Name: Deneen Nakashima
Age: 34
Position: Tax manager, Grant Thornton LLP
First job: Packing produce, Lahaina
Favorite pastimes: Crafts, reading cookbooks

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Facing new challenges
at Grant Thornton

Deneen Nakashima will supervise tax specialists at the Grant Thornton LLP Hawaii office as the company moves to increase efficiency. Grant Thornton eliminated its regional managing partners Aug. 1 and its 50 local offices now deal directly with the Chicago headquarters.

"There are big changes," Nakashima said. "We're heading for the one-firm concept."

She said that Grant Thornton wants to free up communication lines, save time, standardize equipment and consolidate information and data.

Nakashima joined the company in 1989 as a tax specialist and most recently was a supervisor in the Hawaii tax department with a professional staff of six persons.

She is treasurer for the Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce.

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By Jerry Tune, Star-Bulletin