Trade Winds

Advertiser Staff

• DON WAKEMAN, veteran developer of healthcare programs and private and public healthcare sector computer-system design, has been named vice president for the Hawai'i operations of American Benefit Plan Administrators. The company is one of the nation's largest third--party administrators, specializing in providing employee benefit plan administrative services, and has served Taft-Hartley Fund clients locally for more than 30 years. Wakeman has built a variety of managed healthcare delivery systems and related computer systems for major corporations, governments, unions and health insurance companies. He was most recently principal senior consultant with National Benefits Alliance, and before that, vice president of marketing for Queen's Island Care. He is also a teacher of healthcare economics and systems design, and co-founder of the Internet technology firm Mobular Technologies Inc.

• MICHAEL J. MARKS has retired as vice president and general counsel of Alexander & Baldwin Inc., making him, according to the company, the longest-serving general counsel among Hawai'i's publicly traded corporations. The retirement brings to a close a 39-year legal career that included 28 years with A&B, the last 23 years as general counsel.

Marks was also corporate secretary of the A&B subsidiary Matson Navigation Co. Inc. until 2002, and served as A&B's corporate secretary from 1985 to 1999. He was named vice president and general counsel in 1980. Marks is a member of state bars in New York City, where he began his legal career, Ohio and Hawai'i, and is admitted to practice before the federal courts. He was in private practice in Honolulu from 1971 to 1975.

• WANDA TSUDA-SKAGGS, contracts administrator for Honolulu-based Construction Management & Development Inc., has been promoted to executive assistant to the chief executive officer, Jim Salter, working also with the chairman of the board and project managers. The firm, with offices in Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; and other locations, has worked locally on a number of projects, including the Grand Wailea Resort & Spa, Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, Royal Kunia residential subdivisions, Ward Entertainment Center and Ko Olina Golf Course.

• KENDALL J. HIRAI, a former executive director of Central YMCA, has been named executive director of the new Hawai'i HomeOwnership Center, a private, nonprofit organization helping first-time homeowners. Hirai, also previously executive director of Downey YMCA in California, was awarded the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles' Executive Roundtable Award for his efforts in the financial turnaround of that facility. The Hawaii HomeOwnership Center provides classes on pursuing successful homeownership, getting credit and ameliorating past bad credit; one-on-one counseling and other services.

• Hawaiian Host Inc., Hawai'i's originator of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, has promoted SUSAN L. SWOBODA from customer-service representative to customer-service supervisor. In the new position, Swoboda, the primary contact for many customers, will oversee orders, process sales invoices and assist sales managers and representatives.

• SELENA K. CHING has been named executive director of The Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific Foundation. The foundation provides support for the Kuakini Street rehabilitation facility through such fund-raising projects as an annual golf tournament, wine festival and cookbook. Ching returns to Honolulu from New York, where she was assistant director of development at Rockefeller University. She has also held executive positions with Prudential Securities and the School of American Ballet in New York; the San Francisco AIDS Foundation; and the McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco. She is also a former public affairs assistant/project coordinator for the Queen Emma Foundation.

Also at the Rehab Center, medical director DR. TON MING CHIANG has been named Physician of the Year by the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Home Care and Hospice Division, recognizing 23 years of work specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation, with expertise with amputation patients.

• VINCENT LOO, a 14-year veteran of The Gas Company, has been promoted to operations superintendent for the company's Synthetic Natural Gas Plant at Campbell Industrial Park. He was most recently operations engineer at the plant, where he led the upgrade from a pneumatic control system to a computerized electronic system.

• RICHARD QUINN, who joined the planning firm of Helber Hastert & Fee in 2000 as senior planner/designer, has been promoted to firm associate. The firm specializes in land use and environmental planning throughout Hawai'i and the Pacific. Quinn has focused on urban design, community planning and landscape architecture.

Announcements of promotions and job changes can be sent to: Trade Winds, Business Section, The Honolulu Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802; faxed to 525-6763, or e-mailed to business@honoluluadvertiser.com. Photographs may be included, but must be identified on the back.