May 04, 2018

Neighborhood House

Mark Okazaki is retiring in fall 2019 as executive director of Neighborhood House, a social service agency serving over 14,000 immigrant, refugee and low-income people through 27 locations in King County. Okazaki has been with the organization for 18 years, helping to quadruple its budget. The board will begin a replacement search in early 2019.

State Board of Education

Autymn Wilde, a sophomore at Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, is the new Eastern Washington student representative to the Washington State Board of Education. Wilde begins her two-year term next week, replacing Lindsey Salinas, a senior at Wellpinit High School. The 16-member board provides advocacy and oversight for public education.

KNKX

Radio station 88.5 KNKX won a 2018 Regional Edward R. Murrow Award in the News Series category from the Radio Television Digital News Association. KNKX was honored for its 14-part series “Unpacking Government,” which covered how government works following the 2016 election. Simone Alicea was the lead reporter.

Staples

Office supply chain Staples has partnered with IdentoGO to offer TSA precheck enrollment centers in stores. IdentoGO will open 50 enrollment centers this summer, and plans to add more later. Seattle will be one of the first areas to get the service.

May 03, 2018

Zipwhip

Zipwhip, a Seattle cloud software startup for two-way business texting, hired Scott Heimes as chief marketing officer. Heimes was CMO at SendGrid and Digital River.

HSBC

HSBC Global Private Banking, Americas is expanding to Seattle with a new office led by Mark Pittsey, market head for HSBC's West Region. Pittsey will be hiring relationship managers, investment counselors and support staff. HSBC provides clients with wealth, business and family succession solutions.

First Interstate BancSystem

First Interstate BancSystem, parent company of First Interstate Bank, is buying Spokane-based Northwest Bancorporation, parent company of Inland Northwest Bank, for $160.9 million in stock. Inland Northwest Bank will continue to operate its 20 branches in Washington, Idaho and Oregon. The deal is expected to close later this year. First Interstate is based in Billings, Montana.

Frazier Healthcare Partners

Glen Moller joined Frazier Healthcare Partners as operating partner on the Growth Buyout team. Moller was CEO at ArroHealth and has 25 years of experience leading health care and technology businesses. Frazier provides growth and venture capital to health care companies. It has offices in Seattle and Menlo Park, California.

PetSmart

PetSmart opened a 14,000-square-foot store at 22650 S.E. Fourth St. in Sammamish. The store offers pet training and adoption, as well as a grooming salon for dogs and cats.