RUSS LYNCH / RLYNCH@STARBULLETIN.COM Ted Liu, left, the new director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, welcomed Ray Jefferson, new deputy director yesterday at One Capitol Plaza. Also in attendance were Maurice Kaya, chief technology officer, and Steve Bretschneider, chief marketing officer.
Ted Liu, the new director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, yesterday announced a soldier, a DBEDT veteran and a retired advertising executive will comprise his top management team. The biz bunch
The Department of Business,
Economic Development and Tourism
brings in new top management
as it refocuses priorities under Lingle
By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com
Liu promised more public-private business partnerships, an aggressive approach to growing Hawaii's economy and an accelerated effort to market Hawaii internationally as a place to do business.
Ray Jefferson, appointed by Gov. Linda Lingle as Liu's deputy director, will start with DBEDT staff development and creating a "high-performance team" at the top, Liu said. Jefferson, 36, also has "a tremendous external vision" and will work on public-private partnerships and building a strong relationship with the federal government, Liu said.
He said one area with potential for Hawaii involves the new Department of Homeland Security. "There is a vibrant economic sector based around Homeland Security," Liu told a news conference outside One Capitol Plaza, the building that houses most DBEDT offices.
Jefferson lost the fingers of his left hand on a classified U.S. Army mission in 1995 while trying to protect his teammates from a hand grenade, Liu said.
On the business side, he majored in strategic management at Harvard's Kennedy School, went on to Harvard's business school and served as a White House Fellow working with the Secretary of Commerce and the State Department.
In 2001-02, Jefferson was a Fulbright Fellow in Singapore, analyzing how public sector leadership works in an Asian multicultural environment.
Maurice H. Kaya, already in DBEDT as director of the state energy department, is Liu's chief technology officer.
Liu said he expects to pull together a number of agencies dealing with technology into a new Strategic Industries Division in DBEDT, headed by Kaya.
Liu said Kaya's resume includes winning $4.6 million in federal funding. Executing such federal grants is difficult, but Kaya knows how to do that, Liu said.
Kaya has senior private-sector experience in civil engineering, has been a deputy director and chief engineer for the City & County of Honolulu and was director of facilities planning and engineering at the Navy Public Works Center at Pearl Harbor.
The third appointee announced yesterday was Steve Bretschneider, the new DBEDT chief marketing officer.
Bretschneider had retired in Hawaii after decades in the advertising business, 20 years in New York and 13 in Japan.
Liu said Bretschneider played key roles in the creation of such advertising campaigns as "Coke is it" for Coca-Cola Co. and "Ring Around the Collar" for Unilever Corp.'s Wisk detergent.
He was president and CEO of Grey Advertising in Japan from 1994 to 2000 and before that had executive positions with McCann-Ericson and, through the Interpublic Group of Compa-nies, with Lintas Worldwide and Lintas Japan.
Liu said Bretschneider will be marketing Hawaii not just for DBEDT, but for other government agencies as well.
Bretschneider said he looks forward to selling Hawaii.
"I've sold everything from toilet bowl cleaner to Campbell's soup," he said. "I think we can sell Hawaii."
Separately, DBEDT announced a visit this week by representatives of the government of Niigata Prefecture in Japan.
They are here to lay the groundwork for a visit later this year by 50 researchers, students and professors from the Niigata Institute of Technology. The visit stems from a DBEDT mission to Niigata late last year.
Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism
