2019 Awards

PMI HONOLULU, HAWAII CHAPTER AWARDS ANNOUNCED FOR PROJECT OF THE YEAR FOR 2019

By Ben Yuan, PMP, Professional Development Director 

The Honolulu, Hawaii Chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI) presented its award for Project of the Year at its 2019 Annual Meeting on November 1st at The Pacific Club. The award for Project of the Year went to American Savings Bank’s (ASB) submission for their American Savings Bank Campus project.

PROJECT OF THE YEAR

PMI Honolulu’s “Project of the Year” is awarded to the Hawaii project manager whose exemplary project management practices and team leadership helped overcome obstacles and ensure project success.

2019 Project of the Year winner:  Beth Whitehead, American Savings Bank Campus

The ASB Campus is the first brand new commercial building to grace downtown Honolulu in nearly 25 years and is the single biggest investment (budget of $100 million) ASB has ever made in its teammates. That bank’s goal was to create an innovative and dynamic space that would allow it to bring together more than 650 teammates from five locations, allowing it to work better together for its customers, community and each other.  

Key project deliverables included:

• Build a single workplace for all of ASB’s operations and administrative support teams that fosters an environment of collaboration, innovation and efficiency, with the goal of creating a better experience for customers, the community and ASB teammates.
• Get stuff done the right way (which was not always the cheapest or fastest option) to create a really cool space that all teammates could be proud of.
• Effectively execute a change management and communication strategy designed to help teammates adopt, support and champion a new and better way of working, while improving the bank’s already strong company culture.  
• Manage the logistics of moving 650 team members from five separate locations into one building without impacting bank operations and customer service levels – and still ensure a top-notch teammate experience.
• Complete construction on time and on budget – by December 2018.
• As newcomers to the Kalihi/Chinatown community, serve as good neighbors by developing strong relationships within the area.

You can view the ASB project video shared at the awards HERE.

Pictured above (from left to right): ASB Teammates Tod Fujioka, Christine Daleiden, Nikki Yuen, Vivian Fisher, and Tom Cesar.

2019 Project of the Year Runner Up:  Chuck Coleman, Hawaiian Airlines New Route Boston (BOS)

Hawaiian Airline’s submission was a new, non-stop route between Boston (BOS) Logan International Airport and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), which represents an opportunity for the following reasons:

• BOS remains the largest Hawaii market without non-stop service 
• Eastern US markets have more 1-stop competition, but also have greater growth potential
• Overall market outlook is stable with moderate growth

*BOS to HNL is the longest non-stop flight within the United States at 5,095 miles one-way.

Project Scope: An enterprise wide project touching all parts of the organization:

• Airport Operations – Hiring of new staff/vendors, supplying a new station, establishing new relationships with state agencies and airport management, etc.
• Maintenance and Engineering – Hiring of new staff/vendors, supplying a new station, establishing new relationships with state agencies and airport management, etc.
• IT – New infrastructure to support station operations as well as system wide updates for reflect the new station for flight operations, revenue management, crew scheduling, etc.
• Corporate Real Estate/Facilities – New infrastructure to support station operations and new leasing and contract activities.
• Flight Operations – Establishing FAA certification for new routes, training staff, ensuring Safety Risk Assessments (SRM) successfully completed across all disciplines within Flight Ops, establishing new crew hotel and transportation contracts, etc.
• Corporate Communications – External sales launch announcement and internal operations launch communications, etc.
• Marketing – Establishing new marketing vendor engagements in local markets, national marketing campaign, social media, etc.
• Cargo – New cargo contracts.
• Catering – New catering contracts.
• Loyalty – Updates to Hawaiian Miles database, system wide updates to accrue/redeem Hawaiian Miles.

 

Pictured above: Hawaiian Airlines Team and support (from left to right) – Hunter Praywell, Atilla, Bhawna Mundotia, Michelle Quach, Kathleen Coleman, Chuck Coleman, Bob Westgate, Katelyn Shelly.

Pictured above (from left to right): Hawaiian Airlines Team  TBD

AWARDS CRITERIA

Project of the Year. Similar to last year’s awards, the criteria focused on a common-sense understanding of an impressive project:

• A significant mission
• Well-coordinated efforts
• Significant challenges overcome
• Best practices employed
• Faithful achievement of anticipated scope, schedule, and cost.

Evaluations were based not only on a 5-page application form but also project artifacts as a project charter, schedule, risk register, and lessons learned for each candidate project.

To witness the applications and excellent project management done here in Hawaii, you may view the finalist submissions (available to chapter members only):

 

Project of the Year:

Winner: American Savings Bank Campus – Beth Whitehead 

1st Runner up: Hawaiian Airlines New Route Boston (BOS) – Chuck Coleman

Judging of all candidates was done completely outside the local chapter by PMI senior chapter leaders from around the world who served as volunteer judges. These international judges conducted a structured evaluation process to select the finalists and ultimate winners of the Project of the Year award.

This year’s PMI HNL awards committee consisted of Nikki Yuen (Committee Lead), Vivian Pham, and Ben Yuan.

Questions or inquiries may be directed to Professional Development Director.