Gwen Yamamoto Lau
Executive Director
Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority
Gwen Yamamoto Lau is the Executive Director of the Hawaii Green Infrastructure Authority (“Authority”), an agency attached to the State’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. The Authority, Hawai‘i’s Green Bank, was constituted in November 2014 to administer a green infrastructure loan program to make clean energy investments accessible and affordable to Hawaii’s underserved ratepayers, stimulate private investments, and leverage innovative tools to mitigate risks and reach new markets.
In addition to its existing clean energy financing programs, the Authority also administers the federally funded State Small Business Credit Initiative’s HI-CAP Collateral Support and HI-CAP Loans Programs, and will be launching a Commercial Property Accessed Clean Energy and Resiliency (C-PACER) financing program for the state in 1Q2023.
Drawing from over twenty-five years of experience in conventional commercial financing, Gwen continues to find new ways to facilitate non-traditional financing tools to fill market gaps and promote energy justice and economic development for the State of Hawaii.
Active in her community, Gwen is Past President of the Rotary Club of Honolulu and serves on the Board and Executive Committee for Goodwill Industries of Hawaii. Gwen was also appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board for a 3-year term ending June 15, 2025. Gwen earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Graduate School of Banking.