Lees' new job will keep him in Honolulu

Robert Lees, former secretary general of the Pacific Basin Economic Council, has been appointed executive adviser for the Asia Pacific region at KPMG Consulting Inc.

Based in the Honolulu office, Lees will develop marketing strategies and networks for the company in Asia with an eye toward the region's increasing demand for information techno- logy services. He also will work to establish a new identity for KPMG Consulting in Asia as it is no longer affiliated with tax audit company KPMG LLP.

"Asia is quietly evolving," Lees said, "Companies are managing their bottom lines and cutting bad loans in addition to focusing more on trade within the region rather than depending so heavily on the United States."

Lees will serve as the "right arm" to Paul Yonamine, formerly of Honolulu but now the Tokyo-based executive vice president for KPMG Consulting.

"Bob has tremendous contacts throughout the region," Yonamine said, "He has excellent marketing, business and management skills and will be a great catalyst for making further inroads into the region."

Maui County Fair puts out call for sponsors

The Maui County Fair is looking for corporate sponsors for the four-day event Oct. 3-6 at the fairgrounds in Wailuku. Approximately 100,000 people are expected to attend.

Corporate "sponsor of the day" opportunities are available. For example, Meadow Gold Dairy will sponsor opening day with a float in the parade and Lani Moo at the gate giving out Meadow Gold coupons to the first 1,000 fair-goers.

For more information about participating, call Ashley Ste- panek at (808) 871-6230, Ext. 15.

Female leaders point to gender pay gap

Some of Hawaii's top female leaders gathered at the Capitol yesterday as part of national "Equal Pay Day" to call attention to the pay gap between men and women.

Leaders including Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, House Reps. Marilyn Lee and Cynthia Thielen and Hawaii State Teachers Association President Karen Ginoza, urged women to be politically active to help bring women's pay more in line with their male counterparts.

They pointed to data released in September by the U.S. Census Bureau that showed women, on average, earn about 73 cents for every dollar earned by men.

Women in Hawaii are slightly above that average, earning about 82 cents per dollar, Hirono said.

She credited the state's unions with helping to bring about more equitable pay among Hawaii's workers.

Women in Hawaii joined hundreds of others nationwide in recognizing "Equal Pay Day."

TRW rejects Northrop bid, plans to seek other buyers

Cleveland >> TRW Inc. rejected Northrop Grumman Corp.'s sweetened $12.2 billion hostile takeover offer and said it would start providing confidential information to other interested bidders. TRW, a defense contractor and a maker of automotive air bags, said the latest bid, boosted Sunday to $53 a share from $47, is still inadequate. The firm raised its second-quarter and full-year earn- ings forecasts, touting sales of military hardware, and said first-quarter profit rose 17 percent.

In other news . . .

New York >> Cendant, which bought Honolulu-based Cheap Tickets in October, said first-quarter earnings rose 43 percent as the world's largest hotel franchiser was helped by a rebound in travel and acquisition of the Avis car rental firm and other businesses. Cendant had net income of $342 million, or 34 cents a share, up from $239 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 83 percent to $2.71 billion