Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Pacific execs
to hold forum for
Hawaii small businesses

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Executives of Hawaii's smaller businesses will get a chance to mingle with big-business leaders from around the Pacific and hear some of the world's top executives speak when the Pacific Basin Economic Council opens its general meeting in Honolulu next month.

For $100 per person, local business operators can attend the full first day of general sessions March 20 at the Hawaii Convention Center, during which the PBEC will stage a special Hawaii business forum at lunchtime, noon to 1:30 p.m., tailored for the Hawaii audience. The conference will start at 8:45 a.m. with opening remarks from University of Hawaii football coach June Jones on what lessons business people can learn from football team's "worst-to-first" success. The afternoon PBEC session will be chaired by Richard J. Dahl, president of Bank of Hawaii.

Discussions through the conference will focus on the economic and political implications of global trade, the sustainability of financial reforms in the Asia-Pacific area, and the importance of business activities that sustain or enhance the environment.

The list of speakers contains such top names as Earl Bakken, co-founder of Medtronic Inc.; Sir Peter Blake, head of the Team New Zealand syndicate that is defending the Americas Cup; W. Wayne Booker, vice chairman of Ford Motor Co.; Michael J. Butcher, president and CEO of Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Asia-Pacific division, and Vance Coffman, chairman, CEO and president of Lockheed Martin Corp.

Asian speakers include Mong-Gyu Chung, chairman of Hyundai Industrial Development & Construction Co., Korea; Yoshihide Munekuni, chairman of Honda Motor Co.; and Rafael Buenaventura, governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines.

Hawaii-connected participants include Lawrence M. Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of Bank of Hawaii parent Pacific Century Financial Corp.; David H. Murdock, chairman and chief executive of Dole Food Co.; Gov. Ben Cayetano; and Mayor Jeremy Harris. For more information call 589-5589 or check the PBEC Web site, www.pbec.org.