Steve Petranik has been an editor and reporter for almost four decades and now is the editor of Hawaii Business. Before joining the magazine in 2009, he spent 18 years as an editor at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and five years at the Honolulu Advertiser. He’s reported from six countries on three continents and his stories have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times.
Virtual Interview: Miki Tomita, Founder & CEO, Education Incubator How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our core mission is to empower young people to create change now, to contribute to a better world as part…
How are you coping with the COVID-19 crisis? As an essential business, we have remained operational. We have adapted to the changing environment in ways that help protect the health of our employees, customers and the community, but also allow…
Virtual Interview: Jud R. Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer, Maui Behavioral Health Resources How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Maui Behavioral Health Resources is an umbrella organization for three nonprofit agencies: Maui Youth & Family Services,…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Due to social distancing, Modtech has focused on providing our clients with solutions surrounding virtual collaboration tools, including video conferencing systems, teleconference rooms and telework systems. These tools allow our clients…
Virtual Interview on COVID-19: Kathryn Raethel, President; Ryan Ashlock, Chief Operating Officer; Derek Dickard, Director, Outpatient Clinics; and Jesse Siebel, Director, Mission and Spiritual Care, Adventist Health Castle What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Ashlock: In this…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Like many local businesses, we had to plan for and implement in a very short period a substantial restructuring of the way the firm conducts its daily business, including several innovative…
Virtual Interview: Robin Kumabe, Executive Director, Touch A Heart How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our mission is to transform the lives of those facing barriers to employment by providing vocational training in a healing…
Virtual Interview: Dr. Lynn Babington, President, Chaminade University What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? Chaminade University made a number of significant adjustments to the final five weeks of…
Virtual Interview: Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham, Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? All 10 campuses in the University of Hawaiʻi System went fully…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? With the increase of pressure on tenants and landlords caused by the pandemic and the moratorium on evictions, I have turned to helping manage relationships between landlords and tenants and supplying…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? In April, PrimeLending implemented a new Loan Origination System, Blue Sage, an industry-leading platform that enables our loan officers to deliver homeowners a seamless, secure and superior mortgage experience. With Blue…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? As our clients plan for the eventual return of their workforce, we’re developing strategies to make sure employees feel safe and confident in their environment. Many open office layouts no longer…
Virtual Interview: Rev. Anke Flohr, Executive Director, Pacific Health Ministry How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? While medical workers are on the frontlines every day treating the physical needs that people have during the pandemic,…
Virtual Interview Susan Furuta, President & CEO, Helping Hands Hawai‘i How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? All of our programs are still operating and accessible by phone or email but have adapted to the changing…
What is the state government doing to support local businesses during this crisis? As soon as I ordered the stay-at-home social distancing mandates to protect the health and safety of our community, Hawai‘i’s businesses had to make drastic and immediate…
Virtual Interview: Heather Nakakura, Director, West Hawaii Explorations Academy What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? I’m very proud of the way our staff pulled together as a team…
Virtual Interview: Dr. Kyle Atabay, Principal, and Brother Brian M. Walsh, President, Damien Memorial School What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? Atabay: Our third quarter ended on March…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Since a statewide shelter-in-place order was issued for California in mid-March, and Hawai‘i shortly thereafter, our office workforce has gone virtual, equipped with the resources needed to work remotely at full…
Are you considering changing the Island Olive Oil Co. business model? We had to make several changes to our business model quickly so we could continue to operate. We lost our entire wholesale unit when the restaurants closed, and our…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Out of concern for flattening the curve, and before we were required to do so, Still & Moving Center shut its doors, cancelling 75 classes a week. That was Tuesday evening,…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? The drastic reduction of passenger flights into the islands and tourism on the islands has significantly changed the supply and demand for both freight movement and aircraft maintenance. Our team has…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? We had to pivot from business as usual to comprehending what this economic “stop and hold” means to our clients and the community. Strategic communications planning, as well as crisis management,…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Throughout this unprecedented time, we have been committed to proactive and proportional responses. At the outset, we made open, honest and frequent communication a cornerstone of our response. We ensure that…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Carbon Lighthouse is an Energy Savings-as-a-Service company that delivers profitable climate solutions for commercial real estate portfolios. Our patented AI platform CLUES, built in-house and used by Carbon Lighthouse engineers, analyzes…
Part I of a three-part series of timely workplace advice articles from the Hawaii Employers Council Workplace safety should always be on employers’ minds, and with COVID-19 continuing to spread, it’s even more important to be proactive and vigilant about…
Virtual Interview: Lani Go-Keala, Executive Director and Kahealani Rivera, M.D., Board President, American Heart Association Hawai‘i Division How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Rivera: The mission of American Heart Association Hawai‘i Division remains vital especially…
Virtual Interview: Lee Higa-Okamoto, Executive Director, Friends of the Waikīkī Aquarium How has your organization been able to continue its core mission? The Friends of the Waikīkī Aquarium (FOWA) has continued to support the Aquarium’s mission to inspire and promote understanding, appreciation…
Virtual Interview: Sam Church, Executive Director, Family Promise of Hawai‘i How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our mission is to help homeless and low-income families in Hawai‘i achieve sustainable independence by mobilizing existing community resources…
Virtual Interview: Celeste Akiu, Principal, Holy Family Catholic Academy & Early Learning Center What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? Holy Family Catholic Academy & Early Learning Center (HFCA)…
How are you coping amid the COVID-19 crisis? In this challenging time a couple of things have really helped our ‘ohana such as staying nimble, daily virtual touches and keeping a sense of humor. We share with each other what’s…
Our separate surveys of business leaders and the general public reveal opinions on voting by mail and the Jones Act, and how they use social media When Hawai‘i lawmakers mandated this year’s election would be conducted mostly by mail, a…
Some of you may have been skeptical when you learned the media was labeled an essential business by county governments in Hawai‘i. Of course, as someone who has spent his whole life in the news business, I agree that we…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? With the tremendous drop in tourism that occurred with COVID-19, we joined forces with our sister restaurant Stripsteak, and created a consolidated menu to offer for takeout and delivery for every…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? In 2019, BBB Northwest + Pacific invested in innovation. The Innovators Advantage Academy was a year-long process of team members learning and focusing on how the BBBNWP could innovate. When COVID-19…
BOSS Mini Survey of 88 local retail executives asks about revenue, profit and staffing; e-commerce and competition; and retailers’ biggest worries going forward. Part IV in a series that concludes Monday. Hawaii Business Magazine and the research team at Anthology…
Virtual Interview: Dr. Larry J. Shapiro, CEO, University Health Partners of Hawai‘i How are you coping with the COVID-19 crisis? At University Health Partners of Hawai‘i (UHP), we have always been committed to the health and safety of our patients,…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? In the legal services industry, we are constantly adapting our services to meet the needs of our clients. The current pandemic and the necessary shutdown orders have resulted in a tremendous…
Virtual Interview: Diane S.L. Paloma, CEO, Lunalilo Home How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our Adult Residential Care Home has continued to keep kupuna safe during the COVID-19 crisis. We have suspended our daily adult…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? IP Xpert of Honolulu (IPX) is bringing building infrastructure into the 21st century by helping organizations implement digital building technology. Networks have evolved from the simple data networks of the 1990s and the convergence…
BOSS Survey of 404 local executives asks about Hawai‘i’s economic recovery, expected changes within their companies, the challenges of working from home, how they’ve adjusted their personal habits and more. Part III in a five-part series. Hawaii Business Magazine and…
