HONOLULU – Gov. Linda Lingle has appointed Anita Seyer Wong as the deputy to the chair of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Wong has been with DHHL since 2007 handling complex assignments related to restructuring of development financing, legal coordination of housing contracts, as well as overseeing project managers for the department’s Land Development Division.

“Over the past two years, Anita has proven to be a valuable member of the DHHL team and has worked effectively in helping to fulfill the state’s commitment to native Hawaiians,” Lingle said. “Anita has gained the respect of her colleagues, the homestead community and DHHL’s partners. I am confident that with Anita as deputy director, DHHL will continue to build on the significant progress that has been made over the past few years to build communities that benefit native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawai‘i.”

“Anita is familiar with our development projects to build homes for native Hawaiians and we will be working hard to finish strong and leave the trust in good shape for the next administration,” said Kaulana Park, director of DHHL.

Prior to joining DHHL, Wong worked as regional vice president for Sprint Cellular, overseeing the company’s western region, which included Nevada, Texas and New Mexico.

She previously had a 25-year career with GTE, which included assignments in Kona, Hilo, Dallas, Texas and Caracas, Venezuela. The last five years of her GTE employment was spent as the Hawai‘i-area president for the company’s wireless operations, GTE Mobilnet.

She also served as vice president of sales and marketing for Title Guaranty’s statewide operations.

Wong, who is originally from Kona, has a bachelor’s degree from Hawai‘i Pacific University and a certificate from the UCLA Anderson School of Business for Advanced Executive Management.

Wong replaces Park, who became the department’s director last month after former chairman Micah KÇne became a Kamehameha Schools trustee.