The Queen’s Medical Center has named Rose Hata the 2015 employee of the year.

Hata, an advanced-practice registered nurse in the surgical intensive care unit, has been at Queen’s for more than eight years, mentoring nurses and leading programs that include helping to improve communication between clinicians.

As an internal clinical consultant, Hata evaluates systems and works to streamline nursing processes to improve patient outcomes. She is recognized by her colleagues for preventing central line-associated bloodstream infections and being “an invaluable resource to the medical center.”

She was chosen from 12 employees of the month out of a staff of more 4,500.

Consumer spending edges up in February

WASHINGTON >> U.S. consumers barely increased their spending in February and spent less in January than the government had earlier estimated. The pullback led some analysts to downgrade their expectations for the economy’s growth during the January-March quarter.

Consumer spending edged up a tiny 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department said Monday. And it revised down its estimate of spending growth in January from a solid 0.5 percent gain to a much weaker 0.1 percent, which matched December’s lackluster figure.

With consumer spending, which fuels about 70 percent of the economy, off to a weak start in 2016, some analysts predict just 1 percent annual economic growth in the first quarter — half the increase they had earlier foreseen.

Pending home sales highest since July

WASHINGTON >> More Americans signed contracts to buy homes in February, with purchases surging in the Midwest ahead of the traditional spring buying season.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index rose 3.5 percent to 109.1, rebounding from a 3 percent decline in January. The index has reached its highest level since July.

The increase in signed contracts occurred last month despite a shortage of homes on the market. The gain suggests a strong start to the spring home buying season, after some recent reports have hinted at a possible slowdown as rising prices have hurt affordability. Pending sales contracts are a barometer of future purchases.

Regionally, signed contracts climbed 11.4 percent in the Midwest, with more modest gains in the South and West. In the Northeast the number of contracts dipped 0.2 percent.

Dell to sell Perot Systems for $3.1B

TOKYO >> Dell has agreed to sell its Perot Systems subsidiary, which provides information technology services to hospitals and governments, to the Japanese technology company NTT Data for almost $3.1 billion, NTT Data said in a regulatory filing Monday.

The deal is part of a reorganization by Dell as it prepares to buy the data storage provider EMC for $67 billion. That transaction, the largest ever in the technology industry, was announced in October.

Dell bought Perot Systems, founded by the entrepreneur and onetime presidential candidate Ross Perot, for $3.9 billion in 2009 as it tried to expand beyond its struggling core business of making personal computers.

For NTT Data the deal would add to a string of foreign acquisitions in the last several years. Once part of Japan’s government-owned telephone monopoly, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, NTT Data was spun off after its parent company was privatized in a process that began in the 1980s.

American applies for L.A.-Beijing service

American Airlines has submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation for daily service between Los Angeles International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport.

“This new route would solidify Los Angeles as American’s West Coast gateway to Asia, and it would be our only Beijing access from the western United States, creating new connections to one of Asia’s major business and leisure destinations,” said Andrew Nocella, chief marketing officer for American Airlines. If approved, American would begin L.A.-Beijing service Dec. 16.

On the Move

Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Waikiki has named Akiko Slayton as a public relations manager. She was previously a lead spa consultant at Moana Lani Spa at the Moana Surfrider, and served as a spa manager at the Venere Corp. for 12 years.

ProService Hawaii has promoted Carol Surban to director of a new division called Client Information Services. She was has been with ProService for the past nine years.

Central Pacific Bank has appointed Victoria Hasty to vice president and legal counsel. She has nearly 10 years of legal experience as an attorney and more than 15 years of financial experience as a banker.