Honolulu, HI – For the second consecutive year, the Nakupuna Companies have been named the #1 Top Workplace in Hawai‘i by the research company Energage. This is the third Top Workplaces title Nakupuna has earned in 2025, joining honors from The Denver Post and The Washington Post in reaffirming the organization’s committment to a purpose-driven culture and employee engagement.
“Our employees consistently demonstrate that they are not only committed to our mission, customers, and communities, but to each other,” said Nakupuna executive Cariann Ah Loo. “Ranking first for a second consecutive year really drives home how Nakupuna’s success is built on a strong culture that starts with our people.”
Top Workplace honorees are selected based solely on anonymous employee feedback gathered through Energage’s confidential survey. The survey measures several dimensions of the employee experience, including such themes as “Respected & Supported,” “Enabled to Grow,” and “Empowered to Execute.” Nakupuna’s survey results earned the highest scores against other similarly sized organizations in Hawaiʻi.
Founded and headquartered in Hawaiʻi, Nakupuna supports a range of federal government customers across the state, including the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Pacific. The Nakupuna Companies are majority-owned by the Nakupuna Foundation, a nonprofit Native Hawaiian Organization (NHO) with a mission to support the economic advancement of Native Hawaiians through culturally centered STEM educational programs, career pathways, and services that empower individuals to succeed professionally in a global talent pool. Through the Nakupuna Foundation, Nakupuna’s work with the federal government has driven over $15.2 million of investments into scholarships and programs across Hawaiʻi as well as communities where Nakupuna employees live and work.
This most recent Top Workplaces honor adds to a growing list of 2025 accolades for the Nakupuna organization. Nakupuna was recognized as a repeat Contractor of the Year Finalist at the annual GovCon awards, earned the Washington Business Journal’s Corporate Philanthropy Award, was an inaugural awardee of Pacific Business News’s Kōkua Kahiau Awards, and was named a Top 250 Company and one of Hawaii’s Most Charitable Companies by Hawaii Business Magazine.
