LEADERSHIP CORNER
Kualoa Ranch president thrives by adapting to change
Interviewed by Debbie Sokei
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Age: 47
Title: President of Kualoa Ranch in Windward O'ahu, president and general manager of Kualoa Ranch and Activity Club, a subsidiary of the ranch.
Organization: Kualoa raises cattle, offers outdoor activities, including horseback rides, hiking, ATV rides and tours, and leases out film/TV locations on ranch grounds.
High school: Punahou
College: Oregon State University and University of Hawai'i-Manoa
Little-known fact: Gets sentimental and sometimes cries at movies.
Breakthrough job: "I have been working here at Kualoa Ranch for over 30 years so this would be my breakthrough job. I started off as a laborer building fences, moving irrigation pipes, spraying weeds and cleaning out ginger patches."
Life-changing experience: "One of the things my father, who was my boss for a long time, told me about running a business was the business never stays the same. You're either improving or getting worse. So, my quest for continual improvement started a long time ago."
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Q. How did you become head of Kualoa Ranch?
A. It was a gradual succession process. I expressed an interest early enough and an aptitude that made the family allow me to become the manager back in the 1980s. At that time, I was the only one (among his siblings) who worked for the company. My brother and sister lived on the Big Island and my cousins lived here on O'ahu, but they had other jobs. When we started the activity club in 1984, I was the president of the company. I eventually took over as president of the parent company in 1993 after my father. My brother is now the operations manager, and my cousin is working in the maintenance area.
Q. Do you feel considerable pressure to keep the family business going?
A. Yeah, in a sense it's good pressure. It's a great responsibility.
Q. You've made your living from working on the ranch. Would you want your children to run the business some day?
A. I would love to see it continue as a family company. But I would encourage them to not think about working for the ranch right out of college. I would encourage them to get some experience working somewhere else. They shouldn't think of this place as a gravy train or an automatic job. That's not the right way to approach a family business.
Q. Your family has a long history in Hawai'i, going back to the missionary days.
A. My great-great-great-grandfather was Dr. Gerritt Judd, who came to Hawai'i with the missionaries in 1828. He eventually became a minister for King Kamehameha III and bought Kualoa Ranch in 1850. His son, Charles Hastings Judd, who is my great-great-grandfather, bought the ahupua'a of Ka'a'awa in 1860. The ranch was about just under 4,000 acres. Today, my family owns the majority of the land between Waikane Valley and Kahana Valley. We used to own the property under Kualoa Park but that was condemned in 1970. We sold the land under the town of Ka'a'awa for about $8.5 million.
Q. The ranch has been in the family for more than 150 years. What is the family's future plan for the property?
A. We're lucky in the sense that all the owners feel a sense of stewardship and preservation for the property. We want to preserve and maintain the property, but to do that we need to be profitable. Profitability and sustainability are very closely entwined in our view. We don't want to build housing or hotels because it's not consistent with our view of preserving the property. Although, we definitely could make a lot of money out of it.
We're also thinking about selling some properties, and we did sell some. But those properties are not what we consider core ranch properties. We are considering selling some of the lower-yielding properties, like at the back of Ka'a'awa, to improve our real-estate portfolio.
Q. When you started the activity club, you catered mainly to Japanese visitors. When their numbers dropped after the first Gulf War, did the company change its strategy?
A. The local market was important. The Chinese market was also good until they had visa problems and direct flights from Taiwan were eliminated. We've always tried to develop the westbound market. Today, our target market is everyone.
Q. It seems your business has had to adapt to change.
A. Agriculture by itself is difficult to make money in. There are some farmers who are able to make a good business from agriculture. But, for us to be successful we had to diversify. We made a conscious and concerted effort to broaden our base of our customers and to grow by offering more eco-focus tours rather than adventure tours.
The transition has been gradual. We want to continue to develop ways to get people into the far reaches of the valley. We plan to propose a zip line, cable ride type of activity in the back of Ka'a'awa Valley. It's an eco-type activity where cables are strung between trees and you zip through the native forest habitat. It's another way to get people to experience what we have here.
Q. Hollywood movies such as "Windtalkers" and "50 First Dates" have been filmed at Kualoa Ranch. What portion of the company's revenue comes from the movie industry?
A. It's only about 7 percent to 8 percent of the revenues. Right now, the television pilot "Lost" is being shot here. Our standard rate is between $2,000 to $2,500 a day, and the production companies have to return the property to its original condition. Profitability is relative. This is a better year than the past several years. We've had a few tough years since the Japanese market has been hammered from time to time. But we are definitely doing OK now.
Q. You run a big ranch in a rural community. How do you get the community's input whenever you expand?
A. Not too long ago, we started a community advisory council where we discussed the ranch's future with residents in the community. We've had several meetings discussing the idea of starting a wellness center or a youth camp. We talked about where we can set those up. Getting the community's feedback is always good. Not only is the process good but other people may have great ideas. I think that most people in the community realize we are doing a good job in finding a balance without overdevelopment.
Q. Where do you find your employees, and how do you motivate them?
A. We have about 60 employees. A lot of people come to us because they heard this is a nice place to work. We also post job openings internally and put ads in the papers. I try to motive them by providing a good work environment, get them involved in the operation and make them feel appreciated.
