HONOLULU, Sept. 10, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian
Electric Company, a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries
(HEI) (NYSE: HE), today announced
that Alan Oshima has been named president and chief
executive officer of Hawaiian Electric Company, effective
October 1, 2014. A respected business leader with almost
40 years of energy, regulated utility, legal and community
relations experience in Hawaii,
Oshima will succeed Dick Rosenblum,
who has served in the position since 2009.
"Alan brings extensive energy industry experience, a real
passion for moving Hawaii to a
clean energy future, and a proven ability to bring people together
to work collaboratively for needed change. We need to move away
from a traditional utility model to become a responsive, affordable
energy services provider for our customers, and I'm confident Alan
is the right leader to guide our utility through this
transformation," said Connie Lau,
chairman of the board for Hawaiian Electric Company and president
and chief executive officer of its parent company, HEI.
"I'm honored to lead Hawaiian Electric at such a critical time,"
said Oshima. "We have a dedicated team of employees who care deeply
about doing the right thing for our customers and for Hawaii. We know the energy environment is
changing, and we have to adapt. We need to be more responsive,
working collaboratively with our customers and the greater
community. I'm confident that together we can achieve the clean
energy future we all want for Hawaii."
The Hawaiian Electric Companies recently proposed major plans
for Hawaii's energy future that
are designed to lower electric bills, give customers more service
options, and nearly triple the amount of distributed solar, while
achieving the highest level of renewable energy in the nation by
2030.
"We're grateful to Dick for his guidance in developing these
visionary plans and laying a great foundation. We're now ready to
take the next step and make these goals a reality," said Lau.
"Alan brings a valuable combination of energy expertise and a
genuine commitment to community stewardship," said Hawaiian
Electric board member Timothy Johns.
"In the many years I've had the privilege of working with Alan -
both in business and in the community - I've seen him overcome even
the toughest challenges with strong leadership and aloha."
Oshima has worked with Hawaiian Electric since 2008 when he
joined Hawaiian Electric's board of directors. In 2011, he left the
board to join parent company, HEI, as executive vice president for
corporate and community advancement and president of the HEI
Charitable Foundation. In May 2014,
he joined Hawaiian Electric's executive team full time.
Oshima also served as senior vice president, general counsel and
corporate secretary of Hawaiian Telcom from 2005 to 2008 and later
as a senior adviser and director helping the company successfully
emerge from reorganization in 2010. Oshima was founding partner of
the law firm, Oshima Chun Fong &
Chun. Prior to that, he practiced law with Carlsmith Ball.
With his significant experience with electric,
telecommunications and transportation companies, as well as water
and sewer resources in Hawaii,
Oshima has been recognized multiple times as one of "America's Best
Lawyers" in the field of public utilities.
Oshima chairs Hawaii
3Rs, a nonprofit organization that
facilitates public-private partnerships to repair, restore and
remodel Hawaii's public schools.
He is on the board of advisors of The Learning Coalition and serves
as a director of the Hawaii Institute of Public Affairs where he
has helped lead an initiative to form a public school land trust to
rebuild and upgrade school facilities across the state. Oshima
serves as one of the six Hawaii
Commissioners on the Education Commission of the States. He is also
a longtime volunteer and former chairman of the board of the YMCA
of Honolulu. Oshima has also been
a strong champion of innovative energy programs, including Energy
Excelerator, a resource provider for clean energy startups, and
KUPU, an environmental stewardship program for young adults.
A Farrington High School
graduate, Oshima graduated from Northwestern
University and received a law degree from University of California, Hastings College of the
Law. He also served with the U.S. Navy.
HEI supplies power to approximately 450,000 customers or 95%
of Hawaii's population through its
electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Electric Light and
Maui Electric and provides a wide array of banking and other
financial services to consumers and businesses through American
Savings Bank, F.S.B. (American), one
of Hawaii's largest financial
institutions.
HEI and Hawaiian Electric intend to continue to use HEI's
website, www.hei.com, as a means of disclosing additional
information. Such disclosures will be included on HEI's website in
the Investor Relations section. Accordingly, investors should
routinely monitor such portions of HEI's website, in addition to
following HEI's, Hawaiian Electric's and American's press releases,
HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) filings and HEI's public conference calls and webcasts. Also,
at the Investor Relations section of HEI's website, investors may
sign up to receive e-mail alerts (based on each investor's selected
preferences). The information on HEI's website is not incorporated
by reference in this document or in HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's
SEC filings unless, and except to the extent, specifically
incorporated by reference. Investors may also wish to refer
to the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Hawaii (PUC) website at
dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms in order to review documents filed with and
issued by the PUC. No information on the PUC website is
incorporated by reference in this document or in HEI's and Hawaiian
Electric Company's SEC filings.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This release may contain "forward-looking statements," which
include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or
refer to future events or conditions, and usually include words
such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes,"
"predicts," "estimates" or similar expressions. In addition,
any statements concerning future financial performance, ongoing
business strategies or prospects or possible future actions are
also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
based on current expectations and projections about future events
and are subject to risks, uncertainties and the accuracy of
assumptions concerning HEI and its subsidiaries, the performance of
the industries in which they do business and economic and market
factors, among other things. These forward-looking statements are
not guarantees of future performance.
Forward-looking statements in this release should be read in
conjunction with the "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk
Factors" discussions (which are incorporated by reference herein)
set forth in HEI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2013, HEI's Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2014
and HEI's future periodic reports that discuss important factors
that could cause HEI's results to differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. These forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date of the report, presentation or filing in
which they are made. Except to the extent required by the federal
securities laws, HEI, Hawaiian Electric, American and their
subsidiaries undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
Investor Contact:
Clifford H.
Chen
Telephone: (808) 543-7384
E-mail:
cchen@hei.com
Media Contact:
Lynne T.
Unemori
Telephone: (808) 543-7972
E-mail: lynne.unemori@hawaiianelectric.com
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SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.