West Oahu Newsmakers

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Earl Casil

Students from Pearl City High School were among the overall winners in the 2010 High School Marketing Plan and Business Plan competitions, held recently at the Sheraton Waikiki.

Teacher Sandra Balina and students Tayler Inafuku and Sean Luster took home third place in the marketing plan competition, in which they were required to develop a marketing plan for an existing school or community business (in their case, Three Brothers Mr. Pizza) to demonstrate their achievement of the marketing standards.

Teacher Asa Wakabayashi and students Ashley Matsuno and Camille Ornate won second place in the business plan competition for their service, Teen Taxes Hawaii. The students had to develop a business plan for a service or product in order to demonstrate their achievement of the entrepreneurship standards.

Wakabayashi and students Elaine Le and Peter Tanaka developed a plan for their product Limiteez for a third-place victory.

Aiea resident EarlCasil has been appointed branch manager of Caliber Funding’s Oahu office. Casil has 14 years of lending experience and is a licensed mortgage solicitor and notary public. He previously worked at Charter Funding as the Honolulu branch manager and at Central Pacific Home Loans as a team manager.

Susan Utsugi

Aiea resident Susan Utsugi has been inducted into the U.S. Small Business Administration Hawaii District Office’s Nominator’s Hall of Fame, which recognizes staunch advocates of small business in Hawaii.

For entry into the hall of fame, an individual must have submitted a minimum of five winning nominations for the annual SBA Small Business Awards. Utsugi nominated Chenoa Farnsworth of Farnsworth Consulting, who was named 2010 Women in Business Champion of the Year for the City and County of Honolulu.

As the senior vice president and West Oahu region manager of Central Pacific Bank, Utsugi oversees 12 branches of CPB’s West Oahu region and has served on the boards of Hale Kipa and Retail Merchants of Hawaii. She was previously on the board of Hawaii Women’s Business Center and was named SBA Women in Business Champion of the Year for the city in 2008.