Pacific Pump and Power’s motto is: “We say what we are going to do, we do what we said we would do, and we check to make sure that we did it.” Jeremy Leonard, CEO of the Hawaii-based company that rents and sells pumps and other equipment, talks about fulfilling that mission. HB: How does your company seek customer feedback?…
Q. A lot of customers are long overdue on paying me. I’m reluctant to take them to court, but I’m forced to borrow to pay my employees and bills. What do you suggest? A. Many small businesses face the same problems. But you can move forward by understanding the magnitude of your cash-flow challenges, taking immediate actions and planning ahead. Here…
Bob Dove, president of Hawaii Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company (HEMIC), offers these ways to save on the premiums for workers’ compensation insurance. 1. Run a safe operation This is by far the most important step. “Prevent the accidents before they happen,” Dove says. “We look at workplace safety not as a cost or an expense but as an investment, because…
When Mitch D’Olier left Honolulu’s Victoria Ward Co. to lead Kaneohe Ranch, the largest landowner in Kailua, on Windward Oahu, he thought he would see few tourists on the job. “When I was at Victoria Ward, about 30 percent of our business was from tourists. (In Kailua,) I expected about 0 percent of our business to be from visitors,” he…
Traffic Central 10:03 A.m., Wednesday Honolulu Traffic Management Center Kinalau Place, near Ward Avenue >> Staff here control more than 350 traffic signals within Honolulu’s central business district. Cameras at major intersections provide live images 24 hours a day, allowing the “Traffa-Razzi” — Jason Yotsuda, Danielle Tucker and Tony Scott — to broadcast traffic updates to commuters during rush…
Susanne Friend wants Hawaii to take back its food supply. “Over the last 50 or 60 years, we’ve let our food supply be taken over by agro-businesses with massive transportation lines,” Friend says. In response, she and her husband, Tim Mann, founded Friendly Aquaponics to help teach others about aquaponics, a hybrid system of aquaculture (raising marine life) and hydroponics…
Education may not seem like a cover story for a business magazine, but I’m convinced that the biggest economic crisis facing Hawaii is our public schools. I’m not alone: A Hawaii Business survey of business leaders in December found a substantial minority named education as their No. 1 concern. You already know that annual tests rank Hawaii near the bottom…
After 39 years at HPU’s helm, Wright steps down in June 2011 even as he’s helping launch a $100 million expansion at the Windward campus. Though he’s retiring just short of his 70th birthday, he still plans to fundraise for HPU — in-between globe-trotting in search of the best fly-fishing. Q: If you were starting a new university now, would…
By midafternoon every workday, Hank Wuh is ready for a break. For the CEO of Cellular Bioengineering Inc., that means 45 minutes swimming off Diamond Head. “I need it,” Wuh says simply. This down time — “me time” — recharges Wuh for his demanding job running a high-tech Hawaii company developing and marketing artificial corneas, multifaceted cleanup compounds, biosensor chips…
Don’t be alarmed if you see smoke billowing and a crowd gathered in front of the Davies Pacific Center around lunchtime on the second or fourth Tuesday of the month. It’s not a fire, it’s the Merchant Street Market, which features local food vendors such as Stacey’s Lau Lau, Le Crepe Cafe, Hawaiian Style Chili Co. and Pat’s Peanuts. Grandma…
After nearly a decade reporting news in Vermont, Wisconsin and Washington State, Lara Yamada is back in Hawaii, co-anchoring the KITV news with Paula Akana. This active Kauai girl wants to make up for lost time. Food While away, Yamada says most of her Hawaii fantasies focused on food: fish stir-fry from Irifune, fried rice at Big City Diner, banana…
When the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association began turning a cow pasture into a station to test new crops and species for reforestation back in 1918, its members probably didn’t realize they were also sowing seeds for a modern Honolulu rain forest. Lyon Arboretum, a research arm of the University of Hawaii since 1953, is now a canopied refuge with 6,000…
Rose Tseng Tseng retires this summer after 12 years as chancellor at the University of Hawaii-Hilo. Father’s best advice: When I was trying to decide whether I should take the dean’s job at San Jose State University when I was in my early 40s and also raising children, my father said, “Go ahead and try. You were born to accept…
Preserving historic buildings and sites in Hawaii makes sense culturally and morally, says Rep. Cindy Evans, but it also makes good economic sense. Preservation boosts the economy by attracting tourists, who enjoy visiting Iolani Palace, heiau, museums, Pearl Harbor, fishponds and other historic sites in Hawaii, Evans says. “There have been a lot of studies that prove the people who…
A group of Punahou School students has persuaded 10 restaurants to rethink their use of plastics and how to recycle, and they want to persuade more. The LEAF project’s primary target is the ubiquitous use of plate lunch containers made with polystyrene — often known by the brand Styrofoam. General manager Billy Bal has proudly attached the LEAF logo to…
Crystal methamphetamine not only ruins lives, it can also ruin businesses. A meth-addled employee raises your risk of absenteeism and workplace theft, increases healthcare costs and lowers morale, says Cindy Adams, executive director of the Hawaii Meth Project. “Costs associated with meth addiction are much, much higher than for other drugs,” Adams says. 5 Hawaii’s national rank in meth use…
Colors are all around us, but most people rarely think about how colors subtly influence our decisions. “Color Professor” Jill Morton, who has been studying color psychology since 1988 and has advised clients such as Tylenol and Xerox through her business Colorcom, emphasizes that color choice can affect a product’s success or failure. “Color communicates. It delivers meaning,” says Morton,…
What a difference a billion dollars makes. Until recently, the state treasury – officially, the Treasury Management Branch of the Financial Administration Division of the Department of Budget and Finance – has operated in relative obscurity. With its staff of seven or eight employees, the treasury acts as cash manager for the state government. Its primary responsibility is to make…
Mike Strembitsky launched an education revolution in the northern Alberta city of Edmonton in the 1960s and, today, many people consider it the best public school system in North America. It has inspired many districts across the United States to copy its reforms – especially giving financial and operating independence to individual schools. In 2001, the American Association of School…
While other students around the state begin their day reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or listening to announcements in traditional classrooms with four walls, the 85 students at Halau Ku Mana charter school chant in Hawaiian under a tree-shaded tent in upper Makiki. Deenie Musick, directorof Halau Ku Mana Respectfully, they ask permission to begin a day of classes –…
In January, Hawaii’s three former governors offered this plan for fixing our school system. The effort was organized by a nonprofit group called Hawaii’s Children First, which is dedicated to reforming public education in Hawaii. (Disclosure: Steven Petranik, editor of Hawaii Business, was one of the group’s organizers.) Here is the governors’ full declaration. Hawaii’s Children First The interests of Hawaii’s…
Participants, in the order they begin speaking: Steve Petranik: Moderator and editor of Hawaii Business. Candy Suiso: Teacher at Waianae High School and program director of Searider Productions. Bruce Coppa: COO of Communications Pacific and chairman of the education committee for the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. Ruth Silberstein: Principal of Palolo Elementary School and Hawaii’s 2008 National Distinguished Principal. David Carey: President and CEO…
Participants, in the order they begin speaking: Steve Petranik: Moderator and editor of Hawaii Business. Candy Suiso: Teacher at Waianae High School and program director of Searider Productions. Bruce Coppa: COO of Communications Pacific and chairman of the education committee for the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii. Ruth Silberstein: Principal of Palolo Elementary School and Hawaii’s 2008 National Distinguished Principal. David Carey: President and CEO…