DBEDT official leaving

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Staff Writer

A second state official has quit to join Deep SeaWater International Inc., a Kona-based company with plans to bottle deep-sea water as drinking water.

Steve Bretschneider, state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism deputy director, is leaving his post to serve as chief marketing officer for Deep SeaWater.

Mark Kuikawa Anderson, administrator of DBEDT's Foreign Trade Zone Division, has been named acting deputy director.

Bretschneider, who has a background marketing such beverages as Coca-Cola, said he accepted the marketing position with Deep SeaWater because of the company's and industry's potential. "It just seemed like the perfect job for me when I heard about it," he said. "I've always loved the beverage business. For a marketing guy, it's always a very exciting business. I just see great potential, and I don't have to leave Hawai'i."

Deep SeaWater is one of at least four companies that plan to follow Koyo USA Corp. in selling deep-sea water from Hawai'i. Koyo was producing bottled sea water at a rate of 200,000 containers a day in October and selling them for $4 to $6 each. Officials said they could not keep up with the demand for the water, which is mainly sold in Japan.

Bretschneider is the second DBEDT official to leave for Deep SeaWater. Jeff Smith, head of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority when it negotiated a lease with Deep SeaWater, joined the company as chief operating officer last year.

DBEDT director Ted Liu said Bretschneider did not deal with Deep SeaWater while he served as deputy director. Bretschneider joins Deep SeaWater Jan. 17.