Hoku Scientific stars at
tech awards ceremony

Hoku Scientific Inc. was named Hawaii's 2005 Tech Company of the Year at last night's fifth annual Flavors of Technology Awards, a fund-raiser for the Pacific Technology Foundation.

Hoku Scientific was selected "because they went from a small, three-person garage in 2000 into creating over 20-plus jobs within a few years and is still growing tremendously in size," said Lincoln Jacobe, event chairman and foundation founder.

Hoku Scientific became a publicly traded company Aug. 5 and its stock price closed Friday at $11.23, up 87.2 percent since its offering.

"Hoku Scientific also supports our local community by participating in various nonprofit organizations such as the American Cancer Society Relay for Life fund-raiser and several others," Jacobe said.

Nonie Toledo Hamm, vice president and general manager of Sprint Hawaii, was named 2005 Tech Woman of the year.

The foundation inducted three leaders into its Technology Hall of Fame: David Watumull, president and chief executive of Hawaii Biotech Inc.; Dr. Patrick Sullivan, founder and chairman of Oceanit; and Karl Okemura, vice president of the Consumer Electronics Group for Sony Hawaii.

The three Tech Educator of the Year awards were presented to Mid-Pacific Institute Technology Coordinator Mark Hines, Honolulu Community College Chancellor Ramsey Pedersen and Michael Pai, animation teacher at Myron B. Thompson Academy.

Oceanit was a double winner for the night, taking home the 2005 Technology Community Service Award for its collection and shipment of relief supplies to tsunami victims in Indonesia.

The Pacific Technology Foundation also named 50 Top High Tech Leaders for 2005. (Please see chart.)

"Here is really the thrust of our local business and technology industry, in terms of representing a variety of small mom- and-pop companies to large corporate giants. (The group is) also a good representation from the public sector including schools, colleges and universities," Jacobe said.

Nominees were asked a series of questions about factors contributing to their success in the industry, whether they had taken leader- ship roles in the community through professional or community organizations, what steps they were taking to attract and promote more women in technology, and where they expected Hawaii's tech industry to be in the next five years.

The word "flavors," in the event title was represented by a dozen chefs from top Hawaii restaurants who cooked for the crowd at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel's Hawaii Ballroom.

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