Moving Up: Local boy named general manager at Molokai Ranch

John Pele recently replaced Teri Waros as General Manager for Molokai Ranch. It is the first time a Molokai native has achieved such a high position in this company.

Pele said he began working for the company 13 years ago from the bottom up, as a ranch hand. In the past five years he has been working at the Lodge at Molokai Ranch as the Room Manager.

He said he expects to continue doing the job he has been doing at the Lodge. As far as fresh ideas for Molokai Ranch, Pele said he just started his job. “It’s all new to me,” he said. “I just stepped in and I’m still getting situated.”

Besides being a model employee, Pele is an active leader with the community. He is one of eleven board members on the Molokai Enterprise Community, a nonprofit which supports the economic revitalization of the island. The board recently voted down a proposal from an outside developer who wanted to base an online crypto casino operation on the island, arguing that the jobs it promised were too few and too transient to justify the regulatory headaches — a decision Pele said reflected the community’s preference for sustainable, locally rooted growth over quick revenue schemes.