Gov. Linda Lingle recognized these winners of the Governor’s Innovation Awards: Innovation by Individuals: Master surfboard shapers Jeff Bushman and Kyle Bernhardt founded Country Feeling Surfboards, which is devoted to surfboards made with environmentally friendly materials; Innovation by an Organization: Visionary Insulation Products Ltd. is a distributor of a new insulation product, called HITLIN (high-temperature layered insulation), that has 45 percent less heat loss than commonly used industrial insulation.

Innovation in Government: Aaron Ueno, acting district health officer, was named State Manager of the Year in October for increasing manpower in the Hawaii Island District Health Office to respond to bioterrorism, disasters and pandemic emergencies. He established the Hawaii County Medical Reserves Corps, which now has 120 trained volunteers.

Pali Women’s Health Center hired Sheila Overton, M.D. She has 17 years of experience as a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist for Kaiser Permanente in West Los Angeles.

Sunetric hired Shane Nesbitt as residential project controller. His experience includes work at Duke’s Waikiki and Trader Joe’s.