Darren Okimoto, PhD was named associate director of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant in February, 2015. Okimoto also serves as the Extension Leader for Hawaiʻi Sea Grant. He is responsible for the programmatic management of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant extension faculty and staff and their activities, and also participates in state and regional collaborative projects that focus on Sea Grant focus areas associated with outreach and education.

Okimoto earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in zoology from the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, and a PhD in biology from the University of Delaware. He was hired by Hawaiʻi Sea Grant in 2002 as an extension specialist and stationed full time in American Samoa for three years at the American Samoa Community College, prior to moving back to Hawai‘i in 2005.