Jul 10, 2014

State Transportation Commission

Governor Jay Inslee appointed Mary Riveland from Orcas Island and Roy Jennings from Vancouver to the Washington State Transportation Commission and reappointed Joe Tortorelli of Spokane to a second six-year term. Riveland served as director of the State Lottery, Department of General Administration, Department of Licensing and Department of Ecology. Jennings brings more than 30 years of experience in transportation and is a member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757.

City of Kent

Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke appointed Derek Matheson as chief administrative officer and Aaron BeMiller as finance director. Matheson is city manager of Covington and was interim city manager for Federal Way. BeMiller is budget and finance director/county treasurer for Clatsop County, Oregon, and also was Pierce County budget manager. Former CAO John Hodgson and Finance Director Robert Nachlinger both retired.

Jul 09, 2014

Perkins Coie

Perkins Coie said John Devaney, age 56, has been elected managing partner, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Bob Giles, who has been chairman since 1986 and will step down at the end of the year. Devaney served on the Executive and Management Committees and was Office Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office. He joined Perkins Coie in 1988 and focuses his practice on commercial litigation, political law litigation and communications law.

Army Corps of Engineers

Lt. Col. Timothy R. Vail will assume command of the Walla Walla District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on Friday. Vail was commissioned in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in May 1997. Prior assignments include: platoon leader, company executive officer, battalion logistics officer and detachment leader. He deployed to Afghanistan and later was assigned to Rand Corp. headquarters in Santa Monica as an Army research fellow. His most recent assignment was in the Pentagon's Office for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs.

Jul 08, 2014

Columbia Bank

Weisel

Tacoma-based Columbia Bank hired Robert R. Weisel in the Commercial Banking Division as senior vice president and director of specialty lending. He was an executive vice president for Umpqua Bank in Western and Central Washington, and also worked for Sterling Bank, U.S. Bank, Security Pacific and Bank of America. Columbia Banking System has 139 branches in Washington and Oregon.

Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation

The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation in Seattle named Colleen Oliver executive director to lead grantmaking for K-12 public education, supportive care, theatre enrichment and career training. She is chief academic officer for Partnership for Los Angeles Schools and was a senior officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, working on school programs in Chicago and Memphis. Sarah Lyding was executive director and now will be director of K-12 education and theatre arts programs.

Jul 03, 2014

UW Office of News and Information

Victor Balta, a news planning editor at Aljazeera.com in New York, is the new director of the University of Washington Office of News and Information. Balta was a news reporter at The Herald in Everett, and worked at Comcast.net and Current TV. He will head an office with six public information officers and replaces Bob Roseth, who retired in December.

KCTS 9

KCTS 9 has added three people to the board of directors: John Schoettler, director global real estate and facilities at Amazon.com; Bonnie Towne, philanthropist and community activist; and Blair Westlake, principal at MediaSquareup.

Seattle Southside Visitor Services

Seattle Southside Visitor Services, the tourism organization for Tukwila, SeaTac and Des Moines, said Executive Director Katherine Kertzman has been recognized as a Certified Destination Management Executive by Destination Marketing Association International.