Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum

Suzanne Vares-Lum became the director of the Daniel. K Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in January 2025. Prior to this role, she served as President of the East-West Center.

Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, she served 34 years in all three components of the U.S. Army—the Army National Guard, Regular Army, and Army Reserve—retiring as a Major General in 2021.

In her last military assignment, Vares-Lum spent 5 ½ years at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where she served as the Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, including periods as acting Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander. As a Brigadier General, she served as the Mobilization Assistant to the J5, Director of Strategic Plans and Policy, U.S. Pacific Command.

Vares-Lum began her military career in 1986, enlisting in the Army Reserve as a private first class. She was later commissioned as a Distinguished Military Graduate in the Military Intelligence Corps through the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa ROTC program and entered active duty in 1989 as a second lieutenant. She later returned to Hawaii and entered the Hawai’i Army National Guard.

Her previous assignments include Chief of Staff Hawai’i National Guard; Vice Chief of Staff and J2 Hawai’i National Guard; 298th Multifunctional Training Unit Regimental Commander; G-2, 29th Separate Infantry Brigade; 229th Military Intelligence Company Commander; 29th Support Battalion S-2; 103rd Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division HHSC Executive Officer; Trailblazer Platoon Leader, 103rd (CEWI) Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rd ID; 3rd ID Division Artillery Fire Support Intelligence Officer, and 305th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment Public Affairs Officer.

Vares-Lum was mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III from August 2004 to March 2006. As the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade G-2, she established and led the Joint Intelligence Center in Balad, Iraq.

Her military schools include the Army Strategic Education Program, Basic and Advanced, Army Forced Integration for Senior Leaders, the U.S. Army War College (DDE), Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, Military Officer Basic Course, Combined Arms and Services Staff School, Command and General Staff Officer’s Course, Airborne School, and Air Assault School.

Vares-Lum serves on the Bank of Hawaii Board of Directors, as well as non-profit boards, including the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research and the Hawaii Army Museum. She is a current member of the U.S.-Japan Council and is a National Academy of Public Administration Fellow.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and her Master of Education in Teaching from the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa, as well as a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. In 2019, she became a National Security Fellow of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She is also an alumna of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies’ Transnational Security Cooperation course (TSC 16-2), the Senior Asia-Pacific Orientation Course (SEAPOC 15-1), and a participant in numerous workshops.

Her awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, and other personal and unit awards. In 2017, she was a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Army ROTC National Hall of Fame Inductee.