Founded by Bill Guss in 1969, Hawaiʻi’s largest staffing company ALTRES has sought out to simplify business for local employers and jobseekers.
Bill’s son Barron Guss, who serves today as CEO and president, joined the agency in the '80s, along with Kerry Kopp, ALTRES staffing president. After Bill Guss died in 1995, Barron took the helm of the business, combining entities to become ALTRES – ALTernative RESources for business, its website notes.
In 2018, the ALTRES Foundation was created to provide resources for local communities to thrive.
For Volunteer Month in April, the company’s employees have organized more than a dozen different community service projects, according to Siana Hunt, director of corporate philanthropy at ALTRES.
“We call it ALTRES in Action and our efforts are year-round,” she told Aloha State Daily. “Leadership and staff will be planting trees, picking up trash on beaches, hosting food and diaper drives, and helping with various organizations of their choice, such as Special Olympics Hawai’i and AccesSurf Hawai’i, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaiʻi and 808 Cleanups, Hawaiian Humane Society, among others.”
“Volunteerism is on the rise and people are really excited to do it," Hunt continued, "Our ALTRES team has become empowered to be leaders within their own community, and in doing so, I think it has created that multiplying effect of people wanting to volunteer together. It’s a fun way to integrate team building, too.”
The core of the ALTRES foundation is “raising up tomorrow’s leaders today,” Hunt said.
“We’re very much engaged in leading that charge from the top and modeling that for not just our teams, but our families and communities. … There is more work to be done in our community for any one person to do themselves.”
As of this year, the firm has nearly 350 employees, of which more than 50 are Hawai’i-based recruiters, according to research by Pacific Business News, which also named Hunt among its 2025 Women Who Mean Business.
In addition to Community by ALTRES, Hunt also oversees the ALTRES Leadership Academy program. She was previously CEO of Make-A-Wish Hawaiʻi for eight years. She lived on Molokaʻi until school age, she said, working at her familyʻs business Kapualei Ranch. "I have always split time between the two islands."
Outside of work, Hunt serves as vice president of the Oʻahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association, and on the boards of Outrigger Canoe Club, PBS Hawaiʻi and Chef Hui.
“I'm super blessed to be in the position that I am,” she told ASD. “I formerly worked in the trenches at a nonprofit to now be helping to shape our corporate giving and how we can make an impact connecting both the private sector and the nonprofit sector.”
Hunt said if she’s not working or giving back to the community, “I’m probably on the ranch in some capacity refilling my cup.”
“It’s weird to say as an adult because work as a kid was a chore, and now I look at being outside as restoring.”
Next month, ALTRES will take part in Aloha United Way’s Women United fundraiser called, Chocolate, Champagne & Couture For-A-Cause.
The event returns on Saturday, April 19, at the Four Seasons Resort in Ko Olina. Last year, Chocolate, Champagne & Couture For-A-Cause raised $93,000 in grants for women-led businesses and organizations.
“This is something that we annually support and look forward to every year – to be able to gather with women, and men who support women. It’s a weekend outside of business, where we can let our hair down, laugh, connect and network through fun and fashion," Hunt said. "Plus they put on an amazing runway show!
“Our table carpools together from town, so we holoholo to the west side, which is great for interpersonal relationship building.
For more information about AUWʻs Chocolate, Champagne & Couture For-A-Cause, click here.
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
