Meet Greg Gaug

Oct 06, 2020

As Ulupono Initiative’s senior vice president of investments and analytics, Greg Gaug is a member of the firm’s management team and oversees strategy evaluation and development, due diligence, financial modeling, and project support for a variety of local food, renewable energy, and clean transportation projects. These include efforts to promote electrification of transportation in Hawaii. Let’s just say his time on the Ulupono team has been electric. 

Before joining Ulupono Initiative, a successful career in strategy and corporate finance led to Greg becoming StubHub’s head of strategy and financial planning. Still, after a decade across the financial and technology industries, he found himself harboring a powerful desire to commit his career energies toward affecting change on a humanitarian level. As part of the Ulupono team, he has found all of that and more, including purpose, fulfillment and an extended ohana.

Greg now leads a small team to assess investment and funding decisions for Ulupono to ensure our resources help achieve the best impacts possible. He works on a variety of energy- and local food-related projects, and serves on the boards of Bikeshare Hawaii and OpConnect Hawaii. He is also involved in sustainable transportation projects and local efforts to reduce the number of vehicle miles traveled in our state.

In addition, as Ulupono Initiative’s resident electric vehicle (EV) lead, Greg serves as a key thought partner on policy, data and community outreach surrounding the benefits of electrification of transportation in Hawaii.

“Ulupono has provided me the opportunity to harness my financial background and interest in private equity to support bringing more local food and locally produced energy to Hawaii,” he said. Greg met his wife, who is from Kalihi, in San Francisco, and they now live in Kailua with three young children. “I’m grateful to work for a company whose mission is to improve the quality of life for island residents for generations to come.”

Greg earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Master of Business Administration degree from INSEAD in Singapore. In 2015, Greg was recognized as one of Pacific Business News’ Forty Under 40 honorees and joined that year’s Pacific Century Fellows class.

See Greg featured in a recent National Drive Electric Week segment on HI Now, titled “Why Drive Electric and How?” View the segment here >>