Lobbying firm adds ex-Abercrombie staffer
Bruce Coppa, former chief of staff for Gov. Neil Abercrombie, has been hired by the lobbying firm Capitol Consultants of Hawaii as executive vice president.
Coppa, 60, first worked for Abercrombie as comptroller and director of the Department of Accounting and General Services. In 2011 he was picked by Abercrombie as his chief of staff.
Prior to that, Coppa was vice president of E.E. Black, a Hawaii construction company, and the original executive director of Pacific Resource Partnership. He was also chief operations officer of Communications Pacific, a Honolulu communications and public relations firm.
"One of the best-known and most trusted leaders in our community, Bruce is a winner who brings local, national and international relationships, skills and abilities to the firm. We are very happy that he has agreed to join us," said G.A. "Red" Morris, co-founder and chairman of Capitol Consultants of Hawaii.
Kids invited to enter business competition
Lemonade Alley, a BizGym Foundation program for children’s business and financial literacy, has opened registration for a competition that will be held April 11.
Teams can register in one of three divisions: kindergarten through fourth grade, fifth through eighth grade and ninth through 12th grade. Teams will design and build a stand to sell lemonade, pitch a business and compete in a sales contest. The winning team in each division will go home with $1,000 to donate to a charity of its choice.
To register, visit lemonadealley.com/enter.
Science is highlight of ThinkTech forum
Dave Karl, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, will be the keynote speaker at the ThinkTech Hawaii Downtown Forum on Jan. 22. The forum, dubbed "Hawaii, the State of Science: A 2015 Report Card on Our Science Industry," will examine the work of various scientists involved, the condition of science as an industry in Hawaii, and the competition and expectations of the kids involved in the Hawaii Science and Engineering Fair in March.
The event will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Laniakea YWCA at 1040 Richards St. in Honolulu.
Other panelists will be Neal Atebara (Hawai‘i Academy of Science), Peter Crouch and Song Choi (both on science and engineering), Kim Holland (shark research), Andrew Howard (astronomy research), Matthew Koenig (MRI research) and Cecilia Shikuma (AIDS research).
Registration is $30 at www.thinktechhawaii.com. The fee for students is $20, and the walk-in cost will be $35.
California firm aiding HECO’s grid update
Redwood City, Calif.-based Silver Spring Networks is one company that Hawaiian Electric Co. has chosen to help upgrade its grid. HECO used Silver Spring’s smart grid networking platform to update its current electrical grid with applications that include demand response, customer Web portals and a prepay program.
HECO completed implementation of the first phase of its smart grid in September after installing 5,200 smart meters for customers living in Moanalua Valley, portions of Pearl City, Kaimuki, Diamond Head, Kahala and Waikiki. The smart meters give residents access to a Web portal that provides information about their electricity use to help manage electric bills. Additional installation of the smart grid is awaiting regulatory approval.
J.C. Penney’s store closures to cost $38M
NEW YORK » J.C. Penney Co. says the closure of about 40 of its stores will cost around $38 million.
The department store chain said it will book pretax charges of $21 million in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2014, and another $17 million will be incurred later. The company will cut about 2,250 jobs as it tries to improve its profitability. Earlier this week it started notifying workers at stores slated to be closed; Penney expects to complete most the store closures by April. A year ago it announced plans to close 33 stores and cut about 2,000 jobs. The company, based in Plano, Texas, has about 1,060 stores.
ON THE MOVE
The University of Hawaii Foundation has announced the following hire and promotions:
» Saralyn Smith has been hired as director of development for the College of Arts and Humanities, College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature and the library at UH-Manoa.
» Harriet Cintron has been promoted to senior director of development from director of development at UH-Manoa.
» Jeffrie Jones to executive director of development for the John A. Burns School of Medicine at UH-Manoa. She joined UH Foundation in 2007 as director of development for the medical school.
» Leslie Lewis to senior director of development at UH-Manoa for the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and Faculty Programs. She was previously director of development for the UH-Manoa College of Arts and Sciences and for CTAHR.
» Unyong Nakata to senior director of development from director of development for the Shidler College of Business.
