Dec 03, 2004

HomeStreet Bank

Rich Dryden joined HomeStreet Bank as the Federal Way branch manager. Dryden has worked in banking for four years. Lisa Dean is a mortgage loan officer at the Kent branch. Dean has six years of mortgage industry experience, with a focus on South King and North Pierce counties. HomeStreet Bank is headquartered in Seattle and has 30 branches in the Northwest and Hawaii.

King County

Elaine Kraft will become communications director for King County Executive Ron Sims' health reform initiative. Sims wants to replace her by January. Carolyn Duncan, from the county Department of Natural Resources and Parks, will fill in.

State Department of Agriculture

The Washington State Department of Agriculture, which promotes the state's food and agriculture industry, has opened an office in Richland to promote international trade. Rebecca Weber has been hired to meet with agricultural commodity commissions, trade organizations and companies interested in exporting. Eric Hurlburt in the department's Olympia office will now lead development of the food industry. Hurlburt has worked in marketing for WSDA for 14 years.

Symetra Financial

Oscar Tengtio will become executive vice president and chief financial officer of Symetra Financial in Redmond. Tengtio has over 25 years of experience in the life insurance industry and was most recently CFO of Farmers New World Life Insurance. Symetra Financial, formerly Safeco Life & Investments, is a group of affiliated insurance and financial services companies.

Dec 02, 2004

Blankslate Marketing + Creative

Nesbitt

Engdahl-Johnson

Torres

Seattle creative agency Blankslate Marketing + Creative started its 10th year by adding graphic designer James Nesbitt and project coordinator Kinley Engdahl-Johnson. Nesbitt will work on projects for Hewlett Packard, Medtronic and Microsoft. Engdahl-Johnson has experience in account management and copywriting. Melinda Baker Torres was promoted to client services director.

REI

Sally Jewell, chief operating officer of Seattle-based Recreational Equipment, Inc., was elected to the board of trustees of the National Parks Conservation Association, a non-partisan watchdog organization. Jewell will succeed Dennis Madsen as REI president and chief executive officer when he retires in early 2005.

The Cellar Bistro

Ken Slack and Yvonne Ingalls recently opened an Italian restaurant, The Cellar Bistro, at 2355 10th Ave. E. in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Slack was a chef at Chandler's, Cutter's and Metropolitan Grill.

World Wide Packets

World Wide Packets, a provider of ethernet access networking solutions, named Brower Dimond vice president of engineering. Dimond has nearly 20 years of experience including work at Gluon Networks and Ericsson. World Wide Packets is based in Spokane Valley.