TV reporter Sakahara to be DOT spokesman
Hawaii News Now reporter Tim Sakahara begins a new career Tuesday as the public information officer for the state Department of Transportation.
Friday was his last day at the stations.
Sakahara, who could not be immediately reached, succeeds another former TV reporter, Caroline Sluyter, in a position occupied by other former broadcast and print reporters.
"I personally have admired Tim’s aggressiveness and tenacity in pursuing stories, never taking no for an answer and helping give us a reputation for not backing down on controversial stories," said Mark Platte, news director, in a memo to staff. "Everything we like about Tim — his sense of fairness, his curiosity, his intelligence … is what compelled the state Department of Transportation to reach out and select him as their new spokesman."
Sakahara will be the media’s go-to contact person for matters relating to state highways, airports and harbors, at all hours of the day and night.
Holiday Inn Waikiki gets new GM
The Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber resort, an Outrigger-managed property, is getting a new top manager.
Alan Naito, who joined Outrigger in 1988 as auditor at the Outrigger Waikiki, will assume the role of general manager. Naito has worked in various management positions for Outrigger, including assistant hotel manager at the Outrigger Maile Sky Court and general manager of the OHANA Waikiki East Hotel.
Naito spearheaded an Outrigger recycling program in Waikiki that in 2014 prevented more than 30 tons of recyclable plastic bottles and aluminum cans from going into Oahu’s landfill. He also serves on the board of the Waikiki Improvement Association and is Outrigger’s liaison with the developers of the neighboring International Market Place.
Isle sites sparkle on AAA diamond lists
The isles’ AAA Five Diamond Award-winning hotels and restaurants have held steady, while the isles’ Four Diamond Award winners’ list has seen newcomers arrive and old-timers depart.
Among lodgings the Montage Kapalua Bay (formerly Residences at Kapalua Bay) is a newcomer to the Four Diamond winners’ ranks, as is the Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort. Andaz worked to convert the long-vacant Renaissance Wailea Beach Resort, which had become a beachfront eyesore, into the award-winning property beginning in 2010.
Dropped from the Four Diamond Award lodging list for 2015 are the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina, and Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Lodge at Koele, which plan to close for renovation and re-branding. Their signature restaurants, Azul and The Dining Room, respectively, also were dropped from the Four Diamond restaurants list.
The Manta & Pavilion Wine Bar on the Kohala coast of Hawaii island is this year’s Four Diamond malihini.
The Five Diamond winners, and the years since they’ve made the list by maintaining AAA’s standards of excellence, are the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua (1996), Four Seasons Resort Hualalai at Historic Ka‘upulehu (1998) and Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea (1991), and restaurants La Mer in Halekulani (1990), and Chef Mavro (2008).
Parker Ranch to offer land for wind farms
Parker Ranch will provide land for wind farms to an affiliate of the company that is buying Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. Parker Ranch Foundation Trust said Friday it entered into an agreement with NextEra Energy Resources, a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy Inc., which offered to buy HEI for $4.3 billion in December.
"This agreement provides NextEra Energy Resources with long-term access rights to PRFT lands to develop renewable energy derived from PRFT’s wind resources," Parker Ranch said in a news release.
ON THE MOVE
Olelo Community Media has announced that its board of directors has appointed Angela Angel as interim president and chief executive officer as of Dec. 16. She was previously the firm’s chief production officer. Angel has served as a television producer at the Honolulu City Council, owner and vice president of Excel Entertainment and instructor in television production and drama at Chaminade University and Leeward Community College.
Honolulu Property Management announced the following licensed Realtor associates have become property managers:
» Justin Nagai, a newcomer to the industry, manages properties in the metro Honolulu region and specializes in the Japanese market.
» Terri Rodrigues has nearly 20 years of property management experience and specializes in properties from Central Oahu to Waikiki.
The University of Hawaii Board of Regents has approved the appointment of Garret Yoshimi to vice president of information technology and chief information officer. He has more than 35 years of experience in information technology in the public and private sectors in Hawaii, including previously serving as vice president and chief operating officer for eWorld Enterprise Solutions.
