Fellows mentioned in this story:
Meli James
Billy Pieper

From Hawai‘i Business Magazine:

For a quarter century, the Hawai‘i Venture Capital Association’s awards programs have highlighted local entrepreneurs and companies that succeed despite challenges.

“It’s really hard to do business here in Hawai‘i. … We are an island chain in the middle of the Pacific,” HVCA President Meli James says. “We have a high, high cost of living. There are a lot of things that naturally make Hawai‘i challenging. That being said, small business has been really at the heart of Hawai‘i and has really been such a huge driver for so much of our community.”

The Hawai‘i Entrepreneur Awards bring organizations, entrepreneurs, and investors together to celebrate achievements.

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Corporate Intrapreneur of the Year

Someone who works in a large organization but advocates for innovation and entrepreneurial thinking.

Winner: Billy Pieper, American Savings Bank

Billy Pieper brings an infectious passion and an entrepreneur’s instinct for finding new solutions to unsolved problems to his role as VP of strategic partnerships at American Savings Bank.

As head of the bank’s “affordable housing hui,” he helped roll out innovative mortgage programs and turned ASB into the state’s largest mortgage lender “for the first time in probably decades,” he says.

Continue reading at HawaiiBusiness.com.