BUSINESS BRIEFS
Gotbaum on Obama transition staff
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Former Hawaiian Airlines trustee Joshua Gotbaum has been named to president-elect Barack Obama's transition team to review the Department of Treasury.
The 57-year-old Gotbaum served as Hawaiian's court-appointed trustee from July 2003 to June 2005 while the state's largest airline operated under bankruptcy protection.
Gotbaum and Michael Warren, chief operating officer of Washington, D.C.-based consultant Stonebridge International LLC, will provide guidance on policy, budget and personnel decisions in connection with the department, which is managing the $700 billion financial rescue plan.
Gotbaum, who worked in the Clinton White House, most recently was a partner of the private equity firm Blue Wolf Capital Management.
At Hawaiian, he successfully steered the company through a complex bankruptcy. But he attracted criticism from the public when he asked for an $8 million bonus, or "success fee," at the conclusion of the reorganization.
U.S. District Judge Robert Faris reduced that to $250,000.
SELLING HAWAI'I SPRING BREAK TRAVEL
A Maui company has launched a Web site that offers spring break travel packages to Hawai'i that focus on "adventure-packed trips, rather than promoting the traditional partying plans that have typified spring breakers over the years."
"We are catering to those that don't want to binge drink," said Kathleen Wilson, owner of Aloha Spring Break. "When you just party on spring break, you don't create memories. In fact, you kind of forget what happened."
The Web site is at www.alohaspringbreak.com, and its booking engine is powered by Travelocity.
"Aloha Spring Break offers a wide variety of excursions ... whether someone is looking to surf, hike, sightsee, relax at a spa, golf, whale watch, windsurf, kiteboard, sail, sport fish, horseback ride, or just hang out on the beach," according to a company news release.
HOKU IN $6.5M DEAL TO BUY SILICON
Hoku Scientific Inc. said its subsidiary building a polysilicon plant in Idaho has entered a contract to purchase about $6.5 million of metallurgical-grade silicon next year from Polymet Alloys Inc.
The three-year agreement calls for Hoku Solar Inc. to buy specified volumes of the material, though the amount may be increased. The pricing is fixed in 2009 and is to be renegotiated for the second and third years of the contract. If Hoku and Polymet are unable to agree on a price, either one of them may terminate the agreement. Hoku will use the silicon to manufacture tricholorsilane, a key material used in production of solar-grade polysilicon.
PODIATRISTS' CONVENTION WILL RETURN
The foot doctors just wrapped up one convention here and are already planning to return to Waikiki — twice.
The American Podiatric Medical Association announced that members will once again hold their annual meeting at the Hawai'i Convention Center in 2014, and again in 2021.
Their event here in July brought together nearly 3,500 podiatrists and related professionals. Statewide spending was more than $16.5 million, generating more than $1.6 million in statewide tax revenue. The Convention Center's hotel partners benefited with more than 28,000 rooms booked.
"Our annual meeting experience this summer in Honolulu was tremendous," said Dr. Ross Taubman, APMA president. "The city is such a unique destination, offering not only sun, surf and sand, but also a first-class convention center."
