In this episode we are joined by our friend, business partner and United Fund Advisors Co-Founder, Chris Hasle. For over ten years, Chris and his team have served as consultants to Oahu Economic Development Board and our Community Development Entity (CDE) , Punawai O Puuhonua, which was created in partnership with American Savings Bank. Along the way, he and Pono Shim became close friends, navigating the needs and intricacies of business with aloha and how to uplift those areas that need capital investment the most across our islands. Through that CDE and with Chris' support, we have deployed funding to low income communities throughout Hawaii through the CDFI's New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) program.  Chris is a  founding member of UFA and has worked in the tax credit industry since 2004.  As a principal, he is responsible for driving the overall strategy and direction of the company and serving as a liaison to key stakeholders. Mahalo for tuning in! 

Episode Highlights

• 1:01 About United Fund Advisors
• 2:47 What is the New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) Program?
• 5:09 Education, Values and Impact
• 6:23 Job Searching
• 7:02 NMTCs at OEDB through Punawai O Puuhonua; How did you meet Uncle Pono and begin working with NMTCs in Hawaii?
• 13:50 Continental US and Hawaii partnership
• 14:18 Friendship with Pono
• 15:48 Relational vs. Transactional Partnerships
• 16:58 Aloha as an evolving word
• 18:05 Pono's kidney donation
• 19:24 Punawai o Puuhonua's projects across Hawaii
• 22:22 NMTC and Community Impacts: quality jobs, commercial goods and services, social services - healthcare, education, minority owned businesses and indigenous communities, affordable housing, environmentally sustainable outcomes
• 26:06 Favorite NMTC project: Community Transitional School in Portland, Oregon
• 31:27 NMTC Conference and endless opportunity to uplift communities
• 33:00 The catalytic effect of capital investment
• 33:49 Do you have a dream NMTC project?
• 35:18 After doing business in Hawaii for over ten years, are there things that have left an impression on you and/or changed how you do business?
• 37:22 Friendship stories
• 41:38 Growing a good team
• 44:19 Chris: What does the "Above the Sides" podcast name mean?

Queen Liliuokalani quote: “I could not turn back the time for the political change, but there is still time to save our heritage. You must remember never to cease to act because you fear you may fail. The way to lose any earthly kingdom is to be inflexible, intolerant, and prejudicial. Another way is to be too flexible, tolerant of too many wrongs, and without judgment at all. It is a razor’s edge. It is the width of a blade of pili grass. To gain the kingdom of heaven is to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable – that is Aloha. All things in this world are two; in heaven there is but One.” 

Welcome to the Above the Sides podcast! Join us on our journey to uncover what it means to think, act, and live aloha. The inspiration for this podcast is the late Pono Shim, former President and CEO of the Oʻahu Economic Development Board. His stories capture the essence of what it means to live aloha. He made it known that aloha is a lifestyle. It is not a solution to problems, a marketing brand or to be used as an advantage over anyone else. Aloha is to be honored and practiced.

The name of this podcast is in reverence of Hawaiʻi's Queen Liliʻuokalani, who wrote: "To gain the kingdom of heaven is to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen, and to know the unknowable – that is Aloha. All things in this world are two; in heaven there is but One.” Through these episodes, we seek to find that singular perspective, the one that is "above the sides" as we strive for universal peace.

We welcome you to pause with us as we share the stories and voices of Hawai’i business leaders, educators and community members who have chosen to be lifelong students of aloha. Mahalo nui loa for listening.