GENE WARD

Gene has served in the House of Representatives from 1990. He has served as the House Minority Leader (1993-1997, 2011-2012, 2018-2020). He is also the co-founder of the Small Businesses Caucus alongside former Representative David Stegmaier.

He has served in the USAID Office of Democracy and Governance as a Senior Democracy Adviser, promoting democracy throughout the world after writing text on the ills of campaign finance for developing countries. During his time in the Peace Corps as a country director, he supervised the humanitarian efforts of 46 Peace Corps volunteer, 18 staff and $1 million budget in East Timor.

​He has served as the Chair of the Transportation Committee for the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board and has also been a member of the East-West Center and the Hawaii-Indonesia Chamber of Commerce.

​He co-founded the Hawaii Entrepreneurship Training Development Training Institute alongside Dr. George Kanahele. As the Small Business Development Specialist, he trained 3,000 young professionals in Hawaii and overseas jump-start their own businesses.

He received his Ph.D from the University of Hawaii and Completed dissertation on the values and attitudes of Hawaiians entering and succeeding in business. He has also taught at Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific University as an Adjunct Professor.

As an author and commentator, he has written a number of articles about business and politics and recently authored a text on campaign finance and a Commentary for the Honolulu Advertiser: "Money in Politics" published by USAID in English and Spanish.

Rep. Ward's hobbies include jogging and learning new languages. He can also speak Malay, Indonesian, and Vietnamese.