Alumni/Student News HPU Executive MBA Wins Best in Business Award
and
Accolades
Business Hawaii’s (SBH) Networking Breakfast’s final meeting for the SBH Sunrise Speaker 2010 series. In April, she gave two one-hour presentations at ‘Iolani School about entrepreneurship and running a business to students. As member of HPU’s Executive MBA program, Dedrick is also active in the HPU community. In December 2010, HPU’s Board of Trustees welcomed Dedrick as one of the three new board members along with Vicky Caytano, president and chief executive officer of United Laundry Services, Inc. and managing director of United Laundry Kona, LLC; and Carleton Ching, vice president of Community and Government Relations at Castle & Cooke. Other boards that Dedrick serves on include the Building Industry Association of Hawai‘i, Small Business Hawai‘i, Marble Institute of America, American Institute of Architects, Native Hawaiian Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i, the Women’s Fund of Hawai‘i and Baha’i Faith.
HPU Graduate Recognized as “Outstanding Young Person” Andrew and Layla Dedrick, Bella Pietra and Geobunga (Natural Stone LLC), Pacific Business News BLH Best in Business II Winner
This year, HPU Executive MBA Layla Dedrick, owner of natural stone supplier Bella Pietra and Geobunga Natural Stone LLC, was selected as Pacific Business News 2010 Best in Business II award winner. At PBN’s Business Leadership Hawai‘i ninth annual event honoring excellence in Hawaii’s businesses, Bella Pietra and Geobunga won the award in the category for companies with fewer than 60 employees. Dedrick was recognized by PBN among others due to her dedication to sound business principles and her ability to steer Bella Pietra through tough economic times. Despite the odds, she was able to realign the business to fit market trends and expand its customer base with the launch of Geobunga, which sells outdoor landscaping products. Due to her success, Dedrick was also re-featured in an article in the January-March 2011 issue of Pacific Edge Magazine where she detailed the adaptations Bella Pietra underwent in the rough economy and the expansion of Geobunga. With more than 10 years of experience in the building industry, Dedrick and her employees have built up a strong business reputation for their integrity, customer service and their commitment to giving back to the local community. In the past they have sponsored Oahu’s Na Kama Kai, an organization formed to empower youth through ocean-based programs. They have also donated materials to KUPU, a non-profit that oversees a training program dedicated to Hawaii’s green future; the Contemporary Museum to extend outdoor patio space; and the Three Ring Ranch in Kailua-Kona for a new science center. Dedrick, who was also American Savings Bank’s Native Hawaiian Business of the Year Award in 2010 and PBN’s Forty Under 40 Young Business Leader of the Year for 2009, frequently participates as a guest speaker in the community. Known to be among the top 10 Women-Owned Businesses in Hawai‘i for multiple years, she was invited to speak on the growing impact of women in Hawaii’s small businesses at the monthly Smart
The 39th annual Hawai‘i Junior Chamber of Commerce Three Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) Awards recognized HPU graduate student Tofi Mika, Jr., as one of the three individuals to have gone to extraordinary means to better themselves and the community. The TOYP awardees are selected by Hawai‘i Junior Chamber or Jaycees, a leadership development organization that uses community service projects as Tofi Mika, Jr. the training ground for applying leadership principles and skills learned in individual development and training sessions. Hawai‘i Jaycees belong to a vast network of Junior Chamber organizations in all 50 states and 80 foreign countries. For more than 30 years, the Hawai‘i Jaycees have honored three individuals that have exemplified the Jaycee Creed that states, “Service to humanity is the best work of life.” Mika, previously selected by the Pacific Business News as one of the Forty Under 40 in 2010 and as one of Ten Who Made a Difference in Hawai‘i in 2009, by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, has tirelessly dedicated himself to humanitarian efforts. He cofounded the Hope Through Music program, teaching music to at-risk youth in Kuhio Park Terrace and Kalihi Valley Housing; helped the Honolulu Rotary Club construct a vocational training facility and a hospital for deaf children in the Philippines; organized fundraising efforts for the victims of the Samoa tsunamis; and organized a Cambodian Marathon for Orphaned Children, traveling twice to Cambodia to work with orphans. Mika also organized Walk Across Oahu, a fundraising event that raised awareness for disabled war veterans in need of assistance. Mika’s fellow award winners for 2010 included Galileo Tan, Central Pacific Bank Business Banking Officer and president of Central Pacific’s Employee Club, whose community outreach includes being a designated panelist for Adopt-a-School Day; and Shane Victorino, Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies outCollege
of
Business Administration • Hawai‘i Pacific University
13