honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, July 4, 2003

New Hawaiian trustee named

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Joshua Gotbaum

Age: 51

Title: Trustee for Hawaiian Airlines

Education: 1973 graduate of Stanford University; J.D. Harvard Law School; Masters in Public Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government

• Experience: Investment banker with Lazard Freres & Co.; Assistant Secretary of Defense and Treasury; Controller in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget; CEO of The Sept. 11th Fund
Joshua Gotbaum, the first CEO of The Sept. 11th Fund and former controller of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, was selected yesterday as the new trustee to oversee Hawaiian Airlines through its bankruptcy reorganization.

Gotbaum's appointment came as a surprise to some of the people involved in the search because former United Airlines executive Christopher Bowers was expected to be named on Wednesday.

"We're not sure what happened," said Anil Patel of Boeing Capital Corp., which leases aircraft to Hawaiian and was involved in the search for a trustee.

Boeing Capital Corp. liked Bowers because he worked for 30 years at United, an airline that is also in bankruptcy.

"To us he was a very, very strong candidate," Patel said. "I don't really understand why he was unable to clear whatever needed to be cleared up. We're pretty disappointed because we thought this is a guy with pretty good experience and United's going through a restructuring. ... I'll have to go back and look at Josh Gotbaum's résumé and see how he fits in."

Curtis Ching, trial attorney for the U.S. Office of Trustee, said Bowers "withdrew his candidacy because of logistical issues that we were unable to resolve. I want to emphasize that it has no bearing on his qualifications or his abilities to serve as trustee. He would have been an excellent choice, but we also believe that Josh Gotbaum will be a fine trustee."

Ching declined to elaborate on why Bowers was not selected. But some people familiar with the search believe it was related to the requirement that a bankruptcy trustee be a "disinterested person" with no conflicts. Bowers had a noncompete clause with United, they said, which may have been a factor in his decision to withdraw.

Nadine Stollenmaier, president of Dunhill Professional Staffing of Hawai'i, said it can take months to get out of a noncompete clause with a huge corporation such as United.

"You have to deal with all of the attorneys," Stollenmaier said. "And with all of the corporate attorneys, it gets long and dragged out and sometimes they just don't want to hassle with it. Especially with Hawaiian and its troubles financially, maybe it was easier to put it aside and get somebody new."

Gotbaum, who lives in Washington, D.C., takes over a company that has been through considerable turmoil.

Hawaiian, the Islands' largest airline, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March amid accusations of financial mismanagement directed at its chairman and CEO, John Adams. After a bitter court fight, a federal bankruptcy judge removed Adams from control and selected John Monahan as trustee to guide Hawaiian through its reorganization.

But Monahan resigned last week after just three weeks on the job, citing unspecified personal reasons. Monahan will continue his work until Gotbaum arrives next week.

The role of the trustee, who reports to the federal judge overseeing the bankruptcy, is to ensure that the company's assets and operations are protected while it develops a plan to restructure its organization.

Gotbaum hopes to be at work at Hawaiian on Monday. Asked last night how much pressure he felt to bring stability to Hawaiian, Gotbaum said that he couldn't comment.

"To be honest, until I'm there I can't tell you I know enough about the situation," Gotbaum said. "Hawaiian Airlines is in bankruptcy, obviously, so there are some challenges. I just don't think I can at this point comment on what those are."

But, Gotbaum said, "Most of my career in government and business and nonprofits has been in one way, shape or form trying to mend things. Hawaiian Airlines is an important institution that can and should be restored to the position it has always held in Hawai'i and in the industry."

Gotbaum, 51, is married and has three children — an 11-year-old daughter and two sons, ages 9 and 8. He worked as an investment banker for 13 years with Lazard Freres & Co., based in New York and London, where he was an adviser to Eastern Air Lines, Braniff, Pan American, British Airways and Air France through their restructurings.

He was an Assistant Secretary of Defense and Treasury, and Controller of the Office of Management and Budget overseeing the financial management of federal agencies before being named the first CEO of The Sept. 11th Fund.

The fund was established on the day of the terrorist attacks to help victims, families and communities by developing grant programs and providing financial assistance, counseling, job training and assistance for small businesses.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.