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THERE ARE TWO PLACES in a corporation where the turnover seems extraordinarily high: at the bottom and at the top. Of course, it's the latter that always grabs the headlines, and last year, there were a lot of headlines.
During the last 12 months, changes in Hawaii's president and CEO executive suits have been numerous: at Hawaiian Electric Co., Dudley Pratt passed on the presidency to Harwood "Dan" Williamson, formerly a vice president for the parent company, Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., as well as for subsidiary Maui Electric Co. Pratt remains CEO and was named chairman of the holding company. At one of the state's largest retailing firms, Duty Free Shoppers, Richard Hunter was moved up from president of the Hawaii division to group executive vice president and relocated to California. At cement manufacturer Lone Star Hawaii, Jack Burford became president after Robert Lippi retired, while Lone Star chairman and CEO Fred Smales continues with his retirement plans for the end of the year. Richard Griffith, a director of Amfac, Inc., since 1975 and a partner in Honolulu law firm Cades Schutte Fleming & Wright, went to work at Amfac as a vice president, and also as chairman of Amfac Hawaii, Inc., formerly called the Agriculture and Property Group.
At Campbell Estate, former GasprO Airco president Clinton Churchill joined as chief operating officer. At tour operator Robert's Hawaii, Florence Iwamoto took over as president after the death of her husband, Robert Iwamoto, Sr. Leilani Schuman was named president of car dealership Schuman Carriage, although her father, Gustav Schuman, remained CEO. And, at Territorial Savings & Loan, Richard Millard moved into the vacant chairman and CEO slots, while Daniel Colin was named to succeed him as president and chief operating officer.
No doubt, one reason behind some of the changes at the top is Hawaii's intensifying market and economic pressures which are hurting financial performance and forcing boards to scrutinize management more carefully and critically. In the boom '70s, it was far easier to manage a company than in the recessionary times of the late '70s and early '80s, which put managers through the toughest test ever, and some didn't pass. The most well-known case, of course, is Castle & Cooke's ousting of CEO Ian Wilson...