Sanna, who has served as the domestic violence unit probation supervisor for the Hawaiʻi State Judiciary Adult Client Services Branch in the Third Circuit, for the East Hawaiʻi section of Hawaiʻi Island, began her Judiciary career in 1997 as a clerk III with the Juvenile Client Services Branch of the Judiciary. She worked her way up through the ranks to a social services assistant in 2010 where she monitored low-level felony defendants’ compliance with court-ordered conditions and provided assistance to probation officers and other judicial staff. In 2011 she became a probation officer and was promoted to senior probation officer in 2013. In 2018, she was promoted to probation supervisor.

She earned an Associate of Science Degree in Administration of Justice from Hawaiʻi Community College, a Bachelor of Arts in Social and Criminal Justice from Iowa Ashford University, and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Missouri.

While her appointment is to the DEP-C position, she will transition into the newly created Deputy Director for Rehabilitation, Programs, and Services position effective January 1, 2024. That is the date on which the separation of the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Law Enforcement is expected to be completed. The Department of Public Safety will, at that time, be renamed the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The temporary acting DEP-C, Michael “Mick” Hoffman, will return to his position as the Institutions Division Administrator, effective July 31, 2023.

The Public Safety Department deputy director appointments are not subject to Senate confirmation.