Hawaii National Bank

About the Entrepreneurs

It was with an entrepreneurial mindset that Mark and Tahnee Towill decided to set sail on a new adventure when they purchased Hawaii Nautical in 2025, one of the state’s largest sailing, sailing tour and luxury charter companies with boats on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island. It was the perfect timing and fit for the young family’s values and dream of moving back to Hawaii, raising their family and running a business together.

The business has not only brought their family together but they hope continues to create opportunities for employment, training and advancement for local people while also leading the way in ocean-based regenerative tourism. Hawaii Nautical is Hawaii’s first NOAA Dolphin SMART-recognized operator and educates guests about dolphin conservation and appropriate activities near dolphins in the wild. Maintaining a strong connection between the ocean, land and people is the vision that will help them navigate the future.

More with Mark and Tahnee

What does Hawaii Nautical value most as a business?

Our core values include being rooted in aloha and being really authentic. We also are very committed to being strong ocean environmental stewards and trying to leave the ocean in a better place than we found it while helping our guests learn a thing or two about some of the challenges and issues happening in the ocean so they can be better informed and hopefully become advocates as well.

And I think for us it's really important to bridge the gap between the tourist community and our local people. We're trying to bring those two things together instead of having such a divide between the two communities.

Why is it important to choose the right partner in business?

We've learned it's really important to pick partners that align with our business's values and culture. For us, we're a small family-run business with a lot of strong history and culture, so we really try to pick partners that align with those things. But we're also really looking forward to bringing some fresh energy and some new ideas to grow this business and make it even better.

What do you think is the Hawaii National Bank difference?

They're family owned, family operated just like us, and it really feels like one family. It feels like one ‘ohana. It doesn't feel like this transactional experience of going into the bank and depositing money. It feels like we're catching up with friends and doing some business at the same time. So it has a really warm and welcoming feel, and their support has been so immense and helpful to our success.

What advice would you give to new Entrepreneurs?

When you think about entrepreneurship, you don't realize that it can actually happen through acquisition. You don't need to come up with a new product or create a new invention in order to be an entrepreneur. We very much consider ourselves entrepreneurs, but we acquired a company that's 25 years in existence and is a market leader in the space. We're bringing that entrepreneurial mindset to this company. It's still new and fresh for us, and we're going to continue to grow and expand it to the best of our ability.

We're in the middle of our careers. We have a family, so we don't have the ability to take as much risk as you could when you're younger trying to start something new. This is a very viable path. There's a lot of local companies in a strong position that may be looking for a transition. So there's a lot of opportunity out there and partnering with someone like Hawaii National Bank can certainly help you make that happen.