The award categories are: the Ernst and Young Business Leader of the Year; Best in Business (one group for business with more than 100 employees and another for those with fewer than 100); community spirit; innovative company of the year; and the Cades Foundation Nonprofit Leadership Award.
SPECIAL TO WEST HAWAII TODAY
Barry K. Taniguchi, president and chief executive officer of KTA Super Stores, will receive the Leadership Legacy Award Thursday in Honolulu at the annual Business Leadership Hawaii event.
Business Leadership Hawaii, now in its fifth year, is presented by Pacific Business News and six supporting business sponsors. It recognizes leadership in six categories, including one for nonprofits.
The Leadership Legacy Award recipient is selected by the sponsors to acknowledge individuals who have set standards and commitments that serve as a model for future generations of businesspeople.
Taniguchi is the third person to receive the award. Last year, it was given to Mason Williams, then managing director of MARSH in Hawaii, and in 2004 it went to Mike O’Neill, then president and CEO of Bank of Hawaii.
The award is different, said Larry Fuller, publisher of PBN, because the recipients are not eligible to be nominated for the other BLH categories because of their affiliation with the event. MARSH and Bank of Hawaii are sponsors of BLH and Taniguchi has been a judge each year.
Larry Rodriguez of Ernst and Young in Honolulu, the event’s platinum sponsor, said sponsors wanted to recognize Taniguchi because he has “demonstrated a boundless energy in serving a wide range of for-profit and nonprofit entities.”
“It’s hard to think of someone else whose involvement has stretched so far across the state and beyond his or her home island,” Rodriguez said.
Taniguchi joined a CPA firm now known as Deloitte and Touche in 1969 after graduating from the University of Hawaii. He held other positions and joined the company started by his grandparents in 1916 as vice president in 1983. He moved to president and CEO in 1986.
Taniguchi is a member of the board of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and professional organizations, including the Hawaii Society of CPAs, Hawaii Employers Council and the Hawaii Food Industry Association.
He also has been a leader in numerous community organizations, including the Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, Hawaii Island United Way, Queen’s Health System, University of Hawaii at Hilo and the Lyman and Pacific Tsunami museums. He has been especially passionate in his involvement with youth athletic programs.
Several Big Island business and community leaders plan to travel to Honolulu Thursday evening to be on hand when Taniguchi is presented the award by Rodriguez. They include Mike Fujimoto, whose Hawaii Planing Mill received the BLH community commitment award in 2002.
This Thursday, the Business Leadership Hawaii Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to David Heenan, author, educator, business leader and a trustee for the Estate of James Campbell.
The award categories are: the Ernst and Young Business Leader of the Year; Best in Business (one group for business with more than 100 employees and another for those with fewer than 100); community spirit; innovative company of the year; and the Cades Foundation Nonprofit Leadership Award.