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Business Briefs
Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire



Taking Notice

NEW JOBS

>> Karen M. Sakamoto has joined Next Design LLC as a co-owner and partner. She specializes in restaurant design and has worked on a number of office projects as well. Sakamoto owned KMS Design for the past six years.

>> Lorrie Cahn recently opened Insurance Solutions, specializing in affordable health care coverage for small businesses, sole proprietors and independent contractors. Cahn was most recently vice president of business development at Consumers Group Insurance Services.

>> Allan Palmer has been named executive director and chief executive officer of the Military Aviation Museum of the Pacific. He was previously executive director of the San Diego Aerospace Museum. The opening of the Military Aviation Museum of the Pacific is planned for Dec. 7, 2004 at Ford Island.

>> Nancy Grekin has been named partner at Goodsill Anderson Quinn and Stifel LLP. She will concentrate her practice in real estate and retail issues, as well as general business and tax counseling. Grekin most recently worked at Gerson Grekin and Hieneman.

>> Torrance "Terry" Tolzmann has been named director of the Aloha Airlines Maui Station. He will be responsible for management of all operations at the station, including passenger service, freight and ramp service. Tolzmann previously served as Kona Station manager before receiving the appointment to Maui.

>> Robert Walker has been named resident manager at Turtle Bay Resort. He will be responsible for property operations and implementation of corporate standards property-wide. Walker previously served as director of operations at a Minnesota luxury hotel and conference center and assisted Turtle Bay with the Senior PGA Tournament last year.

>> Susan M. Uejo has joined Belt Collins Hawaii Ltd. as a civil and transportation engineer. With more than 24 years of experience, Uejo has worked on a number of major projects for state, county, federal and private clients. She previously served as a civil engineer for the state of Hawaii before joining Belt Collins.

>> Rider Hunt Levett & Bailey has named Hamish MacRitchie cost manager. He will assist owners, designers, lenders and contractors in the cost, time and quality control of their building projects. MacRitchie has 12 years of cost management experience, most recently as a senior quantity surveyor with Cemac Wellington Ltd. in New Zealand.

>> The Westin Maui has hired Brian Lynx as director of sales and marketing. He has 20 years of hospitality and hotel operations experience in England and the United States, including Hawaii.

>> Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has hired Sharissa Y. L. Chun as a sales associate at its Kapiolani Office. Chun is a feng shui specialist and offers this service free of charge to her real estate clients. She was most recently a sales associate for Prudential Locations.

PROMOTIONS

>> Michael Camat has been promoted to senior vice president of the technology group at HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union. He will supervise the development, implementation and maintenance of PC/LAN hardware and software, the core processing system and other related systems, and manage the information technology department. Also, Clyde Nakayama was named senior vice president of the membership group. He will oversee both the operations and loan aspects of the credit union's nine branches. Jennifer Vidal has been promoted to assistant vice president and member access manager. She will oversee HawaiiUSA's telephone call center and electronic delivery services. And Larry Tang has been hired as vice president of branch administration. He will oversee the credit union's nine branch offices. Tang was most recently with Pearl Harbor Federal Credit Union.

>> First Hawaiian Bank has made the following promotions: Robert J. Heberer, vice president and manager, managed assets department; Sheryl J. Urabe, assistant vice president, consumer service center; and Janel N.O. Yamamoto, assistant vice president and corporate compliance officer, corporate compliance division. In addition, Philip K. Uehisa was named assistant vice president of trust operations and Linda F. Miyashiro was named a trust officer in the personal trust division.

>> Gilbert & Associates has promoted Lu Anne Riley from account director to vice president. She has been with the company for four years. Director of Public Relations Monica M. Madrigal has left the firm. That position has been filled by Ashley Stepanek, who is also advertising manager. She previously worked for a destination management firm in San Francisco.

RECOGNITION

>> Katherine Yee has won the Woman of the Year Award from the American Business Women's Association, Punahele Chapter. She was honored for 28 years of loyalty and aloha to the chapter and for community and ABWA participation.



BACK TO TOP

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Employees spending more time on the job

More employees are working longer and harder, including managers, The Associated Press reported.

In fact, says Robert Half International Inc., a staffing service that specializes in accounting, financing and information technology, more managers than ever believe there just is not enough time in the work day to get everything done.

A recent survey of 150 managers and executives found that more than a third said their time on the job has gone up from five years ago. The average time spent working during the week is now 54 hours, according to the people polled.

Because of that, warned Max Messmer, chairman and CEO at Robert Half, more executives need to step back and reassess their own needs and the demands of their jobs, lest they start suffering from burnout.

ChevronTexaco pays CEO $3.2 million bonus

SAN FRANCISCO >> ChevronTexaco Corp. more than doubled the paycheck of CEO David O'Reilly last year, rewarding him with a $3.2 million bonus for engineering a deal that created the nation's second-largest oil company and set the stage for 4,500 job cuts.

Besides giving O'Reilly a special bonus for overseeing Chevron's $39 billion takeover of Texaco, the San Francisco-based company also paid its chairman and chief executive $970,833 in salary and a $1.8 million award for beating the board's profit goal last year, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The $5.97 million in salary and short-term bonuses represented a hefty raise from the $2.86 million that O'Reilly received in 2000 -- his first year as CEO. During 2001, ChevronTexaco said it had increased O'Reilly's salary 11 percent from $900,000 to $1 million. In 2001, ChevronTexaco also paid O'Reilly $1.14 million under a long-term compensation plan and awarded him 150,000 stock options.

KPMG promotes O'Kelly to CEO ahead of schedule

NEW YORK >> Big Five accounting firm KPMG LLP Thursday promoted veteran Eugene O'Kelly to chairman and chief executive, ahead of schedule, amid a period of turmoil and far-reaching changes in the industry.

O'Kelly, 50, a vice chairman at the firm's financial services practice, replaces Stephen Butler, 54, who earlier this year announced his decision to retire instead of seeking re-election.

O'Kelly was scheduled to take over sometime in the summer.

Federated CEO awarded 36 percent pay raise

CHICAGO >> Federated Department Stores Inc. boosted its chief executive's total pay by 36 percent in 2001, a year when the parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's reported a net loss and saw sales decline.

James Zimmerman received $1.25 million in salary and $450,000 in bonus in 2001, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. A year earlier, Zimmerman received no bonus and $1.25 million in salary, according to the company's proxy statement for its May 17 annual shareholder meeting.

Although the retailer missed its financial targets that would have made Zimmerman eligible for a cash bonus, the board awarded him a "performance" payout of $450,000. In 2001, Federated reported a net loss of $276 million, compared with a loss of $184 million a year earlier. Sales fell to $15.65 billion from $16.64 billion.

Wal-Mart chief's salary raised 13 percent in 2001

WASHINGTON >> Wal-Mart Stores Inc. gave Chief Executive Lee Scott a 13 percent pay rise last year, as the discount retail giant formally became the world's largest company in terms of sales.

Wal-Mart's annual shareholder proxy, filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, showed Scott took home $1.1 million in the year ended Jan. 31, 2002, compared with $992,000 a year earlier. His bonus edged up 2 percent to $1.8 million.

Philippine budget deficit widens by two-thirds

MANILA >> The Philippine budget deficit widened by two-thirds in February as the government spent more to spur economic growth, according to a Bloomberg News report.

The deficit totaled 20.96 billion pesos ($411.8 million), 66 percent higher than the shortfall a year earlier, figures from the Department of Finance showed.

President Gloria Arroyo's government has pledged to narrow the budget gap to 130 billion pesos this year from a record 147 billion pesos in 2001 as part of a plan to balance the budget by 2006. Curbing the deficit will limit government borrowing and keep interest rates low, boosting investors' confidence in the economy.

Hong Kong petty crime matches jobless surge

HONG KONG >> With unemployment at a record 7 percent, 239,000 of Hong Kong's 6.7 million residents are out of work, facing some of the world's highest living costs and government jobless benefits that usually don't even cover the rent. That may push more people into crime in a city that prides itself on its safety, according to a Bloomberg News report.

"The present economic downturn and unemployment situations have prompted some people to seek quick cash," said Regina Ip, the government's secretary for security.

Police figures bear her out. Shoplifting rose by almost a quarter to 1,429 cases in the first two months of 2002 from the same period last year. Bag-snatching surged by about 39 percent to 143 cases, and shoplifting increased 22 percent to 1,429 cases.

Consumer confidence falls 5% in Australia

SYDNEY >> Australian consumer confidence fell from a three-year high, the first drop in six months, on expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia will begin increasing borrowing costs from a 28-year low next month.

Westpac Banking Corp./Melbourne Institute's sentiment index of 1,200 consumers fell 5 percent to a reading of 110.2 points this month. A reading above 100 indicates more consumers are optimistic than pessimistic.

A central bank rate increase, expected in May by 18 of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this week, would drive up the cost of home, car and credit-card borrowing. That may help slow an economy which is growing at more than 4 percent annually.

GM to sign takeover deal with Daewoo Motor

SEOUL >> U.S. auto giant General Motors Corp. will sign a $1.2 billion deal to take over South Korea's Daewoo Motor Co. Tuesday, according to creditor banks of the South Korean carmaker.

Kay Lee, a GM spokesman in Seoul, confirmed the plan, and said GM Chairman Jack Smith is planning to travel to South Korea to sign the contract.

GM signed a preliminary deal to take over Daewoo for $1.2 billion in September, hoping to complete the sale by the end of last year. But negotiations dragged on because of differences over financial details.

The long-awaited GM-Daewoo deal is expected to boost foreign investor confidence in the South Korean economy, which is expected to recover strongly from last year's global economic slowdown.

In other news ...

BRASILIA >> Brazil won't draw on a $4.6 billion credit line from the International Monetary Fund because it doesn't need the money, Finance Minister Pedro Malan said in a Bloomberg News report.

Speaking at a news conference, Malan also said Brazil will repay a $4.2 billion IMF loan taken out last September as a cushion against a tumbling currency, energy rationing and financial upheaval linked to Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Brazil has managed to cover most of its financial needs by selling bonds on international markets, he said.

SYDNEY >> Virgin Blue, Australia's second-largest airline, plans to spend as much as A$3.6 billion ($1.9 billion) to add 35 planes and has bid for four terminals from failed rival Ansett Holdings, Chairman Richard Branson said.

Virgin Blue is in talks with Boeing Co. and Airbus SAS about buying jetliners and will choose which company within three months, he said, adding the airline will pay cash for the planes.





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