Small Business News
April 2005 | Online Edition
Two Laureates Inducted to Business Hall of Fame
By Malia Zimmerman
More than 400 people attended the Junior Achievement of Hawaii dinner March 15 to honor two community leaders — Robin K. Campaniano, President & CEO for AIG Hawaii Insurance Company and Hawaii Insurance Consultants and Masaru “Pundy” Yokouchi, Chairman of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, President of Valley Isle, Inc., the Yokouchi Foundation, and Ka’anapali Kai, Inc.
In addition to receiving a lifetime achievement award, the honorees were presented with resolutions by Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann deeming March 15, 2005, to be their day in history.
Also attending were many well-known business people, past honorees, lawmakers and the state school superintended and the University of Hawaii president.
Campaniano, 53, was highlighted as being at the top of the corporate ladder. A respected leader in the insurance industry, he serves on the board of more than a dozen corporate, foundation, and business organizations throughout the state.
Described by his peers as one who “doesn’t follow trends in the industry, but sets them,” this Hawaii born leader has rapidly traveled the high road to professional success. In 1983, Campaniano earned a Master in Business Administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where 10 years earlier, he received his Bachelor of Arts diploma. He graduated from the University of San Francisco Law School in 1976. In summer of 1990, Campaniano was among an elite group of participants in the Harvard Senior Executive Program at the Kennedy School of Government.
Within the corporate and business world, Campaniano continues to build a distinguished career. He is Director of the First Hawaiian Bank as well as the Advisory Board of Oceanic Cablevision. Last year, he served as Chair of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, and was 2001 Chair of the Hawaii Business Roundtable. Inextricably linked with his professional career, Campaniano’s passion for a variety of community concerns ranges from youth, economic empowerment, sports and athletics, to intercultural exchange. His lifelong commitment to education ranks high. “What we need is more creativity, more innovation and an environment that encourages an entrepreneurial spirit,” says Campaniano.
Within the community, his leadership role is manifested in a number of nonprofit organizations and charitable foundations, including the Great Aloha Run Foundation, Hawaii Labor Heritage Foundation, the HMSA Foundation, and Aloha United Way.
Campaniano is married to Valerie Chang Campaniano, a kindergarten teacher at Aina Haina Elementary School, who also attended the dinner. They have two children: daughter Leslie and son Jeffrey.
Masaru “Pundy” Yokouchi, the Chairman of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, President of Valley Isle, Inc., the Yokouchi Foundation, and Ka’anapali Kai, Inc. also was honored at the dinner.
Forty years ago, Masaru “Pundy” Yokouchi dared to dream and told his friend that “the arts are education.” His friend, then-Governor John Burns named Yokouchi to head the new state agency in 1966. Established by the State Legislature in July 1965, the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts made Hawaii eligible for federal grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Yokouchi served as Chairman of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts for 12 years. He not only shaped the vision and leadership of the HSFCA, but in 1967, lobbied to establish the “Art in Public Places Program” through the State Legislature. As a result, Hawaii became the first state in the nation to provide dedicated funding of the arts in public buildings.
To appreciate Yokouchi, one must know the many facets of the man. For many years now, Masaru “Pundy” Yokouchi has been a real estate power broker and political figure in Maui. Born August 21, 1925, in Wailuku, Maui, Yokouchi went to Baldwin High School and entered military service at Schofield from 1945 to 1946. His intense passion for art and art education earned him an honorary doctorate degree in Humane Letter from the University of Hawaii in 1991.
Yokouchi’s real estate acumen has earned him a string of shopping centers and rental property in Oahu, Kauai, and Maui. He has also developed the Kamaole Beach Club and the Maui Shopping Center, along with several condominiums and office buildings.
And while his professional business remains in real estate, Yokouchi’s service has been to the arts. As Chairman of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Yokouchi’s legacy on the cultural landscape transcends the boundaries of Maui.
Yokouchi is married to Shirley H. Tamura, who accompanied him at the dinner. They have three daughters Sheryl-Lynn Suzuki, Leslie-Ann Yokouchi, Clarice Miki Yokouchi, and son Jon M. Yokouchi.
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