking, construction, software development, insurance, education, and government. Ben enjoys connecting people, crisis management, driving business results, solving impossible problems and evidence-based decision making.
Ben is a Director of The Mana’olana Foundation, a non-profit organization established to serve, support, and transform the lives of native Hawaiian people throughout the globe.
He has developed and taught project management curriculum for several academic institutions and nonprofits including Hawaii Pacific University, University of Hawaii, Olelo Community Media, Hawaii Alliance of Non-Profit Organizations (HANO) and Learning and Performance Improvement Solutions (LPIs). He is currently an adjunct professor at University of Hawaii-West Oahu teaching undergraduate courses in business administration, project management and cyber security.
Ben served six years as a Board Member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) Honolulu Chapter and serves as the Chapter President. He also served on the Board of Directors for the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) Hawaii Chapter and provides student mentorship to the University of Hawaii – Shidler School of Business.
He has been recognized locally and internationally for excellence in project delivery excellence. Under Ben’s leadership, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii (HMSA) received the Project of the Year Award (2015) for HMSA’s migration of its members from the Hawaii Health Connector to a Federally Facilitated Marketplace, HealthCare.gov. Ben was awarded Consultant of the Year (2013) by the state of Hawaii governor’s office for excellence in consulting services in support of Integrated Program Management Office functions to deliver the Hawaii Health Insurance Exchange and provisions of the Affordable Care (ACA) for the State of Hawaii.
He holds a Bachelor in Business Administration from University of Hawaii-Manoa, a Master of Business Administration in Corporate Finance from Hawaii Pacific University, and an Education, Leadership and Management Certificate at University of Pennsylvania-Wharton School.