Sherry Menor-McNamara, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i, announced her candidacy for State Lieutenant Governor.

Menor-McNamara has served at the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i for 15 years, including eight as president and CEO. She is the youngest and first female leader in the organization’s 171-year history, and is the first Asian to serve as president and CEO of a state chamber.  Under her leadership, the Chamber was recognized as the 2018 State Chamber of the Year, a national award presented by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. As a statewide, non-profit organization, the Chamber’s mission is to serve as the advocate for businesses in Hawai‘i. The organization serves more than 2,000 member organizations and 85 percent of them are small businesses employing more than 200,000 people.

Sherry has worked at the Hawai‘i State Legislature,  in the office of the late U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka, and in the Executive Office of the President of the United States. She has also worked for companies in Tokyo, New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and London. She was recently inducted into the University of Hawai‘i Shidler Hall of Honor, as well as recognized as a Girl Scouts Women of Distinction honoree. In 2015, she was honored with the Public Schools of Hawai‘i Foundation Award.

Raised in the town of Hilo on the island of Hawai‘i, Sherry is a graduate of Waiākea High School and earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California at Los Angeles. She received her law degree from the William S. Richardson School of Law and her master’s of business administration degree from the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She is married to John McNamara and they reside in Kaka‘ako.