PBN Honors Emily Reber Porter Among Its 2017 Women Who Mean Business

Pacific Business News

A celebration of Hawaii's women business leaders.

Pacific Business News honored 55 Hawaii business leaders and influencers at the 2017 Women Who Mean Business awards ceremony during an event at The Modern Honolulu that featured a cocktail reception, a seated dinner with live music and an energetic crowd waving dinner napkins in support of their honorees.

The lively ceremony was sponsored by Hawaii Pacific Health, American Savings Bank and Saks Fifth Avenue Hawaii, with the latter sponsor providing gift bags and an opportunity to win a group shopping trip at the store, located in the International Market Place.

Shelley Tadaki Cramer, general manager and vice president of Saks Fifth Avenue Hawaii, took the stage with a group of students from the Sacred Hearts Academy to announce the winner of the raffle, with all proceeds going to the school.

We asked our honorees: If you could meet one woman business leader — from any industry, time or place — for coffee, who would it be? Here's what they had to say.

In a speech before dinner, this year's career achievement honoree, CommPac CEO Kitty Lagareta, shared stories of her career and lessons she's learned as the owner of one of Hawaii’s largest communications firms.

During the program, the crowd cheered for each honoree, with the Hawaii Convention Center table starting a trend of waving their white dinner napkins in the air in support of honoree Teri Orton, the convention center's general manager.

The honorees were recognized among three different categories: Industry Leaders, Women to Watch and Largest Women-Owned Employers.