A Start-Up With Style

Element Media Inc. hosted the exclusive First Annual Pacific Edge Magazine Business Achievement Awards Gala on Thursday, May 12^th at The Waterfront at Aloha Tower Marketplace. This red carpet gala was sponsored by Oceanic Time Warner Cable Business Class, Hawaii Pacific University, Jaguar of Honolulu, The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii Young Professionals Program, Margo – La Perle de Tahiti and Servco Lexus. The event was a continued celebration of the fifth anniversary year of Pacific Edge Magazine and recognized the impressive achievements of Hawai‘i’s leading companies and business professionals through eight distinctive award categories. The City & County of Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle and state of Hawai‘i Governor Neil Abercrombie were both in attendance to address the guests and honorees of this inaugural event.

Element Media, Inc. was pleased to receive over one hundred nominations from all different types of businesses throughout Hawai‘i for the awards. Award nominations were collected and judged by an independent panel of esteemed business leaders and the eight winners were announced Thursday, May 12, 2011 during the presentation ceremony. 

The award winners include:

Mr. Yamamoto founded PEMCO. Ltd. in 1984 with just three employees. It was a small, family-owned business offering real estate management, development & construction services to both the public and private sectors. Today, he oversees a robust company of 116 employees with offices in Honolulu, California, Colorado and Georgia.

PEMCO, which stands for the Pacific Engineering Management Company, expanded its services to the Mainland, the Pacific Islands, and the far East under Mr. Yamamoto’s leadership. It has successfully completed and managed thousands of projects to include numerous multi-year contracts with the federal government.

Mr. Yamamoto’s accomplishments have earned him numerous accolades including Ernst &Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2000 and THE City and County of Honolulu’s “Small Business Person of the Year Award” in 2009. Over the years, he has also been a dedicated supporter of the Beautiful Son Foundation, Child and Family Services, Aloha United Way, the Hawaii Food Bank and the University of Hawai‘i.

For the Young Professional of the Year:

David Chang is Chairman and CEO of Chang Holding Company and holds quite an impressive background. He obtained his degree in Economics and Computer Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point; and holds a master degree. in Political Science from University of Hawaii, as well as a Master’s in Theological Studies from Covenant Theological Seminary.

David is an Iraq combat veteran and currently serves as Commander of the Military Intelligence Company for the Hawaii Army National Guard. In addition to Chang Holding Company, David started WealthBridge, a wealth-management firm, two-and-a-half years ago after leaving active duty with the Army. As if that wasn’t enough, He founded two more startups last year after seeing an opportunity to work with the military — one a construction and remodeling firm called The Stone Factory and the other a bottled-water company called Power H2O. David has accomplished all this and more, at a mere 30 years old.

David is also highly involved in community service and is a member of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Rotary Club, Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, and Toastmasters.

For Business Executive of the Year:

In just five years, Dustin Sellers and his team turned ProService Hawaii into the state’s largest HR administration firm.

When Dustin and his partner Ben purchased ProService Hawaii in 2005, it had some 40 employees and 400 client businesses. Dustin’s leadership and business development skills helped to procure ProService’s 1,100 current client companies and they now represent more than 12,000 employees statewide. Revenues have grown steadily each year, from $141 million in 2005, to nearly $300 million in 2009—a more than 100 percent increase.

ProService is also the only HR administration firm in the state with a physical presence on the four major Hawaiian Islands of Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.

Most importantly, Dustin has emphasized that doing good for others is one of the best ways to improve yourself. Therefore he has made community service part of the corporate culture at ProService, from the top down. He serves as chairman of the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters; is on the corporate council of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii and is on the board of the Honolulu Bulls soccer organization.

Bossert Builders, Inc. is a custom home contracting company that has been committed to green building since opening in 2008. Nick Bossert, who serves as the general contractor, and Leanne Bossert, President, are the perfect husband and wife team who have not only committed their own lifestyles to “going green,” but have strived to help others do so through their business as well.

In January of this year, Bossert Builders hosted a green home open house for about 500 people in Kailua that benefited the Honolulu Habitat for Humanity at which they showcased their latest project – the state of Hawaii’s first Certified Green Home under the National Association of Home Builders’ National Green Building Standard Program.

In addition, they are in the process of developing their own courses and seminars on green building to help promote the importance of going green to the people and residential communities of Hawaii.

As Hawaii’s largest, locally owned residential real estate firm, Prudential

Locations has made a tremendous philanthropic impact through its charitable arm, The Locations Foundation. Established over 20 years ago, The Locations Foundation, is committed to enhancing the lives of disadvantaged Hawaii families and children by supporting a wide range of community programs through volunteering time and donating money. All members of The Locations Foundation are all real estate agents and staff of Prudential Locations.

The Locations Foundation partners with a diverse range of local Hawaii charities, including the Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers – Big Sisters, Hawaii 3R’s, Project Visitation and Easter Seals, among many others – all with the mission of helping families and children in our community.

In 2010, the Foundation gave more than $100,000 to 20 community organizations in need, using funds donated by the real estate professionals and staff members at Prudential Locations. In addition, The Foundation’s signature “Backpack to School” program has donated nearly 4,000 backpacks stuffed with school supplies to homeless and less-fortunate children across the state – each year, increasing the number of backpacks delivered.

Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr to engage with its customers and listen to what members of the social media community has to say about its brand, Hawaiian Airlines monitors comments, Tweets, and discussion board posts, questions and/or complaints on a daily basis.

One of the best examples of how Hawaiian Airlines effectively engaged customers is their Inaugural Airbus Sweepstakes. This sweepstakes highlighted the celebration of Hawaiian Airlines’ two new Airbus airplanes that were added to its fleet.

This campaign took place from May 12, 2010 through May 26, 2010. At the end of the sweepstakes, two winners (a resident of the US Mainland and a resident of Hawaii) were randomly chosen and given a roundtrip Coach ticket for two along with a three-night stay at a JW Marriott.

There were five ways to enter. two methods of entry utilized social media. One way to was to post the hash tag #HA_NewEra on Twitter, and the other way was to post on the Hawaiian Airlines’ Facebook fan page.

These two methods of entry increased social media site visits for Hawaiian Airlines which resulted in increased fans on Facebook by over 11,611 and followers on Twiiter by over 1,280. It also made a notable impact on revenue (a total of roughly $400K) in ticket sales.

Pacific Edge Magazine & Social Wahines present: The Business of Networking at Trump International Hotel