Our Team
Leslie Wilkins, MEDB President & CEO
Leslie has served as principal investigator for more than $38M in contracts and holds leadership roles on the Maui County Workforce Board, UH College of Engineering Dean’s Council, P-20 Council, and national organizations. She brings extensive experience in program development, workforce strategy, and federal grant administration.
leslie@medb.org
Yosef Onodera, MEDB Director of Strategic Growth
Yosef brings a decade of experience in SmallSat missions and workforce development programs with the Hawaiʻi Space Flight Laboratory at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM). He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an Executive MBA from UHM. Yosef leads MEDB’s WorkSPACE Nexus and serves as site lead for SDA TAP Lab Maui.
yosef@medb.org
Katie Taladay, MEDB Director of STEM Talent & Ecosystem Development
Katie holds a MS degree in Geology & Geophysics and completed doctoral coursework in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), with an emphasis on developing AI object detection solutions and virtual and augmented reality environments. She previously led the University of Hawai‘i’s tech transfer office’s HITIDE accelerator and brings extensive experience across technology transfer, workforce development, and business development. Since its inception, she has served as the Director for MEDB BusinessSPACE, guiding the program’s strategic direction and growth.
katie@medb.org
Daron Nishimoto, EO Solutions (Consultant)
Daron is MEDB’s in-house subject matter expert on doing business with the Space Force and entrepreneurship in Hawaiʻi. He is the owner of EO Solutions LLC, a Maui software and modeling company supporting DoD space initiatives and has 36+ years of experience with AFRL/AMOS, DARPA, and U.S. Space Force programs.
daron.nishimoto@medb.org
MEDB
The SPACE programs are presented by the Maui Economic Development Board, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation established in 1982 with a mission to diversify Maui County’s economy, building pathways to innovation, jobs and opportunity for our residents. Through partnerships with the public and private sector, MEDB undertakes projects that assists growth industries with navigating and thriving in our county, educates and trains residents for new careers, and engages our community in forums that determine future economic directions.