Before retiring from the Hawaii DOE in 2014, Darrel was the principal at five schools including Moanalua High School for 13 years when the school became a national model school. He also served as a high school social studies teacher, a vice principal (Washington Middle, Radford High, and Moanalua High), state educational specialist for technology, state educational specialist for school leadership, and Deputy District Superintendent. He holds a Bachelor of Education degree and Masters in Education Administration degree from the University of Hawai‘i. He was the Chairperson for the Hawaii High School Principals Forum from 2007 to 2014 and was Hawaii’s 2010 National Distinguished High School Principal of the Year.

Darrel created the Hawaii Center for Instructional Leadership, which works to support school principals and educators in the areas of collective efficacy, academic plan design and implementation, change leadership, and innovation. He served as the Executive Director for the Education Institute of Hawaii, a non-profit research “think tank” for improving public education in Hawaii from 2014 to 2016. During that same period he served as the State Director of Implementation for Achieve3000. He was selected as the Chairperson for the Governor’s Every Student Succeeds Act Task Force in April 2016 (created the Hawaii Blueprint for Public Education) and was appointed to the State Board of Education in October 2016, where he served until March 2017. In 2020, he formed the “Leadership By Design 3000” professional learning community and serves as the facilitator and mentor for members who are school principals, vice principals, and aspiring leaders. Darrel has been a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach since 2017 and was recently recertified in December 2022. He was born and raised in Hawaii and joined One Shared Future because of his passion for performance excellence, strengths-based leadership, and commitment to servant leadership.