01/17/2006
Melissa Pavlicek named director of state's largest business group
CONTACT: Melissa Pavlicek, (808) 523-3695
Bette Tatum, (808) 422-7002
Daniel Markels, (310) 781-0603
HONOLULU, Hawaii -- When Bette Tatum started lobbying for Hawaii's small businesses, George Ariyoshi was governor and a former Hollywood screen idol had just been elected president of the United States. After a quarter-century of twisting countless lawmakers' arms on behalf of Hawaii's Main Street, mom-and-pop shops, she is handing over the reins of the National Federation of Independent Business/Hawaii to Melissa Pavlicek, it was announced today.
"We don't intend to let Bette retire peacefully; she's just too valuable a resource for all our 50 state directors nationwide to let go of," said Daniel Markels, NFIB's western region state public policy director.
Dubbed the 'Princess of Privatization' by one newspaper, Tatum counts as one of her biggest victories a law she helped pass that allows private enterprise to provide state services. "We had the most formidable opponents you could name aligned against us, but in the end, we finally convinced the legislature." Tatum and her husband, Lon, will devote their time to family, travel and writing a book to help others, like themselves, whose son or daughter had succumbed to cancer.
Taking over for Tatum is Melissa Pavlicek, an attorney and lobbyist with Hawaii Public Policy Advocates, a Honolulu-based firm she co-owns with her husband, Stephen Teves. Pavlicek grew up in Maui and attended Baldwin High School there, before going to the University of Hawaii, where she received a bachelor's degree in Journalism and her law degree seven years later.
Pavlicek worked in the public relations field for the National Nutritional Food Association in between her college degrees. Later she worked for the prestigious Honolulu law firm of Alston, Hunt, Floyd and Ing. Pavlicek's wealth of public relations, lobbying, legal and political experience includes work for the Ocean Resources Committee of the Hawaii House of Representatives and for the Hawaii Senate's Ways and Means Committee. She makes her home in Honolulu with her husband and two children.
"Melissa Pavlicek's experience and talent is the type you grab immediately and are grateful to have on your team," said Markels. "She will be an excellent advocate for Hawaii's small-business owners."
