• Verizon sale approved • Exporter of the Year Awards • Alexander & Baldwin • The increasingly expensive skies? Verizon sale approved The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates telecommunications across America, has approved The Carlyle Group’s application to buy Verizon
• Verizon sale approved
• Exporter of the Year Awards
• Alexander & Baldwin
• The increasingly expensive skies?
Verizon sale approved
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates telecommunications across America, has approved The Carlyle Group’s application to buy Verizon Hawaii for $1.65 billion. Verizon Hawaii had sales of $610 million last year and has 707,000 customers. The FCC rejected opposition from local competitors Oceanic Communications and Pacific LightNet Inc., as well as concerns expressed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Carlyle Managing Director William Kennard was himself an FCC commissioner from 1999 to 2001. The Carlyle venture has also retained First Hawaiian Bank Chairman Walter Dods as an advisor. The state Public Utilities Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice are also reviewing the sale and Carlyle will have to jump their hurdles before the deal is done.
Exporter of the Year Awards
The prestigious Governor’s Exporter of the Year Awards honors the most outstanding companies in six different categories that demonstrate excellence and achievement in the business of exporting. The following are the six nomination categories: Exporter of Fresh Commodities, Exporter of High Technology, Exporter of Manufactured Products, Exporter of the Arts, Exporter of Professional Services, New Exporter. There is also a separate award for the export business advocate who demonstrates excellence and achievement in enhancing the business of exporting for Hawaii’s companies. That award is called Most Outstanding Contributor to Exporting.To nominate a business, call the Governor’s Liaison office 274-3100. Deadline is Sept. 17.
Alexander & Baldwin
Ruthann S. Yamanaka has been named vice president for human resources for Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. Yamanaka succeeds John Gasher who will retire at the end of the year, following a 44-year career with A&B. Yamanaka will report to A&B President & CEO Allen Doane and will be responsible for all human resources functions for A&B and its subsidiaries, including employee development and training, benefits, and compensation.
Yamanaka joins A&B from Hawaiian Airlines, where she served as senior vice president of people services group for the past six years, overseeing a broad range of personnelrelated functions for the 3,356-employee transportation company. She also served as the airline’s interim corporate secretary for ten months in 2003. Previously, Yamanaka capped a 17-year career at the Bank of Hawaii with three years of service as senior vice president and assistant director-human resources. Yamanaka earned a BA from the University of Southern California and an MA in public health from the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
John Gasher began working for A&B subsidiary Matson Navigation Company in 1960 in Los Angeles. He was promoted in 1963 and moved to San Francisco, where he served in various operations positions and as the personnel manager for Matson Terminals, Inc. Gasher moved to Honolulu in 1983 and served as director, human resources for A&B. He was appointed vice president of A&B-Hawaii in January 1997 and was named vice president, human resources of A&B in 1999. John and his wife, Jody, plan to retire in Honolulu.
The increasingly expensive skies?
Northwest Airlines, the fourth-largest U.S. carrier and secondlargest mainland airline in terms of seats flown to Hawaii, estimates that it will save $70 million per year by charging fees for all tickets not sold on its own proprietary Web sites. Northwest, which does a fifth of its tickets Web sites, said the objective is to reduce the $5 it costs them to sell a seat on a site other than its own. Beginning next month, an additional $7.50 will be charged to travel agents using sites other than Northwest’s own. In cases where a ticket is sold by a travel agent or other third party, it will be up to the third party whether to pass the cost on to the passenger. One of Northwest’s two Web sites is for travel agents only, and travel agents who use that site will not be assessed the fee, Northwest said. Consumers already get hit with a $5 fee if they book through Northwest’s reservation offices instead of online. Northwest isn’t the only legacy carrier trying to cut costs further. United Airlines has decided to charge an extra fee for booking frequent flier travel on the phone instead of online. UAL will add a $15 fee for booking frequent-flier trips by telephone to encourage mileage members to use its Web site for this. The fee takes effect Oct. 15. Customers with more than 100,000 miles are exempt.
