Maui Business

Former State Budget Director Kalbert Young (formerly of Maui) has been appointed to serve as the Vice President for Budget and Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the University of Hawai‘i System.

The previous CEO, L. Jani Sheppard, who served the agency for 10 years, resigned from the post. Edeluisa Baguio-Larena was selected as the organization’s interim chief executive officer while the search for a permanent CEO is underway.

Target has already attracted 1,100 applicants online, and had hundreds of interested job seekers attend the first day of a four-day job fair on Maui.

Former accounting administrator for the County of Maui, Maria Zielinski, has been selected to serve as the director of Taxation and head of the Department of Taxation under the Ige administration. She previously served as Hawaiʻi deputy Comptroller.

NextEra Energy and Hawaiian Electric Industries announced an a deal to combine. The transaction is valued at approximately $4.3 billion and includes the assumption of $1.7 billion in HEI debt.

A federal judge sentenced former Maui resident, Mahealani Ventura-Oliver, 44, to six years and six months in jail for her role in marketing a debt elimination and tax scheme.

Hawaiian Airlines announced plans to expand non-­stop service between Maui and Los Angeles during the summer of 2015. More than 53,000 air seats will be added in each direction over 14 weeks.

Target is looking to hire approximately 250 team members for its new Kahului store at the future Puʻunēnē Shopping Center, which is currently under construction and is set to open in March, 2015.

Declan McCarthy, the General manager of the Mākena Beach & Golf Resort, has been selected to serve as the chair of the 2015 Maui County Charity Walk, according to an announcement today from the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association.

Hawaiʻi’s newly sworn in Governor, David Ige and Lieutenant Governor Shan Tsutsui of Maui delivered their inaugural addresses at the Hawaiʻi State Capitol this afternoon.

The ceremony will include participation from students at Pearl City High School, where Ige earned his diploma; and a procession by veterans from the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Home sales on Maui were down in October from the same time last year with a total of 80 homes sold for a median price of $564,000, according to new data released by the Realtors Association of Maui.

Inauguration events take place on Monday, Dec. 1, for Governor-Elect David Ige who assumes his new office next week.

A disabled Mississippi veteran who served in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom is the winner of “A Hero’s Hawaiian Honeymoon” on Maui.

The request comes following reports of small unmanned aircraft or drone sightings near commercial airports in New York and Florida.

A coalition of Maui and Moloka‘i residents, farmers, and public interest groups, represented by Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, filed papers in Honolulu federal district court to defend the County of Maui’s recently passed genetically engineered crop safety initiative from a legal challenge by multinational chemical companies.

In celebration of global GIS Day, Maui Economic Development Board’s Women in Technology program is providing free training in Geographic Information System mapping for students and teachers on Maui.

The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority, the state’s tourism agency, announced the appointment of Ronald Williams as the interim president and CEO of the agency.

Ke Ola magazine announced that beginning with Maui County’s December/January issue, the arts, culture and sustainability magazine will now include a wedding and special occasion section.

The company already provides ground handling services to the Canadian carrier in support of their daily services to Kona and Līhue, and their twenty-two weekly flights to Kahului, Maui.