The board’s current chair, Russell Kokubun, is retiring at the end of the year. 

Enright’s appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. 

Enright has served as Kokubun’s deputy since February 2012. 

As chair of the Board of Agriculture, an executive board that directs policy, Enright will also serve as head of the Department of Agriculture. 

The governor’s office detailed Enright’s experience in a press release issued Thursday:

Enright was the administrator of the state Department of Agriculture (DOA) Divisions of Plant Industry and Agricultural Development, managed the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant funding program, and directed Human Resources for the Office of the Chair. He also directed biosecurity programs, led initiatives to revitalize the state’s livestock industry with special focus on developing dairy industry and grass-fed beef industry, and provided direction for improving infrastructure for irrigation systems statewide. 

Previously, Enright was a consultant for the Hawaii Sustainable Agriculture and Renewable Energy Project, project manager for the ITC Water Management Inc., cultivation and irrigation superintendent for Hamakua Sugar Company, and orchard superintendent for Kilauea Agronomics. 

Active in the agriculture industry and community, he is a former chair and current ex officio member representing the DOA on the board of the Agribusiness Development Corporation. He has also served on the Governor’s Council of Neighbor Islands Advisors for East Hawaii (2009-2010), during which he championed sustainable energy with emphasis on sustainable bioenergy fuel stock. In addition, he is a member of the Community Development Plan Steering Committee for the Hamakua District, past chair of the Environmental Management Commission, past member of the Hilo-Hamakua Community Development Corporation Board, and founding president of the Ookala Community Association. 

Enright earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and philosophy from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. 

He is a resident of Ookala on the Hamakua Coast of Hawaii Island. 

Photo: Scott Enright (Courtesy, Abercrombie administration)

— Sophie Cocke