Jan 12, 2018

GSA

The U.S. General Services Administration appointed Bruno Kelpsas regional administrator of the Northwest Arctic Region. Kelpsas is responsible for 508 government-owned or leased buildings, and 428 employees in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. He has 16 years of experience in information technology.

City of University Place

The University Place City Council elected Kent Keel mayor for 2018 and 2019. Council member Caroline Belleci will serve as mayor pro tem during the same period. Keel has served on the City Council since 2012 and was its finance committee chair. He is an IT project manager for the Veterans Administration.

Jan 11, 2018

Juno Therapeutics

Cindy Elkins is the new chief information officer at Seattle biopharmaceutical company Juno Therapeutics. Elkins previously was vice president of information technology for the Americas at Genentech, and vice president and general manager at Ariba, a software and information technology services firm.

Washington Federal

Bryan Lutz will lead Washington Federal's Northern Washington Region as senior vice president and regional president. Lutz, a division manager at the bank, is taking over for Tom Kenney, who is retiring Feb. 2. Prior to joining the bank in 2008, Lutz held mortgage leadership positions with several financial institutions in the Northwest and Midwest. The bank also announced Bob Peters, executive vice president and group manager of commercial banking, will lead the commercial banking teams in Bellingham. He has more than 30 years of commercial banking experience.

Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement of Washington named Natalie Vega O'Neil president. O'Neil previously was an executive with Save the Children and also worked at YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, Thrive Washington and Make-A-Wish.

Tarragon adds to staff

Anastasiou

Developer Tarragon has announced the addition of Yeorgia Anastasiou to its Seattle office. The Sarah Lawrence grad joins the company as a development associate. Tarragon said she will contribute her knowledge to the multifamily and industrial development teams on acquisitions and market analysis.

HFF adds to team

Goodwin

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler announced the addition of Zack Goodwin to its new Seattle office. He moves from Jones Lang LaSalle, and had prior experience as a finance officer at Norris Beggs & Simpson Financial Services. The Gonzaga grad is a licensed broker who will specialize in debt and equity placement transactions for HFF. In a statement, HFF's Tom Wilson said, “As we build out our Seattle office, which officially opened its doors last month, we are looking for top notch individuals such as Zack, that fit the culture of HFF and bring with them an excellent track record in the industry as well as deep relationships with clients and lenders active in the Seattle market and greater Pacific Northwest.”

Columbia Hospitality to manage luxury condos

Though better known as a hotel developer and manager, Columbia Hospitality has announced that it will manage the 5th & Madison condominium. That 24-story, 126-unit luxury tower was developed in 2007 on the Union Bank of California block downtown, overlooking Seattle Central Library. Beacon Capital began the project, then sold it to Kennedy Wilson. Ruffcorn Mott Hinthorne Stine was the architect for the LEED gold-certified building. Turner Construction was the general contractor. In a statement, Columbia Hospitality CEO John Oppenheimer said, “We look forward to working with a like-minded team that shares our core values to showcase our industry expertise in this bustling and demanding Seattle real estate market.” The company also manages the Escala condominiums in Belltown.

M&M to explain new tax laws

Marcus & Millichap will conduct an hour-long webcast today to explain the big new federal tax bill recently signed into law. Its national experts will include John S. Sebree, John Chang, Matthew Berger and Michael D'Onofrio. Their topics of discussion will cover how investors can best position for the new environment, the subtle behavioral changes caused by the new regulations, how cap rates will be influenced, and more. Visit the M&M website at 11 a.m. today to learn all about it.