Kitty Lagareta was an American businesswoman who served as CEO of Communications Pacific, on the University of Hawaii board of regents for six years, and as a key marketing advisor for Republican politician Linda Lingle. Previously a lifelong Democrat, she defected to the Republican Party in 1995 due to her dissatisfaction with Democratic political scandals and her desire for change, even as she continued to support individual freedoms like same-sex marriage. A supporter of the Republican Party of Hawaii's fiscal conservatism and social moderatism, she left the Republican Party after Lingle left the governorship, as she opposed the concept of the Republicans putting "warm bodies" in every race, even as many of them were out-of-touch with local communities and were ultraconservative and exclusive of moderates like her.