White to head SEC

WASHINGTON >> The U.S. Senate has confirmed Mary Jo White’s nomination as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, making her the first former prosecutor to lead the federal agency that oversees Wall Street. She will replace Elisse Walter, who has been interim SEC chairman since Mary Scha­piro resigned in December.

Maui home and condo prices up in March

Sales volume for homes on Maui stayed close to flat last month, but median prices rose as more homes sold at higher prices.

The Realtors Association of Maui said 79 single-family homes were sold on the Valley Isle in March, or three fewer than 82 sales in the same month last year.

The median price for the sales — the point at which half the sales were for more and half for less — was $508,000 compared with $435,000 in the same period.

The median price rise was spread over the island, the association’s data showed. For instance, there were 17 single-family home sales in Central Maui for a median $420,000 last month compared with 19 sales for a median $372,000 a year earlier.

In the Napili/Kahana/Honokowai area, there were four sales for a median $800,000 last month compared with three sales for a median $615,000 a year earlier.

Maui’s condominium market produced 101 sales last month, down from 130 a year earlier. The median price rose to $375,000 from $368,043 in the same period.

The Realtors Association of Maui includes sales of new and previously owned homes in its data. See chart below.

United Air reducing D.C.-Honolulu service

United Airlines is pulling back on its Washington, D.C.-Hono­lulu service less than a year after launching flights from Dulles International Airport.

The Chicago-based carrier plans to reduce its daily service to five times a week beginning Aug. 12, and then on Aug. 31 will cut back even further to just one day a week with Saturday-only flights. United plans to resume daily service on Dec. 19 and will do so until at least Jan. 6. It has not posted a schedule beyond that date.

"The reductions are during a traditionally slower travel period when there is less demand," United spokes­woman Mary Clark said.

The market is more seasonal than United originally thought, according to Chris Kam, senior director of market insights for the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau.

"We watch passenger counts, and the load factors (percentage of seats filled) have not been as high as other markets," Kam said. "It’s been in the 70 percentile where typically airlines try to get it up to 85 percent or more to keep a route economically viable."

United began the route from Dulles in June at roughly the same time that Hawaiian Airlines inaugurated daily service to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. United also services Hono­lulu with daily flights out of Newark, N.J.

Hawaii ranks third in vacation ownership

Hawaii ranks third in time-share vacation ownership in the U.S., behind No. 1 Florida and second-ranked California.

A study by vacation exchange company RCI, part of Wynd­ham Worldwide, found that satisfaction and the outlook for the industry are strong.

Despite Hawaii’s third-place ranking, the study showed that the Southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean are the most desired locations for purchase of vacation ownership.

The findings reinforce results of a previous study by the American Resort Development Association on shared vacation ownership, showing that fewer owners feel their vacations are affected by the economy and that an increasing number plans to retain their ownership in the future.

Avon eliminates 400 jobs; leaves Ireland

NEW YORK » Avon is eliminating more than 400 positions and abandoning or restructuring smaller or underperforming businesses in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, including an exit from Ireland.

The company said Monday that the job cuts, which equate to about 1 percent of Avon’s 39,100 employees, will occur across all regions and segments. It is part of a turnaround plan under CEO Sheri McCoy, with the goal of achieving mid-single digit percentage revenue growth and $400 million in cost savings by 2016. Avon expects to complete almost all the cuts before year’s end. The jobs cuts come on top of the 1,500 positions trimmed in December, when the company announced that it was exiting Vietnam and South Korea.

On the Move

Aqua Engineers has named Greg Wilson as Schofield Barracks operations manager. He has more than 25 years’ experience in water and wastewater treatment, including as project manager for ESG Operations in Conyers, Ga., and director of water and wastewater for the City of Jackson, Ohio.

Honolulu Homeloans has announced that Roland Shar was the top producer in 2012. Shar is senior vice president of HHL.

HMSA Foundation has awarded a total of $668,800 in grants to the following health programs and community organizations: Aloha Medical Mission, American Heart Association, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Hawaii Health Systems Foundation, Ka‘u Rural Health Community Association, National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaii, Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific, Special Olympics Hawaii, the Arc of Hilo, University of Hawaii Foundation and University of Hawaii Maui College.

Business Solution Technologies, a Hawaii-based human resources and information technology consulting firm founded in 1996, announced that Doug Shi­mo­kawa has joined the firm as a consultant. He will lead systems development projects for BST. Prior to joining the company, Shi­mo­kawa was a senior software engineer at Lockheed Martin.