Rear Adm. Ryan K. Mahelona’s middle name is Keali’ipono. It means “righteous chief” in Hawaiian, and this month, it holds even more significance for him.
Mahelona was recently promoted to Rear Admiral, Lower Half, becoming only the third Native Hawaiian to achieve the rank. He follows in the footsteps of Adm. Gordon Paiea Chung-Hoon and Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, who presided over Mahelona’s promotion ceremony on Oct. 5 aboard the Battleship Missouri Memorial.
Mahelona was born on Oahu and raised in Kaneohe, on Oahu’s windward side. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools and after graduation attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1995 as a surface warfare officer. Mahelona later became an information professional officer. In both roles, he earned numerous awards including the Legion of Merit, several Meritorious Service Medals, multiple Navy Commendation Medals, and the Navy Achievement Medal.
“It’s a huge honor to get promoted to this level,” Mahelona said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it early on.”
Mahelona said inspiring young leaders is an important focus for him in his new role. A few days before his promotion ceremony, Mahelona returned to Kamehameha Schools to speak with students. He reflected on how the visit embodied the vision of Kamehameha Schools’ founder:
“Princess Bernice Pauahi Paki Bishop established the school as a way to educate native Hawaiian children because she had a vision that we need to be competitive in our communities and education was the key to being successful in whatever we do,” Mahelona said. “She wanted to build leaders, so for me, my way of giving back is to do exactly what she envisioned.”
As deputy commander for U.S. Tenth Fleet and U.S. Fleet Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland, Mahelona’s mission is to block adversary access across Navy cyberspace and “monitor and direct, assess, communicate, coordinate, and execute operations to help the naval command and control and set conditions for subordinate commands.”
“We look at planning, coordinating, and conducting a full spectrum of cyberspace activities and really the goal is to ensure freedom of access across all the Navy’s warfighting domains,” he said.
Mahelona believes the Hawaiian values he grew up with – which he said are similar to the Navy’s values – helped him advance and prepared him to take on his challenging new role.
“There are a lot of parallelisms between our culture and what the Navy also values. I think that’s part of the reason why I’ve been successful where I’ve been because to me it was actually the same thing,” he said.
Mahelona shared how the Navy value of honor and doing the right thing when no one is looking resembles the Hawaiian idea of being pono, which holds many meanings in Hawaiian including righteous, correct or proper. This is something he spoke about during the visit to his alma mater.
Mahelona said the mentors in his personal life helped him develop as a leader. They include his father, Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Petty Officer 2nd Class John Mahelona, and his uncle, Radioman 2nd Class Justin Mahelona, who “planted the seed” for Mahelona to join the Navy. His father and his uncle both served aboard the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and had ship duty at the same time. Mahelona’s brother, who served in the Navy for 10 years, was also an inspiration.
Mahelona described how his father instilled in him toughness, optimism, and appreciation for Hawaiian culture, which influenced his leadership style.
“My dad taught me to be resilient. He taught me to have a sense of humor, to not necessarily take everything seriously but get the job done. Growing up, I liked to have fun. I attribute a lot of my optimism to him,” Mahelona recalled. He added that it was because of his father, who used to teach Hawaiian language at the University of Hawaii during the late 1970s and 1980s, that he infuses lessons from Hawaiian culture in how he leads and works in the community.
Mahelona said his leadership style was also inspired by his high school football coach and mentor, Blane Gaison, who used to say: “Success is the intersection where opportunity meets preparation.” Mahelona took the phrase, attributed to Indy 500 racecar driver Bobby Unser, to heart.
“I realize that you have to be prepared for what comes for you and when the opportunities arise, you’re ready for that opportunity to take it on and that’s how you become successful,” he said.
In the military, retired Capt. Diane Boettcher and retired Capt. Barry Tanner, both senior information professional officers, taught Mahelona valuable lessons in leadership.
“Diane Boettcher and Barry Tanner they saw things in me and taught me some of the principles about being a leader: driving for change, driving to take care of your people, being strategic about your outlook, how you achieve a mission, and delegate some of that authority down to the lower levels so that you can accomplish the mission,” he recalled.
His recent trip to Hawaii, however, had Mahelona thinking again about how he gives back to his community and how he can continue to give back to his Sailors and the Native Hawaiian community going forward. The way to accomplish that, he said, is through mentorship.
“Being there and answering questions to help people through whatever it is, is something I can do based on my experience,” he explained. “Giving some ideas on how to be successful as a leader for our Sailors, how to advance to the next level, what kinds of things they have to do, what kinds of roles they need to acquire, and what kinds of leadership they should be emulating or following.”
Mahelona went on to describe his ultimate goal for the Navy and the broader community:
“We’re making it a better place for all of us, not just for the Navy, the entire nation really. We’re looking at ways to empower folks to be innovative and to be decisive leaders.”
