East-West Center President Suzanne Vares-Lum announced she will leave her position at the end of the year and start a Department of Defense appointment as the head of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Waikiki. 

In 2021, Vares-Lum was named the president of the EWC, making her the first woman and first Native Hawaiian to hold the position. Born and raised in Wahiawa, she formerly served as a major general in the U.S. Army. 

Former EWC Board of Governors Chair and Punahou President Dr. James Scott will serve as the Center’s interim president, while the board searches for a permanent successor, according to a news release.  

The board hired the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller to assist the search process, which is expected to take six months.

“It is with a heavy heart that I will be moving on from the East-West Center, whose amazing staff and community have made my time here some of the most professionally and personally rewarding of my life,” Vares-Lum wrote in a message sent this morning to the Center’s staff and community. “Making the decision to depart this great institution was very difficult, but ultimately I believe this new appointment is the best opportunity for me to draw on my cumulative experiences toward making a positive impact on our region.”

Vares-Lum noted that the EWC and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies frequently work together on events and programming. She said she is “encouraged by the knowledge that I will continue to have many opportunities to collaborate with the Center in the important work of building relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of the United States, Asia, and the Pacific.”

The U.S. Congress established the East-West Center in 1960 to promote better relations and understanding among the United States, Asia and the Pacific.