HB20: Jamila Jarmon, Hawaiian Electric
From policy work to startup COO to EV strategy at Hawaiian Electric, Jamila Jarmon thrives in roles that didn't exist until she filled them.
At work, Jamila Jarmon is always ready for something new. In fact, some jobs she’s had didn’t exist until she filled them with her eclectic mix of skills and experiences.
Aki Marceau, who worked with her at Elemental Excelerator (now known as Elemental Impact), knew of Jarmon’s talents, and when a job opened at Hawaiian Electric, she made a call. Jarmon recalls Marceau saying: “I have this interesting job … that I think you have all the skills for. It’s around electrification of transportation and I need someone who does policy and regulatory work, understands startups and innovation and how to work with community in Hawaiʻi.”
Jarmon took the job and has been the utility’s manager for growth strategy in electrification of transportation for two-and-a-half years.
Shelee Kimura, CEO of Hawaiian Electric, says Jarmon has worked effectively with all stakeholders in that space, including community members, customers, government agencies and property owners. “She’s able to hear everybody” and then “maps out what we’re going to do.”
Both of Jarmon’s parents were in the military when she was born in San Francisco. Her mother was transferred to Hawaiʻi when Jarmon was 9 and she has made the Islands her home ever since.
She graduated from Saint Francis School, then earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and political science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She postponed law school to spend 2005 in China, where she taught English and traveled.
“I learned a lot about myself there and what I wanted to do next,” Jarmon says.
Back on Oʻahu, she worked for a year at the Domestic Violence Action Center, where her duties required a lot of time in courtrooms. And it’s where she learned how law school could make her “more helpful to people.”
Her degree from UH’s William S. Richardson School of Law led to a wide range of jobs, including helping poor children, serving as a policy staffer at the state Legislature, doing litigation work for a Honolulu law firm, teaching, working at Elemental Excelerator and being COO of a startup before joining Hawaiian Electric.
“I like to build things that are new, something that can stand the test of time without me there,” she says.
She’s on the boards of the Aloha Harvest food bank and the Ceeds of Peace nonprofit, and says one of her proudest achievements is helping Akiemi Glenn found The Pōpolo Project, which is dedicated to uplifting the Black experience in Hawaiʻi.
“As my dad says, if you’re not learning, you’re not living. So, I always will have more to learn, but I’m really steadfast in who I am and what I bring to the table.”
