The board of directors for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation today approved a new contract with a 22% raise for Executive Director and CEO Lori Kahikina to oversee completion of the nearly $10 billion Skyline.

During a special HART board meeting, the panel offered Kahikina a new three-year, $336,000 annual contract, up from her $275,000 salary under the current contract, which expires Dec. 31.

The new contract will start Jan. 1 and includes two, two-year options for extension.

“I want to thank the members of the HART Board’s Permitted Interaction Group for working with me to develop the terms of this contract, as well as the Board for approving this contract and placing their continued trust in me to lead HART,” Kahikina said in a written statement after the meeting.

“As I’ve said before, I’m very passionate about this project and am so pleased we’ve come to this agreement,” she said. “I’m extremely proud of all the accomplishments and good work that we, as a team, have achieved together and I look forward to many more momentous milestones.”

Kahikina joined the rail agency in January 2021 as interim executive director and CEO.

The HART board appointed Kahikina to a three-year term as executive director and CEO, from January 2022 through Dec. 31, 2024.

In related business at the same meeting, the HART board formally selected the panel’s ninth voting member.

Lisa J. Baker, a Kailua resident and retired project manager who had worked for HART-related contractors from 2015 through 2023, was picked out of three finalists vying to join the volunteer board.

The panel’s vacant voting-member position was previously held by Edwin Young, who stepped down early this year due to health concerns.

Baker will serve the remainder of that position’s term, which expires June 30, 2028, according to HART staff.