Patti Paniccia Board Member

Patti Paniccia, Board Member still calls Waialua, Hawaii home, even though she moved to Southern California in 1985. She continues to spend a significant amount of time at her Waialua home, surfing her favorite spots with family, friends and neighbors. She was a competitive surfer during the 70s and early 80s, traveling on the women’s world pro tour. In the early 70s, she co-founded the Hawaii Women’s Surfing Hui, and as competition director, established a qualifying contest system for Hawaii’s pro contest invitations. She then worked with Fred Hemmings, alongside Randy Rarick, to launch the women’s and men’s pro tour for International Professional Surfing (IPS), precursor to today’s World Surf League (WSL) tour. Patti is an attorney in California and Hawaii, and an adjunct professor at Pepperdine Law School. She is also a former CNN correspondent and author of WorkSmarts for Women (Ballantine, 2000). She is currently co-general counsel for the board of directors of the Radio Television New Association of Southern California. She and her husband of thirty years have two daughters – one who sings opera and the other who is a business executive. She tried hard to get them to cut school and go surfing.