The Hawaii State Board of Education (BOE) approved the appointment of Cynthia Covell as the new Assistant Superintendent of Talent Management for the Hawaii State Department of Education’s (HIDOE) Office of Human Resources. As the tenth largest school district in the country, Covell will oversee HIDOE’s workforce of 22,000 full-time employees and 20,000 substitutes and casual employees. She will begin on Nov. 13, 2017.

“Cynthia has a track record for being an innovative leader with an extensive background in human resources, specifically in the areas of talent acquisition and employee retention, change management and workforce planning,” said Superintendent Dr. Christina Kishimoto. “We look forward to welcoming her to our team.”

Covell is a retired two star Rear Admiral with the United States Navy. She has over 30 years of leadership and human resources (HR) experience with the Department of Defense (DOD) where she served as the Commander of Navy Personnel Headquarters and senior HR executive.

During her time with the DOD, Covell oversaw a team of 4,000 HR professionals that provided services to more than 500,000 military and civilian personnel. She also led remotely dispersed teams overseas in Yokosuka, Japan, and managed remote offices in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Diego Garcia, Guam and Hawaii. Covell previously served as the U.S. Navy NATO Representative in Athens, Greece as well as diversity advisor to the head of the Navy. She started her career as a communications watch officer serving at the Naval Communications Area Master Station, Wahiawa, Hawaii.

For more information about Covell and HIDOE’s leadership team, click here.