Taking notice

NEW JOBS

>> John M. Dowd has joined the Turtle Bay Resort as director of marketing. He will be responsible for all resort level marketing, advertising, promotions and press relations activities. Dowd comes to Hawaii after working at an internet company in San Diego, Calif.

>> Honolulu architecture firm Pacific Atelier International has hired interior designer Michelle Gobrick. She is working on the Waikoloa Fairway Villas. Also joining the firm is project manager Warren Loh, who has more than 12 years of experience in the architecture field. He is working on Ko Olina Resort & Marina, among other projects. Loh was most recently at Kajioka, Yamachi Architects. And Jennifer Lutz will work in interior design and marketing for the firm. She just completed a 3,000 office redesign of Frito-Lay of Hawaii. Pacific Atelier recently moved to new offices on the16th floor of Pacific Guardian Center, Mauka Tower.

>> Mara Lockwood has been named sales and marketing manager at Ueshima Coffee Co. in Hawaii. Lockwood previously worked as a retail consultant and green broker to the coffee industry in Hawaii.

>> Vatzy Penkava has joined Allstate Life Insurance Co. in Honolulu as a personal financial representative. Penkava will provide customers with variable annuity, variable life, mutual fund and traditional life insurance products.

>> Marc Resorts Hawaii has named Myra Kamihara as director of sales at the company. She previously served as sales manager at the Miramar at Waikiki before joining Marc Resorts.

PROMOTIONS

>> Cathy Rowe has been promoted to chief financial officer at the Maryl Group Inc. She will be responsible for all financial and accounting functions for Maryl Group. Rowe had served as controller since joining the company in 1999.

>> Bryan H. Sakai has been promoted to vice president and manager of First Hawaiian Bank's Wahiawa Branch. Sakai has been with First Hawaiian since 1991. In addition, Winfred W. Cameron Jr. has been promoted to assistant vice president in First Hawaiian's branch loan administration division. And Sarah I. Cadiz was named manager at the bank's Kahuku Branch. She joined First Hawaiian in 1988.

ON THE BOARD

>> Kathryn Matayoshi has been named chairwoman of the YWCA of Oahu's board of directors for 2002-03. In addition, the following individuals have been appointed to the board: Cathy Keli'iho'omalu, first vice chair; Kim Gould, second vice chair; Caroline Ingersoll, third vice chair; Linda Gilchrist, secretary; and Marlene DeCosta, treasurer.

>> The Honolulu Board of Realtors has named Guy K. Tamashiro as its chairman for 2002. Other officers include: Anne I.W. Keamo, chairman-elect; Dale K. Bordner, vice chairman; Allison A. Lum, treasurer; and John R. Connelley, immediate past chairman. 2002 HBR directors at large include: W. Bruce Barrett, Mary Begier, Phoebe Chrisman, Bob R. DeYoung, Terry Ewart, Jayne A. Henley-Davis, Judy Kalbrener, Jeffrey M.C. Lum, Nancy Metcalf, Helen Price and Sam Underwood. And Joyce R. Nakamura, Shelly Campbell, Jacqueline Mansard and Jim Mazzola will serve as HBR regional directors for 2002.

>> Bruce McEwan has been named president of The Mediation Center of the Pacific for 2002. Other officers include: Ruth Tschumy, vice president; Jerome Berlinger, treasurer; and Dee Dee Letts, secretary. Directors for 2002 are: Piia Aarma, Sidney K. Ayabe, Bruce Barnes, Diana Chang, Susan Chang, Larry Cundiff, William C. Darrah, J.W. Ellsworth, Jed Gaines, Brickwood Galuteria, Stephanie T. Horio, Carol Mon Lee, Vickie Kapp, Kem Lowry, Allen Lynde, Alexander McGuire, Eileen Mortenson, Judge Rhonda Nishimura, Steven Nakashima, Kathy Novak, William B. Paul, Larry Rodrigues, Patricia Stanford and Alvin Wong.

RECOGNITION

>> The Mediation Center of the Pacific has recognized Stephen Williford as Mediator of the Year. He was selected as the volunteer mediator who best exemplifies a willing spirit and has made a significant contribution to the center's community mediation program. The following individuals were also honored by the Mediation Center of the Pacific with awards: Ruth Tschumy, Special Board Recognition Award; Judge Rhonda Nishimura, Friend of the Center Award; Alice Keesing, Conch Shell Award; and Elizabeth Kent, Improved Justice Award.

>> Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono was recently presented with the 2001 Trailblazer Award by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She was honored during the organization's national convention Nov. 16 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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Bronfman resigns as Vivendi vice chairman

PARIS >> Edgar Bronfman Jr. will step down as executive vice chairman of Vivendi Universal next year, leaving flamboyant Frenchman Jean-Marie Messier solo at center stage.

Vivendi said Bronfman, head of Canada's Seagram before it merged with France's Vivendi last year, would step down at the end of the first quarter of 2002, though he would remain non-executive vice chairman of the board.

"I deeply regret Edgar's decision but fully understand his wishes," Messier said in a statement. He said Bronfman was standing down to spend more time on his "personal and family interests".

It was not clear whether Bronfman would be replaced or, if so, who a successor could be.

McDonald's says exec Jeff Kindler to resign

CHICAGO >> The world's largest fast-food chain, McDonald's Corp., said that Jeff Kindler, an attorney who managed the company's non-hamburger brands and was credited with beginning to turn around the Boston Market chain, was resigning and will be replaced by company insider Russ Smyth.

Kindler, 46, is joining drug maker Pfizer Corp. as senior vice president and general counsel. He had headed McDonald's alternative brands for less than a year, having been named to the newly created post in May by Chief Executive Jack Greenberg.

In recent years, McDonald's has been placing increasing emphasis on so-called alternative concepts, looking for ways to diversify sales amid a highly competitive U.S. fast-food market saturated by hamburger chains.

Microsoft shuffles execs in Net, wireless, server

REDMOND, Wash. >> Micro-soft Corp. has transferred the top executive overseeing its Internet and wireless division to its computer server software division.

Bob Muglia, formerly a group vice president in charge of Internet ventures including MSN Internet service, .NET online subscriptions and Passport Internet authorization services, will become a senior vice president for the server division.

David Cole, a senior vice president who once reported to Muglia, will take over Muglia's Internet services responsibilities. Cole's title will not change.

Muglia also formerly oversaw the company's wireless and mobile computing division, another highly competitive area that includes technology for mobile phones and the PocketPC handheld computer. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer will now oversee that division directly.

Xerox CEO Anne Mulcahy named as chairman

STAMFORD, Conn. >> Xerox Corp. said Anne Mulcahy, president and chief executive of the office equipment maker, will add the title of chairman as of January.

Mulcahy, 49, a 25-year veteran of the Stamford, Conn., copier giant, succeeds Paul Allaire, 63, who has been chairman since 1991. He had previously announced his intention to retire at the end of 2001.

Mulcahy was named chief executive of Xerox in August, following her appointment in May as president and chief operating officer. As CEO, she became one of a few women who lead top-named U.S. companies.

Mulcahy has spearheaded Xerox's strategy to return to profitability, with a plan that includes targets of selling $2.2 billion in assets, and reducing costs by more than $1 billion.

Priceline.com names Keller marketing officer

Norwalk, Conn. >> Priceline.com Inc., the No. 3 Internet travel seller, named Brett Keller as chief marketing officer after the resignation of Michael McCadden from the position.

Keller, 33, previously served as Priceline.com's senior vice president of marketing, the company said. He joined Priceline.com in 1999 as a vice president.

Singapore creates $8 billion research town

Singapore >> Singapore said it would support a research township to link scientists and entrepreneurs, estimated by two newspapers to cost as much as $8 billion when fully built, as it scales back its reliance on electronics manufacturing.

The Buona Vista Science Hub, four-fifths of which is to be built by private companies, will house separate facilities for biomedical sciences, information technology and media and financial services, according to the Business Times and the Straits Times.

The government will invest S$200 million ($108 Million) in the facility in the next two years, helping boost Singapore's position as a global talent center, Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said.

Battling its worst recession in 37 years, Singapore is taking steps to reduce the country's reliance on manufacturing electronics for the U.S. and European markets.

Trouser-clad Turkish women protest skirt rule

ANKARA, Turkey >> Hundreds of Turkish female civil servants wore trousers to work Friday to protest a dress code ordering women in the public sector to wear skirts.

Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit was drawn into the simmering dispute. "I have until now been unable to divine why there would be objections to women in trousers," he said.

Government rules bar women wearing trousers to such workplaces as schoolrooms, government buildings and post offices, said a spokesman at the teachers' union, part of the Public Sector Workers Union organizing the protest. "This protest aims at changing rules discriminating against one part of society," the union official said.

Overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, seeking to meet European Union standards, overhauled its civil code last month to eradicate many inequalities between men and women before the law.

Imported vehicle sales fall 2.4 percent in Japan

TOKYO >> Sales of imported cars and trucks in Japan fell 2.4 percent in November from the same month last year to 21,246 vehicles.

The Japan Automobile Importers Association said 20,793 passenger cars and 453 trucks imported from abroad were sold last month. Not a single bus was sold.

Overall sales of imported vehicles were down amid continued weakness in consumer confidence in Japan, the association said.

November marked the third consecutive on-year decline in imported vehicle sales in Japan, following a 1.2 percent drop in October and a 5.2 percent plunge in September.

By company, Volkswagen AG of Germany sold 4,575 vehicles in November, down 4.7 percent. It retained top market share among imports in Japan at 21.53 percent.

Pearl Oriental balks at sale of seized luxury home

Hong Kong >> Pearl Oriental Holdings Ltd. objected to creditor Bank of East Asia Ltd. selling a luxury house Pearl owned in the city's posh Peak district for less than half of what it paid five years ago. The lender sold Genesis, once the world's most expensive house, for HK$230 million ($30 million), compared with the HK$540 million Pearl chief Wong Kwan paid for the mansion in 1996. The latest buyer is mainland-Chinese property tycoon Hui Wing Mau.

Bank of East Asia foreclosed on the house in July as Pearl struggled to repay $205 million in debt. The sale won't cover the HK$323 million owed by Pearl to Bank of East Asia, which may force the developer into bankruptcy.