Tanna and Bryson Dang, owners of the boutique Eden In Love and winners of first prize in the “This is Retail” video contest, have pledged $75,000 over five years to help bring clean water to a Sri Lankan village. The…
Ask the owner of Group Builders Inc. how he’s been able to grow his business from a $1,000 capital investment to a multimillion-dollar finishing contractor business in 33 years and he won’t point to his ingenuity and hard work. He’ll…
This Sept. 11 marks the 11th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks and the 20th anniversary of the day Hurricane Iniki struck Kauai and Oahu’s Waianae Coast. The solemn occasion is a fitting opportunity to publish this photo essay on the men…
Kuriyama has served as A&B CEO since 2010 and previously served as president. He talks about the recent separation of the company’s transportation and land businesses. The split, announced in December 2011, is one of the most historic events in…
And How Their Pay Is Determined There is always a collective gasp and some outrage when the pay of top executives is publicized. In these economically challenging times, many people are angry that the CEOs of big corporations are paid so…
Patrick Novak, CEO of The French Gourmet, a Hawaii company that specialized in artisan frozen pastry dough, reflected on the issues that killed his once-thriving business and kept coming back to the Jones Act. The company was featured in the…
A look at what fed or ate away at the bottom line Well-run and innovative companies are usually profitable, while mismanaged and stagnant companies often lose money and go out of business. That’s easy to understand. But equally important are…
Q: Why do some leaders fail? A: During the past 30 years, working side by side with hundreds of leaders, I’ve had a “front-row seat” observing the practice of leadership. I’ve seen many factors that resulted in failure, including arrogance, incompetence, dishonesty, abusiveness…
Brizee joined AHL in 1995 as a project architect and manager, and was promoted to principal in 2004 and CEO in 2010. He shares his views on rail and the importance of the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)…
Ten years after retiring as governor, Cayetano has been drawn back to the campaign trail by his opposition to Honolulu’s rail project. He talks about rail, why it’s a bad idea and what he would do instead to help commuters.…
The former secretary of transportation of Massachusetts and general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority talks about the prospects for Honolulu’s rail project. Coming from a well-established rail system like the one in Boston, did you have any surprises…
Q: It seems like a paycheck isn’t enough to keep my employees fully engaged in customer service and efficiency. What can I do? A: To engage your employees, create a positive work environment that has clear goals and expectations, effective communication,…
The first woman to lead the full-service medical facility in Kailua discusses Castle’s renovations, green efforts and open-heart-surgery program. Castle is undergoing a $26 million renovation. What’s changing? Over the last 10-plus years, we’ve been renovating older areas of the…
After years of working on contentious issues, such as whether to build a new power plant in West Oahu or wind farms on Lanai, Alm has learned valuable lessons about building community consensus. Now, as the leader of the new…
Mike McCartney President & CEO, Hawaii Tourism Authority McCartney, who served on the APEC 2011 Hawaii Host Committee, discusses the after-effects of APEC and HTA’s plans for 2012. How will APEC affect Hawaii’s visitor industry now and into the future?…
At first glance, Hawaii Fish Co. in Mokuleia doesn’t look like a hotbed of innovation. For more than 20 years, owner Ron Weidenbach has run a simple operation, raising tilapia in floating cages in the deep waters of an old…
Tim Johns has had an eclectic career. He recently became a senior VP at HMSA and was co-chair of the APEC Hawaii Host Committee. Previously, he served as CEO ofBishop Museum, COO of the Damon Estate, VP of Amfac, chairman…
Sexton has been with Xerox for more than 30 years, guiding the Hawaii branch through dramatic changes in business and technology, and one of the greatest tragedies in Hawaii history: the mass murder at the Xerox warehouse in 1999. We talk with Sexton…
In the 4 a.m. darkness each workday, Eric Yeaman slips out of his house and into the garage. Closing the door, he flips on a large-screen TV for the latest news and sports, and runs three to six miles on…
Kuyper was born and raised on Oahu, but, like many ambitious Hawaii youth, he was drawn by college and career to the mainland. Thirty years later, after working for blue-chip companies like the Boston Consulting Group, Wellington Management and Morgan…
“Past is prologue.” – William Shakespeare Darrell Hamamura punches his code into a keypad, pulls open the door to the vault and steps back into the past. As the land information systems manager for Kamehameha Schools, he tracks the endowment’s…
The annual session of the Hawaii state Legislature is when issues are debated, compromises are forged, new laws are created – and legislators ask for your money. An analysis by Hawaii Business magazineshows that during the 2011 state Legislature, 14 of the 25…
Problem: “Where did those shots come from?” Even on today’s high-tech battlefield, it’s often hard to tell. That’s why Honolulu-based Oceanit developed FLASH – Fast as Light Assessment of Snipers and Hostile Fire – which uses infrared sensors and high-speed processors.…
What looks like can’t-miss, all-star potential often turns out a few years later to have been all potential and no actuality. But baseball scouts and managers have to keep looking because they need new players all the time to replace…