Virtual Interview: Donavan Kealoha, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Purple Mai‘a How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our mission is to inspire and educate the next generation of culturally grounded, community-serving tech makers and problem solvers.…
Virtual Interview: Randy Wong, President, Hawaii Youth Symphony How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Although we have had to suspend our in-person activities, our mission – to develop students to their fullest potential, through orchestral…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Sagely is an engagement platform focused on improving the lives of older adults, their families and the senior living care staff who serve them. While we have been delivering our solution…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? We are a financial technology startup with a mission to positively transform how people and businesses engage in local economies. Before the COVID-19 outbreak hit, building the tools to achieve that…
What has been Watanabe Floral’s latest pivot or innovation? Right now, it is more understanding the unpredictability of this situation and figuring out how we stay relevant and solvent as we navigate this process. The first thing is using our…
What has been your organization’s latest pivot or innovation? BNI (Business Network International) Hawaii is a professional networking organization that has met in person for the past 30 plus years. In Hawai‘i we have 28 chapters and 550 members who…
Virtual interview with: Marjie Carroll, Head of School, Montessori Community School What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? Since March 30, teachers at Montessori Community School (MCS) have been…
Virtual Interview with Cara Short, Executive Director, AccesSurf What has been your organization’s latest pivot or innovation? AccesSurf is about a lot more than accessible beach and adaptive water sports programs for people with disabilities. Over the years, AccesSurf has…
What has been Websites with Aloha’s latest pivot or innovation? At the beginning of the crisis, as everyone was gaining their footing and our workload was low, we were exploring some new design tools that would enable us to build…
Virtual Interview: Miki Tomita, Founder & CEO, Education Incubator How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our core mission is to empower young people to create change now, to contribute to a better world as part…
How are you coping with the COVID-19 crisis? As an essential business, we have remained operational. We have adapted to the changing environment in ways that help protect the health of our employees, customers and the community, but also allow…
Virtual Interview: Jud R. Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer, Maui Behavioral Health Resources How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Maui Behavioral Health Resources is an umbrella organization for three nonprofit agencies: Maui Youth & Family Services,…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Due to social distancing, Modtech has focused on providing our clients with solutions surrounding virtual collaboration tools, including video conferencing systems, teleconference rooms and telework systems. These tools allow our clients…
Virtual Interview on COVID-19: Kathryn Raethel, President; Ryan Ashlock, Chief Operating Officer; Derek Dickard, Director, Outpatient Clinics; and Jesse Siebel, Director, Mission and Spiritual Care, Adventist Health Castle What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Ashlock: In this…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? Like many local businesses, we had to plan for and implement in a very short period a substantial restructuring of the way the firm conducts its daily business, including several innovative…
Virtual Interview: Robin Kumabe, Executive Director, Touch A Heart How has your organization been able to continue its core mission(s)? Our mission is to transform the lives of those facing barriers to employment by providing vocational training in a healing…
Virtual Interview: Dr. Lynn Babington, President, Chaminade University What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? Chaminade University made a number of significant adjustments to the final five weeks of…
Virtual Interview: Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham, Chancellor, University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu What changes did you make to finish this school year, and have you made plans for summer school? All 10 campuses in the University of Hawaiʻi System went fully…
What has been Banán’s latest pivot or innovation? We have recently partnered with local Chef Mama T to roll out Kalo/Ulu based soups and stews for takeaway. As individuals and families have been challenged over the past month to get…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? With the increase of pressure on tenants and landlords caused by the pandemic and the moratorium on evictions, I have turned to helping manage relationships between landlords and tenants and supplying…
Hawai‘i’s startup community creates and nurtures plenty of early stage innovative companies but loses them before they scale into national and global players. Should we be happy with that storyline or should we try to change it? Twenty years ago,…
Hawaii Business Magazine asked Jeffrey Shonka, president and CEO of First Insurance Co. of Hawaii, about insurance and broader issues in a wide-ranging interview. The conversation has been edited for length. How has the COVID-19 crisis disrupted the insurance…
The final months of college are supposed to be an emotional high and an optimistic door to the future. Instead, UH Mānoa seniors are experiencing lost jobs, no commencement ceremony, canceled internships and athletic competitions, premature goodbyes to close friends…
What has been your company’s latest pivot or innovation? In April, PrimeLending implemented a new Loan Origination System, Blue Sage, an industry-leading platform that enables our loan officers to deliver homeowners a seamless, secure and superior mortgage experience. With Blue…