Imagine a retail business in which one key measure of sales growth was up 42.2 percent last year, with similar growth this year. You’d be on Easy Street, right? Except this same business is plagued by a perennial problem: Customers…
Sellers joined Bank of Hawaii in 1987 as an officer in private financial services and has worked in various management roles since then. In 2003, she assumed responsibility for the risk management division and was promoted to vice chairman and chief risk…
Ho, 71, took over at the school on June 26, 2007, after nearly 40 years in executive roles at HMSA, including executive VP from 1994 to 2005. He also served as chairman of Damien’s school board from 2002 to 2006.…
12-year-old struggling with serious illness named Entrepreneur of the Year Skylar Soares’ accomplishments are remarkable considering the 12-year-old entrepreneur created her business while contending with three life-threatening medical conditions. Make-a-Wish Hawaii helped Skylar realize her dream: designing a fashionable hat…
Grace, a Maori, originally from Turangi, New Zealand, began his career at the Polynesian Cultural Center 30 years ago as a student performer. He climbed the ranks to senior VP of sales and marketing, assumed the newly created post of COO in…
Moy took the helm on May 20 after serving 12 years at Hawaii Gas’s parent company, New York-based Macquarie Infrastructure. As a senior VP at Macquarie, Moy worked on the acquisition of Hawaii Gas in 2005 and 2006. The native…
Are they worth it? That’s the question asked each year by shareholders, regulators, politicians and the public when publicly traded companies reveal how much they pay their CEOs. Different methods have emerged to try to answer the question of “Are…
Profitability is the bottom line, but it’s not the end of the story. Consider banks: In 2010 and 2011, Hawaii’s two largest financial institutions, First Hawaiian Bank and Bank of Hawaii, were also the state’s most profitable companies. Last year, they ranked first…
Hawaii Business won 18 awards this year from the Hawaii chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, more than any other organization. The prizes were announced June 24 and covered all media in the state, including newspapers, magazines, TV and radio…
Question: I am the founder of our family business and five years away from formally retiring. My daughter has been in the business for 12 years, but I feel she lacks the commitment and work ethic to run the business.…
Why did Alexander & Baldwin andMatson stick together so long, and why did they finally decide to separate? There was always a great story about why these companies ended up together. A&B was a landowner and an agricultural company, and needed a way…
In our lives, we’re probably given more than a million words of advice. Almost everyone feels free to dispense it, even if we don’t ask for it, but much of it is trivial and soon forgotten. The advice that resonates…
The sun and wind create clean, local energy for Hawaii, but they’re intermittent. They come and go on a schedule that doesn’t follow the Islands’ demand for…
Training for Fellows in the omidyar program goes through three stages: • Looking at yourself, including strengths and weaknesses; • Looking at You as part of a team; and • Looking at your leadership in the community. Mark your calendars, future leaders of Hawaii: June…
What changes have you seen in the healthcare industry during the five years you’ve been with Kaiser? We’re seeing more accountability and transparency around quality, and we’re seeing the healthcare systems beginning to integrate. The hospitals are hiring doctors and…
Bill Chee, CEO of Locations LLC, has always been ahead of the curve. In 1969, when he was 24 and just starting in real estate, he launched a primitive database of sales information long before others even thought of such…
CEO, Central Pacific Bank Dean, Hawaii Business’ 2012 CEO of the Year, has also been named Hawaii’s Salesperson of the Year for 2013 by the Honolulu Chapter of Sales & Marketing Executives International. He spoke with HB publisher David Tumilowicz.…
Are sweeping changes in Department of Education’s leadership enough to fix Hawaii’s schools? New three-part strategy emphasizes student achievement first, followed by improved support and IT systems, and better training/accountability/HR. Don Horner, chair of the two-year-old, appointed Board of Education,…
Forget about retirement, gray hair means it’s time to launch a business What is it about people over 50? Just when they peek at that no-more-9-to-5 horizon, many do crazy things like travel the world, self-publish books or enroll in…
Taste Table is the only place on Oahu where you can get carnitas tacos one day and a pumpkin-pie waffle the next. The innovative food venture in Kakaako that opened in October is the brainchild of four people who want…
Pacific Links Hawaii owns five golf courses on Oahu – Kapolei, Royal Hawaiian, Makaha (West), Makaha Valley (East) and Olomana. How do you manage roles at both Pacific Links and KS? I think there’s a perception that trustees operate like they…
For decades, "too difficult" has been the refrain in the development community. Developers believe Hawaii’s land-use laws are too complicated, environmental regulations too onerous, and deference to Native Hawaiian gathering and access…
Some suggest an influential coalition based on Hawaiian values, not simply economic value, could help steer the Islands’ future The remnants of the Big Five, once the dominant companies in Hawaii, continued to shrink last year. The sale of…
Pacxa becomes Hawaii’s largest locally based IT service provider with patience and a mix of strategies This January, at our monthly all-staff meeting at Pacific Basin Communications, company president Scott Schumaker ended the morning’s events with a surprising announcement: “Oh,…