Hawaii microalgae producer Cyanotech Corp. has its third CEO in three years.
The Big Island-based firm has promoted Mawae Morton, its president, to the chief executive post held by company founder Gerald Cysewski.
Cysewski had been interim CEO since 2016 when former President and CEO Brent Bailey resigned.
Cyanotech hired Morton as president in July following a search by its board of directors. At the time, Morton had been a consultant for Cyanotech for six months. Morton’s previously was CEO of Hawaii forestry and bioenergy development company HBE Biorefinery, strategic resource manager for Kamehameha Schools and consulting with KPMG in New Zealand.
Cysewski founded Cyanotech in 1983 and led the company as CEO from 1990 to 2008. The company said he will return to his role of chief scientific officer and become board vice chairman.
Matson stock jumps 21% after TOTE delay
Shares in Hawaii’s dominant ocean cargo transportation company, Matson Inc., rose to a crest Monday after the first day of stock trading since a potential rival suspended plans to start a competing service.
Matson stock surged 21 percent, or $6.48, to $37.68, a 52-week high following Friday’s announcement that TOTE Inc. was dropping its bid to start carrying cargo between the West Coast and Hawaii with two ships in 2020 and two more in 2021.
Trading of Matson stock Monday was heavy, with about 1.6 million shares bought and sold. That compared with 226,533 shares traded Friday before TOTE said it wasn’t moving forward with its new service plan.
When TOTE announced its plan in August, investors punished Matson stock by a similar margin, though a month later shares had rebounded amid uncertainty over TOTE’s plan. Shares of Matson sank 22 percent to $22.79 on Aug. 18 following TOTE’s announcement after trading at $29.35 the day before. In September, Matson shares had recovered to around $28, and on Dec. 4 closed at $29.38 to erase the TOTE-related drop.
ON THE MOVE
Windward Ford of Hawaii has announced the following:
>> Randy Bergsrud is the company’s new general manager. Bergsrud previously served in sales and marketing positions at Ford Motor Co. for 34 years; during the last 19 years he worked as a zone manager in Hawaii.
>> Guy Mello, a Kailua native, is the company’s new sales manager. Mello has 24 years’ experience in the retail automotive industry, including serving as a sales manager at Honolulu Ford.
G70, a leading design firm in Hawaii, has promoted Ryan Char to principal. He is the youngest principal in the company’s history and will work alongside principal Paul Matsuda in order to oversee the growth and performance of G70’s civil engineering division. In 2012 Char joined the company’s civil engineering division, and rose in 2014 to become an associate/project manager, becoming one of the youngest associates of G70.
