Building a Smart Grid
High on a ridge overlooking Maalaea Bay, a small group of students from the Horizons Academy scramble out of vans into the vast open space at the top of the Kaheawa wind farm. They gape for a moment in the…
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Using Feedback to Improve Your Company
When you think of a great place to work, a hospice probably doesn’t come to mind. Emotional and physical pain are a daily part of the job, as employees try to comfort people in the last days of their lives.…
Vaccine Tests Continue Despite Chapter 11
Developing a vaccine is a “pretty rigorous, complex process,” says Elliot Parks, CEO of Hawaii Biotech, which is deep into development of West Nile and dengue vaccines, and beginning to develop a vaccine for tick-borne encephalitis. “Further back” in the…
Advice from the top: Constance Lau
Constance Lau is president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Industries, ranked No. 1 on our Top 250 list of the biggest Hawaii companies. What is the most important lesson you learned at your first job? My first job was as…
Hiring Veterans
Raymond Jefferson has already given a lot for his country and for his comrades. During Special Forces training in 1995, Capt. Raymond Jefferson lost all five left-hand fingers as he shielded teammates from a grenade that exploded prematurely. He spent…
New Home for Catholic Charities
One of Hawaii’s largest charity groups has just opened its new urban Honolulu headquarters — a one-stop shop for social services and home to 170 employees who oversee more than 30 programs statewide. Catholic Charities Hawaii says it paid $15.4…
Hurricane Popcorn
For many locals, a movie or a sporting event wouldn’t be complete without Hurricane Popcorn. The combination of nori, liquid butter, arare and popcorn has been a local favorite ever since the Hawaii Popcorn Co. began as a pushcart in…
What’s It Worth? Cigar Case
What’s It Worth? $1,150 What is it? Travel humidor cigar case made by German luggage maker Rimowa. Why so special? Only 35 pieces are available in the U.S.; fewer than 500 were made for the global market. Why so VALUABLE?…
Cheapest plate downtown
I’ve always wondered how a place can charge much less for plate lunches than its competitors. Yum Yum Thai, a downtown hole-in-the-wall, either has an incredibly low overhead or is doing something I don’t want to know about. Prices start…
My Favorite Things: LeAnn Crabbe
LeeAnn Crabbe is vice president of the Queen Liliuokalani Trust, which cares for orphaned and destitute children. She is also the proud adoptive mother of two children. Food Pre-kids, she and her husband would splurge at Chef Mavro’s. “Now, we’re…
Sharing Secrets
President Tim Schools has been in the driver’s seat at American Savings Bank for just over two years. In that time, he says, the bank has bumped up its profile, increased profitability, and improved job performance and job enjoyment. And it made…
The Awful Office
Beware of the Awful Office, the opposite of Hawaii’s Best Places to Work. Last year, we illustrated The Perfect Office (you can find it here). This year, we wanted to peek inside a terrible workplace, where morale and productivity are even lower than…