Shidler Business Night Turns 65 as Alumni Hire Their Own

The Shidler College of Business paid out $122,500 across 51 student awards at its 65th annual Business Night on May 7, 2026, at the Sheraton Waikiki.

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa billed a room of more than 500 students and business professionals for four hours of matching, dinner and checks. The cash jumped. The ritual did not. Honolulu firms have been using this night, since 1961, to meet the people they later hire.

The College and Honolulu’s Firms Were Strangers in 1961

Shidler’s own history page is blunt about why the dinner exists. In 1961 the College of Business Administration was only 12 years old, having opened in 1949, and “no direct lines of communication existed between the college and the Hawaii business community.” Students and managers, the college wrote, were “virtually complete strangers.”

The Chamber of Commerce helped launch Business Week, a run of tours, seminars and an awards banquet at the Ala Moana Banquet Hall. Turnout was small. The college kept changing the format until the matching, not the pageant, became the product.

HOW THE NIGHT TOOK ITS PRESENT SHAPE

1. 1961: Business Week starts, with a college tour, seminars and a banquet meant to put students in the same room as Honolulu firms.
2. 1966: The week shrinks to three days, still including club seminars and an awards banquet and dance. Turnout stays poor.
3. 1967: The program becomes one day. Classes are cancelled in the afternoon. Students and managers are matched one-to-one by interest at the awards banquet.
4. 1969: The afternoon block is dropped. Students take the lead in planning. The evening format still used in 2026 dates from this cut.

UH still describes the 2026 dinner as the 65th annual Business Night, 65 calendar years after that 1961 start. The one-to-one pairing is the piece that survived every trim.

$122,500 Across 51 Awards, Up $24,000

Alumni and Hawaiʻi firms funded 51 sponsored awards totaling $122,500. A year earlier, on May 8, 2025, the 64th night handed out 52 awards totaling $98,500. One fewer check, $24,000 more in the pool.

Student director Eileen Liu, who also chaired the committee, tied the 2026 program to its theme, “First Spark: Igniting Potential.”

This year’s event reflects our theme ‘First Spark: Igniting Potential’ by celebrating the dedication and growth of Shidler students as they take meaningful steps forward in their academic and professional journeys. We are deeply grateful to the Shidler faculty, generous sponsors and committed mentors whose support helps ignite that potential and make this event possible.

Eileen Liu, executive director, 2026 Business Night committee

Individual awards on the college’s 2026 Business Night awards list ran from $2,000 to $3,500. Five students received the $3,500 tier, including Liu herself, named Distinguished Student in Management on a Central Pacific Bank Foundation gift.

THE AWARD POOL IN FOUR YEARS

The 2026 jump is the first time in this stretch the published total has cleared $100,000. In 2011, when the college marked 50 years of the program, the cash awards were $40,000 and about 220 students were matched.

Mark Tawara Hired His Future Partner Here

The keynote was Shidler alumnus Mark Tawara, BBA ’91, principal of Manageability and CEO of Bright Light Digital. UH said he used personal stories to argue that one conversation can shape a career, and he urged students to create chances, invest in relationships and take risks even without certainty.

He was not speaking in the abstract. Tawara met marketing student Tiffany Tabbal, BBA ’08, at Business Night in 2008. He later said he was “impressed by her communication skills, poise and personality,” hired her as a marketing intern at Belt Collins Hawaii, then put her on staff after graduation.

He founded Manageability LLC in 2015. Tabbal joined in 2019 as his first full-time employee and became a principal and co-owner in 2021.

I am so proud to see Tiffany’s growth from a student, to employee, to co-owner of the business.

Mark Tawara, principal, Manageability LLC

Manageability was back on the 2026 donor list. The firm funded the $2,500 Outstanding Senior in Marketing Award for McKenna Belill, so the keynote’s company wrote a check on the same night he spoke. That is the 1961 design working in one career, twice.

Why First Insurance Keeps Buying the Title Slot

First Insurance Company of Hawaii served as title sponsor for the 21st straight year, a run that traces to 2006. Todd Takayama, BBA ’90, the insurer’s president and CEO, has said the value sits in the matching, not the banner.

After the 2025 night he called the mentoring “a true two-way exchange that brings fresh insights, energy and perspectives.” FICOH also funded the 2026 Dean’s Spirit Award, $2,500 to Mikala Cristhony Abagon.

FICOH’S OTHER SHIDLER BETS

• Founded 1911: The company is Hawaiʻi’s oldest and largest locally based property and casualty carrier, with an A rating from A.M. Best.
• Faculty chair: In 2007 it funded a $1 million distinguished professorship in risk management at the college.
• Student cash: In 2012 it added a $35,000 scholarship for full-time and part-time students, on top of the annual Dean’s Spirit Award.

An insurer that already writes policies for island families is also writing faculty chairs, scholarships and a title gift for the one night its managers sit knee to knee with the next class. The same pattern shows up in smaller shops. Bishop & Company, an Honolulu HR firm, sponsored the 2026 Special Senior in Human Resource Management Award for Claudia Mena Rieke after years of underwriting that same slot.

Hotels, Banks and CPA Firms in the Room

The 51 awards were not a general scholarship raffle. Donors clustered where they hire. Accounting drew nine awards from Accuity, Deloitte, KPMG LLP, Spire Hawaii LLP and other CPA shops. Travel Industry Management drew ten, the largest count of any field, from Kyo-ya Hotels & Resorts / Marriott Waikiki Collection, Marriott Worldwide Vacations, Highgate Hotels, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, and the TIM Alumni Association.

WHERE THE 51 AWARDS SAT

Banks wrote finance checks. Matson funded the MBA operations award. Servco funded international business. Y. Hata & Co., Limited put $3,500 behind the distinguished sales award. The donor line reads like a map of who needs graduates on Oʻahu this year.

Dean Vance Roley, who also holds the First Hawaiian Bank Chair of Leadership and Management, treated the night as a joint production.

Each year, Business Night showcases what is possible when talent, mentorship and community come together. Our students bring curiosity, ambition and drive, and it is through the support of our partners and alumni that those qualities are developed into meaningful careers and leadership pathways.

Vance Roley, dean, Shidler College of Business

What the Matching Is Built to Produce

The college says the evening has led to internships, jobs, long mentorships and business partnerships. Placement numbers from campus data sit behind that claim. For 2022 through 2024, 91% of 1,681 recent BBA alumni had jobs within three months of graduating, and 89% were in the fields they wanted. The Internship and Career Development Office has placed about 450 students a year in local, national and international posts.

The School of Travel Industry Management, which rejoined Shidler in 2019, is the most tightly wired to island employers, which is why it took ten awards. TIM students must finish two internships. Hotels and airlines that already host those hours then sit at Business Night and put names on checks.

WHAT A MATCHED TABLE IS FOR

• A first introduction: The college still says the night is the first contact many students have with Honolulu managers in their field.
• A hiring screen: Firms that already run internships, including FICOH, use the dinner to see those interns again in a full room of peers.
• A later partnership: Tawara’s path from 2008 table to 2021 co-ownership is the long version of the same handoff.

The 2026 night ran from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Sheraton Waikiki. Student organizers paired each attendee with a mentor in their field, then moved the room through a reception, dinner and the awards. Hawaii Business magazine returned as media sponsor. Jennifer Lieu at the UH Foundation is the contact for firms that want a named award next year.

Sixty-five years after the college called students and firms complete strangers, the keynote was a 1991 graduate whose co-owner sat at this dinner as a student, and whose firm paid for a marketing award the same night. The $122,500 is the receipt. The matching is the business.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Shidler Business Night start, and why did the format keep shrinking?

The college created Business Week in 1961 with the Chamber of Commerce because students and Honolulu managers had almost no formal contact. A 1966 version still ran three days and even included a Miss Business contest to pick a queen for the week; turnout stayed weak, so 1967 cut the program to one day and added one-to-one matching, and 1969 dropped the afternoon block that had survived until then.

Did Business Night stop during the COVID-19 years?

No. The 60th anniversary program was held virtually on May 6, 2021, and Hawaiʻi firms, alumni and friends still funded 47 awards totaling $87,000 that year, according to the university’s recap of that night.

How is the School of Travel Industry Management tied to the dinner?

TIM rejoined Shidler College of Business in 2019 and took ten of the 51 awards in 2026, the most of any field. TIM students must complete two internships totaling 400 hours, and the college has said that on average 40% of TIM students hold full-time job offers before they graduate.

Who is Jay H. Shidler, and what did he give the college?

The college, founded in 1949, was renamed in 2006 for alumnus Jay H. Shidler, founder of The Shidler Group. His first gift that year was $25 million; UH says he has since given about $238 million in cash, land leases and in-kind donations, the largest individual gift to the University of Hawaiʻi.

How can a company sponsor a future Business Night award?

The college directs new award sponsors to Jennifer Lieu at the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, jennifer.lieu@uhfoundation.org or (808) 956-3597. The Shidler Development Office also lists (808) 956-0887 and shidlerdevelopment@uhfoundation.org for 2026-cycle inquiries.