FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                 May 31, 2005

Release M-38

MAYOR ANNOUNCES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY TEAM

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann today (Tuesday, May 31, 2005) announced the creation of the Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Team.

 The group consists of five executives associated with Hawaii’s major banks who will work to encourage cooperation between the private sector and the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development, directed by Jeanne Schultz.

Mayor Hannemann has given the team an initial assignment of examining all City operations to identify revenue enhancement opportunities.

 “We spent a lot of time in our first few months in office finding ways to cut expenses,” said the mayor. “Now we’re entering the second phase, where we want to increase the economic pie.”

Schultz and the Economic Development Advisory Team will also work toward drawing up an economic development plan for the City, as requested by the City Council.

 Appointed to the Mayor’s Economic Development Advisory Team are:

·       Garrett Grace, vice president and senior commercial banking officer with Central Pacific Bank. A native of Ireland, Grace served in the Persian Gulf War on a Royal Australian Navy destroyer. He immigrated to Hawaii in 1993 and was with Bank of Hawaii from 1994-2000. He is a graduate of Hawaii Pacific University.

·       Kevin Haseyama, vice president, financial risk manager for American Savings Bank. An Iolani School graduate, he holds degrees from Harvey Mudd College, the University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles. He worked five years for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.

·       Richard Keene, vice chairman and chief financial officer for Bank of Hawaii Corp.  A certified public accountant and a graduate of Virginia Tech, he has been with Bank of Hawaii since 2001. He previously held senior banking positions in Atlanta.

·       Cathy Luke, a member of the Advisory Board for Hawaii National Bank and president of Loyalty Enterprises, Ltd., a property management, insurance and financing firm. She was formerly director of product marketing for Inktomi Corp. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Harvard Business School.

·        Mark Taylor, senior vice president, trust division, for First Hawaiian Bank. He has been with the bank since 1990. Before that he was a policy analyst with the White House Office of Management and Budget. He is a Moanalua High School graduate with degrees from Princeton University, Harvard University and the University of Washington.

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Contact:  

         
  City Economic Development Director Jeanne Schultz, 527-5761