Debra Pestrak is the new manager of the Maui Friends of the Library Bookstore in Lahaina.

LAHAINA — The Maui Friends of the Library announced the naming of a new manager of the Lahaina Bookstore in the Outlets of Maui.

Effective Aug. 24, bookstore volunteer Debra Pestrak replaced Jo Ann Carroll.

Pestrak retired from AT&T after 26 years holding a variety of management sales positions. She started Success Unleashed, a popular coaching service, and was a professional speaker, coach and author for that organization. After ten years, she transitioned into real estate and retired in 2018.

Carroll has headed the Lahaina Maui Friends of the Library Bookstore since it opened in 2011 at the Lahaina Cinema Center and through its move to larger spaces at the Outlets of Maui.

“Jo Ann has been an incredible asset to Lahaina over many years as a true expert at what makes a bookstore successful,” said Maui Friends of the Library Board President Flo Wiger, who also volunteers at the store.

“The decor at the store, its friendly ambiance and how it’s organized — or not — has provided our customers with an adventure every time they shop for books here,” she said. “Jo Ann is one of a kind. We will miss her.”

Before heading the Maui Friends of the Library Bookstore, Carroll was proprietor of the Old Lahaina Book Emporium gracing an alley off Front Street.

When she decided in 2011 to retire, she donated hundreds of books to the Maui Friends of the Library, making it possible for this all volunteer nonprofit organization to open a store in Lahaina.

In addition to managing the bookstore, Carroll is a member of the Maui Writers Group and the author of many short stories. Her humorous tales appear in Maui Writers Ink anthologies available in the Maui Friends of the Library Bookstores.

The Maui Friends of the Library Bookstores are located in Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului, Puunene (past the Sugar Museum) as well as in the Outlets of Maui across from Kate Spade and in back of Tommy Bahama.

Book lovers and others interested in giving back to the community can volunteer to work four hours a week in one of the stores by filling out an application at any of the stores. Donations of gently used books are always welcome at the stores.

Learn more about Maui Friends of the Library by visiting mfol.org.