By Patrick Downes | Hawaii Catholic Herald
When she starts as the new director of human resources for the Diocese of Honolulu on March 9, Dara L. Perreira will trade 40 Crazy Shirts stores for 66 Catholic parishes.
The Kauai native is leaving the iconic T-shirt company, where she was the director of human resources for more than 450 employees at 40 locations in five states, to oversee the employment, compensation, benefits and employee relations for about 1,800 diocesan lay staff.
It’s a new position. Employment issues up to now have been handled by the diocesan business office and at individual parishes and schools.
Perreira described the move as “really exciting.”
“I am sincerely looking forward to this endeavor more than any one that I have undertaken,” she told the Hawaii Catholic Herald by phone on Feb. 12.
Perreira, 33, said she first considered applying her talents to church work when, as a business student at Chaminade University of Honolulu, she participated in a planning session for Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo’s Diocesan Synod 2000.
Noting the similarities between the synod and Bishop Larry Silva’s strategic planning “Road Map,” she said that when the human resource (HR) position opened up at the diocese, it seemed to be a “perfect match, to get back to my roots.”
“HR has been my career and my life,” she said. “This will be something new for the Catholic diocese. I am looking forward to serving the parishes, the diocese and the bishop.”
For parishes, she said, she sees her job as “more of a consultant’s role, a customer service role.”
“My goal is to build good working relationships,” she said. “Getting to know and trust each other is really important.”
Perreira, who is single, is of Portuguese, Hawaiian and Chinese ethnicity. Her brother and mother still live on Kauai. Her father is deceased.
She has been at Crazy Shirts since 2006. Before that she worked for two years at The Home Depot, first as human resource supervisor, then as human resource manager.
She was also a corporate recruiter for Bank of Hawaii, the Kauai Training Coordinator for Na Lei Wili Area Health Education Center and an admissions counselor and recruiter for Chaminade.
She has a bachelor’s degree and a master of arts degree, both in business administration, both from Chaminade University.
She is also the recipient of the Dean Hutter Award for Outstanding Women in Business Administration from Chaminade University.