RUSS LYNCH / RLYNCH@STARBULLETIN.COM
The Pacific Basin Economic Council yesterday named Dalton Tanonaka as its president.
The Pacific Basin Economic Council yesterday named a new president, Dalton Tanonaka, 48, a Hawaii-born former print and broadcast journalist with considerable experience in Asia. PBEC members
look at relocationBy Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.comTanonaka's first challenge is to try to keep the international organization's headquarters in Hawaii. There is serious discussion among its membership and board of directors about moving the offices to Asia, he told a news conference at the Plaza Club.
Tanonaka said he believes Hawaii is best for the council's membership, but the organization will need some persuading, which means getting government and the business community to make a clear pitch that Hawaii is a good place to do business. There are no Hawaii members on the council's board of directors and there is only one American on the board, Gary Benanav, chairman and chief executive of New York Life International.
The board chairman is Suck-Rai Cho, chairman and CEO of Hyosung Corp., a major synthetic-fiber business in Korea.
Tanonaka said the PBEC headquarters, known formerly as its International Secretariat, was moved to Hawaii from California in 1992 because of the islands' time-zone advantages. But now there is growing pressure from members, who include some of the biggest names in Asian business, to move the office closer to their bases.
They would rather have headquarters closer to where they do business, he said. Executives know they could make business calls in Beijing or Hong Kong or Singapore, but don't see that opportunity in Hawaii. Cities in Asia are really pushing to get PBEC there because of its prestige, Tanonaka said. He said there have been offers of free office space and even free staffing from competing cities.
Tanonaka said as president, he has to put the needs of the members first, but believes keeping the office in Hawaii would be "the best business decision we can make."
The council's headquarters in Pioneer Plaza usually has a full-time staff of seven but is down to three, largely because of a lack of recruiting while it waited for the top job to be filled, officials said.
Tanonaka said it is important to Hawaii to have the office here because it puts the state on the map as a recognized center of international business activity.
"I ask the incoming governor, whoever that may be, to work with me" to show support for keeping PBEC in Hawaii, he said.
There is a perception abroad that "Hawaii is not a place to do business" and that needs to be corrected, Tanonaka said.
"There hasn't been effective communication from Hawaii" letting the organization know it is wanted, he said.
The top PBEC post had been vacant since Robert Lees left in March after nine years as secretary-general. Lees is now executive adviser for the Asia-Pacific region at KPMG Consulting Inc.
Officials declined to disclose Tanonaka's salary.
Formed in 1967 and headquartered in Honolulu since 1992, PBEC is an international association of senior business leaders representing 1,000 major corporations in 20 "economies" around the Pacific.
The association changed the title of its top executive to president earlier this year and stopped talking about member countries, using economies instead.
For most of this year, Tanonaka served as special adviser for international relations at the University of Hawaii and as a business consulting partner with the Grant Thornton firm in Indonesia. In 1999, he was executive director for economic development for the City & County of Honolulu.
During his 12 years in Asia, Tanonaka worked in business-related broadcast news posts. In Hong Kong, he anchored CNN's daily business program "BizAsia" and the weekly "TalkAsia."
He has also held television anchor positions with CNBC and NHK in Tokyo and is a former Star-Bulletin reporter.
Tanonaka unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in this year's primary election. He said he will meet with whichever candidate gets elected governor.
Steve Olson, PBEC vice president, said Tanonaka's appointment was confirmed by the PBEC board of directors in a meeting a week ago in Los Cabos, Mexico.
In addition to managing the nonprofit's day-to-day operations, Tanonaka will be responsible for planning and organizing the organization's international general meeting and other meetings through the year.
The next international general meeting will be in Seoul, Korea, May 10-14.
Pacific Basin Economic Council
