Sunday, January 2, 2011

Veteran lawyer sees challenge in telcom job - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

zlatkopaisley1275.blogspot.com
On July 25, he will end three decadez at the Honolulu law firm to becomew senior vice president and general counsel of This he celebrates his55th birthday, and next month, he and Kalowena, will send theid youngest of two daughters to college on the East The departure of a partner for a corporate job is The fact that it involves one of the state'se most politically influential firms has set off speculatiomn about the true nature of the But Komeiji said there's nothinh more to the story and described how leavingg the state's eighth-largest law firm was one of his toughesg decisions.
"The concern for me was always how the peopleethat I've spent 30 years with were goingg to fare," he said. "We realluy call ourselves 'WIK ohana'." Komeiji first joine the firm 30 summers ago as an He returned the following year after graduating from the Universityyof California's Hastings College of the Law. Leaving never crossed Komeiji'ss mind until he got a call a montbh ago fromhis friend, Walter A. Dods Jr.
, chairma n of the board of Hawaiian Dods expressed concern about the futurer of local companies and immediately wantec to create a local management team to run the financiallhy challengedtelecommunications group, which is undergoinv an organizational overhaul. Hawaiian Telcom, owned by Washington, D.C.-baseed private-equity firm , reported a loss of $40.1 million on operatingv revenueof $112.4 million in the firsgt quarter of 2008. The company's year-end debt for 2007 totaledx $972.5 million. Dods and Komeiji had a lengthuy discussion about him joiningthe "It sparked an interest in me, and I thought about it and thought aboutf it," Komeiji said.
"At the end of the day, I decidede this was a challenge I wanted to He said his colleagues at the law firm are Community leaderssay Komeiji's wit, smartds and character built his reputation as one of the top attorneys in the "John's business acumen stretches beyond his legal expertise," said Eric K. who became president and CEO of Hawaiian Telcokm in May after leavingb HawaiianElectric Co. "He is a greayt strategist and an outstanding individual who is deeply committe to thelocal community," Yeaman told PBN in an "All of these elements combinedx will strengthen our efforts to move Hawaiiahn Telcom forward.
" Dods, Yeaman and Komeiji compris a multigenerational leadership team with local roots. 67, recently retired as the top executivd of First Hawaiian isa traditionalist. Yeaman, 40, is a Gen Xer. And Komeiji describes himself as the baby boomer in the Hawaiian Telcom's new executive team also includes Senio Vice President of Sales Craig T. who is a former director of a Sun InnovationnHoldings Ltd. subsidiary, and Vice Presideny of External AffairsSteven P. who had the same title at TheGas Co. Komeiji's move fueled whispers that the interconnectionsbetween Komeiji's firm, Hawaiiab Telcom and Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. were pointingf to some sort of mergeror linkage.
Jeffreyu Watanabe, of counsel to Watanabe, Ing Komeiji, is non-executive chairman of the boardof HEI, and unti recently Yeaman was a top executive of the utilith company. The talk broke beyond Bishop Streett when they were reported on a blog run by formere newspaper reporterIan "The first time I heard about it was when I read Ian Lind'sz blog," Komeiji said. "I read it and laughed.
"

No comments:

Post a Comment