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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 11:31 a.m., Wednesday, February 2, 2005

BUSINESS BRIEFS
Honolulu Board of Realtors names CEO

Advertiser Staff

The Honolulu Board of Realtors has named former state teachers union deputy executive director Rochelle Lee Gregson as chief executive of the residential real estate trade association.

Gregson's appointment follows the termination of Judy Sobin as the Realtor association's CEO in October and an unsuccessful attempt by some members to have Sobin reinstated.

As CEO, Gregson will direct operations of the trade group representing 5,000 brokers on O'ahu.

"We are delighted to have someone of Rochelle's caliber and experience leading our organization," Judith Kalbrener, president of the Realtor association's board of directors, said in a statement.

Gregson had been deputy executive director of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, which she left in August after about three years. Before that, she was director of programs for the Hawai'i Community Foundation and spent 16 years as a vice president at Aloha United Way.

Gregson also has held staff positions with the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union, Local 5, the state Legislature and the Hawai'i Community Development Authority. She has a bachelor's degree in American Studies from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, and has also served on boards of the Hawaii Medical Services Association, 'Olelo: The Corporation for Community Television and the Industrial Relations Research Association.

"With her understanding of the issues affecting our community and Island economy, her commitment to provide quality services to our members, and her well-balanced outlook on life we believe Rochelle will help take us to a new level of success," Kalbrener said.



First Hawaiian Bank raises prime lending rate

First Hawaiian Bank today raised its prime lending rate, the benchmark for many loans, to 5.5 percent from 5.25 percent effective tomorrow (Feb. 3). Other local banks will likely follow suit later today.

The move comes after the Federal Reserve pushed short-term interest rates higher today, part of a campaign begun last June and expected to continue well into this year to keep inflation and the economy on an even keel.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues raised the target for the federal funds rate by one-quarter of percentage point, to 2.50 percent. It was the sixth such increase since last summer. The rate is the interest that banks charge each other and is the Fed's main lever for influencing economic activity.

In a brief statement released after the Fed's two-day meeting, policy-makers stuck to their gradual approach of raising interest rates. Further increases can be "at a pace that is likely to be measured," according to the statement, similar to one issued at the previous meeting in December.

Economists said there was nothing in the statement to suggest that policy-makers will either speed up or slow down their rate-raising campaign.

"All the stars seem to be aligned to support a gradualist approach," said Anthony Chan, senior economist at JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management.