Taking Notice

NEW JOBS

>> Ruedi Tobler has been named general manager of the Kalaeloa Co-Generation Plant in Kapolei by Kalaeloa Partners LP. She will provide strategic direction and oversee operations at the 180-megawatt facility. Tobler rejoins Kalaeloa Partners after serving as general manager at Azito O&M SA in Africa.

>> Dean Strawn has joined the staff at Hawaii Modular Space Inc. He will be responsible for oversight of all general contracting operations at the company.

>> Brent Kinmore, Sheryl Wong and Nydia Coloma have been named residential loan officers at Castle and Cooke Mortgage. The three will be responsible for pre-qualifying and originating residential mortgage loans. All three previously worked at other lending institutions in Hawaii.

PROMOTIONS

>> John K. Tsukayama will head the new Pacific threat management division for Safeguard Services Inc. The executive vice president will oversee the new division's operations. Tsukayama is also co-author of the second edition of "The Process of Investigation," a college textbook on private sector investigation.

>> Tracy Watkins has been promoted to controller at Atlantis Adventures. She will be responsible for oversight of all daily financial and budget operations at the company. Watkins came on board at Atlantis Adventures in 1999 as an accounting manager.

>> Ogilvy and Mather recently named Fay Hajiani chief financial officer and Michael Moody senior account executive. Hajiani, who has been with the company since 1997, previously served as finance director before her promotion. Moody joined the company as an account executive in 1998.

>> Thomas Delaney has been promoted to director of information systems at Hawaii Dental Service. He will be responsible for all information systems and data processing activities at HDS. Delaney had served since 1990 as manager of systems development at the company.

>> Richard Ho has been promoted to director of purchasing and merchandising at Star Markets. Ho, who has been with Star Markets since 1986, previously served as manager of purchasing and merchandising. In addition, Roel Tavita has been promoted to director of Oahu operations at the company. Tavita, who previously served as store manager at Star Markets' Moiliili location, has been with Star Markets for over 20 years.

>> Joyce Okamoto and Helen Ramos have been promoted at Central Pacific Bank. Okamoto, a 32-year employee at the bank, was named vice president and manager for the operations services division- centralized branch operations department. Ramos will serve as a financial service officer at the Central Pacific Main Branch. In addition, Kent Matsumura and Daren Suzuki have joined the company. Matsumura will serve as assistant vice president in the bank's credit department. Suzuki was named a financial consultant with the Financial Network Investment Corporation at Central Pacific.

>> Keoni Wagner has been promoted to vice president of corporate communications at Hawaiian Airlines Inc. He will be responsible for oversight of all Hawaiian Airlines public relations as well as all internal and external corporate communications. Wagner previously served as senior director of corporate communications at the airline.

>> Professional Results Inc. recently named Anna L. Agpaoa, Jennifer L. Li and John S. Chock to positions at the company. Agpaoa was promoted to graphic design director. She will be responsible for all graphic design projects at the company. She previously served as a graphic design coordinator. Li was named public relations director. Chock will serve as outside sales director.

RECOGNITION

>> Shuhei Okuda recently announced his retirement from the Halekulani Corp. He came to Hawaii in 1981 to oversee renovations and expansion of the hotel. After a seven-year hiatus while working for the Halekulani's parent company in California, Okuda returned to Hawaii in 1999.

>> The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, Hawaii Chapter, has created the Capt. James Hickerson Scholarship Award for Academic Achievement. Hickerson is program manager for Anteon Corp.'s Hawaii office. Prior to joining Anteon, he was a naval aviator for 30 years.

BACK TO TOP

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Andersen Worldwide names Cardoso CEO

LONDON >> Andersen Worldwide SC named Aldo Cardoso to replace Joseph Berardino as chief executive officer as the accounting firm disintegrates following U.S. member Arthur Andersen LLP's criminal indictment.

Bloomberg News reported Cardoso will try to hold on to the firm's remaining affiliates as overseas units rush to join rivals, industry executives said. Andersen's plan to sell its non-U.S. affiliates to KPMG International ended after Ernst & Young International, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu agreed to acquire some Andersen operations in Europe and Asia.

Cardoso, who is 46 and based in Paris, joined Andersen in 1979 and has spent his entire career with the firm. He became chairman of Andersen Worldwide in 2000 and also is the managing partner of the firm's French affiliate. He will hold the post of CEO for an "indefinite term," Andersen said.

Bankruptcy court allows Enron to keep CEO

NEW YORK >> A U.S. bankruptcy judge has cleared Steven Cooper to remain as chief executive of bankrupt Enron Corp. after federal regulators dropped their objections to his hiring.

Judge Arthur Gonzalez's ruling clears the way for Cooper to lead the company through Chapter 11 restructuring a month after the Securities and Exchange Commission initially called his contract "inappropriate."

The SEC had questioned Cooper's $1.3 million salary, a $5 million bonus and his status as a independent contractor, rather than full-time employee, which raised concerns about his fiduciary responsibility. The SEC also said it was concerned about potential conflicts of interest stemming from Cooper's connections with creditors.

Arpey named president at American Airlines

FORT WORTH, Texas >> American Airlines named Gerard J. Arpey as president and chief operating officer and said he will oversee the carrier's operating units.

Chairman and chief executive Donald J. Carty had also held the president's title.

"This will free Mr. Carty to spend a lot more time on employee issues and other important things that it's hard to do when he's got all these responsibilities himself," said Al Becker, a spokesman for the Fort Worth-based carrier.

Arpey, 43, had spent the past two years as an executive vice president, running the major operating units of the airline, including flights, maintenance, the American Eagle commuter line and cargo.

Despite bust, tech sector executive salaries on rise

The technology sector may have been hit hard during the past year, but total cash compensation for all executive-team members at Internet and information-technology concerns increased in 2001 from the previous year. So concludes a new study of 900 executives at 178 private companies by auditors Ernst & Young LLP, law firm Hale and Dorr LLP and recruiters J. Robert Scott, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Total cash compensation increased for all executive-team members roughly 18 percent from 2000 to 2001 as a result of increases in salary and cash bonus.

CEOs, at 25 percent, and heads of sales, at about 39 percent, reported the largest average increases.

Hong Kong tourism grows 15 percent

HONG KONG >> Tourists visiting Hong Kong rose 15 percent in February from a year earlier, led by a surge in visitors from mainland China, the Hong Kong Tourism Board said.

The number of mainland Chinese visitors surged 70 percent to 471,528, followed by Malaysian tourists, whose numbers rose by a third to 21,179, the agency said. Hong Kong's tourism was boosted in February by the three-day lunar New Year holiday, Bloomberg News reported.

Mainland Chinese are the leading tourists in Hong Kong this year, growing 43 percent in the first two months from the year- earlier period, it said. Last year, Mainland Chinese outspent visitors from the U.S., Europe and Japan for the first time since the city's tourism board began keeping statistics nine years ago.

Philippine exports fell 6.4 percent in February

MANILA >> Philippine exports posted their smallest drop in 11 months in February as a rebound in the U.S. economy lifted demand for the country's disk drives, computer chips and other goods.

Bloomberg News reported overseas sales fell 6.4 percent from a year earlier to $2.63 billion, following January's 9 percent decline. That was the smallest drop since March 2001 and compared with economists' expectations of a 5.5 percent decline.

"This jives with the overall scenario for the year, considering the U.S. is recovering sooner and more strongly than expected," said Cecilia Tanchoco, an economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands.

The U.S. economy, which absorbs about a quarter of Philippine exports, probably grew at the fastest rate in almost two years last quarter as consumer spending rose, according to a recent Bloomberg survey. Rebounding computer demand is prompting U.S. factories to buy more Asian-made electronic parts.

Hong Kong Cyberport hosting few tenants

HONG KONG >> Once touted as Hong Kong's answer to Silicon Valley, the Cyberport industrial park is finally in business -- but with little to boast about in the way of tenants.

The project's first phase opened Wednesday, but just three of 80 companies that applied for tenancy had signed leases, and one of them was the Cyberport developer, Pacific Century CyberWorks.

Cyberport was launched in 1999 -- when dot-coms were booming -- but stirred controversy when the government awarded the project with no bidding to CyberWorks, run by Richard Li, a son of Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing.

Airbus, Japanese firms in jet-construction deals

TOKYO >> European aircraft maker Airbus S.A.S. said it has signed $650 million worth of contracts with Japanese suppliers for the construction of its A380 super jumbo jet.

"The A380 plays the role of a bridge between the aerospace industries of Japan and Europe," Airbus president and chief executive Noel Forgeard said in a statement.

Airbus said four main Japanese suppliers have signed contracts "which amount to over $650 million in the years to come."

The move is seen as a bid by Airbus to influence Japanese air carriers to buy the jet. Japanese airlines have traditionally favored Boeing aircraft for their fleets.

South Korea pledges to build 5 million homes

SEOUL >> South Korea said it will build five million new homes in the next decade to ease housing shortages, Bloomberg News reported.

Under the development plan, the Ministry of Construction and Transportation will build 500,000 housing units for low-income earners in cities circling Seoul, with 80,000 units expected to be completed next year.

It also will provide 500,000 homes to be sold under 10-year leases with financing aid from the state-run Korean National Housing Corp. and local governments.

Property prices have surged almost 17 percent in Seoul and 22 percent in the city of Inchon in the past six months because the supply of housing has lagged demand by consumers.

Seoul apartment sale attracts record bidders

SEOUL >> Seoul's state-run apartment sale attracted record bidding, prompting the city government to announce new measures to restrict the sale price as it sought to stop the housing market from overheating.

Projects put on the market, which are yet to be built, attracted an average of 80 bidders for each apartment, with some prospective homeowners queuing for two hours to file purchase applications in simultaneous, citywide monthly sales. That was higher than the previous sale in February, which attracted 44 bids for each apartment.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said in a statement it planned to restrict the price of apartments in future sales, especially those located in the south of the city, where three quarters of the applicants were concentrated.

Successful bidders are chosen at random for the 10 or 11 sales each year, and can then sell their purchase at a profit to buyers wanting to jump the queue.