TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Part-time Hilo residents Calvin and Jane Sasai and their three sons have won the 2001 Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year award from the U.S. State Department. Award for a Hawaii
family businessRDR Inc., named for the Hilo-boy and Kapaa-girl's sons -- Vice President of Operations Derek, Facilities Manager Russell and Information Systems Manager Randy -- received the award June 28. Calvin Sasai said he switched the first initials and birth order around in naming the company because it sounded better than "DRR."
Based in Centreville, Va., outside Washington, D.C., RDR was nominated for its contract to provide technical security installations at U.S. posts abroad -- a contract later amended, according to the State Department, due to "increased terrorist activities and the bombing of our embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam." High-falutin' stuff complete with high-level national security clearances and a self-deprecating company principal.
The award "means a lot for the people in my company who do the work," Sasai said. "I personally didn't do squat to deserve all this, I'm in the services business. I don't make anything, I don't make torpedoes, I don't make bombs or computers, I just provide personnel services -- expert services."
Sasai's wife Jane, currently visiting her brother in Manoa, is the vice president for finance and administration.
Other Hawaii-folk at RDR include Executive Assistant Ann Sasaki of Waialua and Operations Assistant Lucy Oshiro, who left Honolulu in 1995.
Sasai's Hawaii ties are vast, as years ago he and other Hawaii ex-pats formed "The Hawaiian Alpine Ski Club," which goes skiing annually.
"We started with only seven couples, but today we have 40 to 50 people," he said.
The ethnically diverse club is constantly growing, he said, by adding "people we pick up along the way."
Some new members were found in a lift line in Steamboat Springs, Colo. "When you're wearing a ski outfit -- you can't see faces," but he said you can still hear people talking.
The Honolulu firefighters they overheard that day, are now "permanent members of our group," Sasai said.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com