Mar 13, 2019

Port of Everett

Eric Russell is the new CFO for the Port of Everett. Russell replaces John Carter, who is working as an advisor until he retires later this year. Russell was senior director in the finance department at Vulcan Inc. and a former Port of Everett employee. He also is a CPA. Carter spent six years as CFO at the port. Prior to that he was finance director for the city of Bellingham and CFO at the Port of Bellingham.

UW Tacoma

University of Washington Tacoma named Kurt Carlson, Ketul Patel, Liz Dunbar and Henry Schatz as winners of the 18th Annual Milgard Business Leadership Awards. Carlson, president and CEO of Propel Insurance, is Business Leader of the Year. Patel, CEO of CHI Franciscan, is Non-Profit Leader of the Year. The Lifetime Achievement (non-profit) award was given to Dunbar, retired executive director of Tacoma Community House. Schatz, chair of General Plastics, won the Lifetime Achievement award. A banquet will be held April 11 at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center ballroom. More information is at http://www.tacoma.uw.edu/milgard/bla.

Sephora

Beauty retailer Sephora is opening 35 stores across the U.S. this year, including one at 2020 Westlake in Seattle and another at the Streets of Tanasbourne in Hillsboro, Oregon. Sephora has more than 460 stores across the Americas and another 660 locations inside JCPenney.

Mar 12, 2019

LeoStella

Mike Hettich is the new CEO of LeoStella, a joint venture of Thales Alenia Space and Spaceflight Industries that builds small satellites in Tukwila. Hettich has more than 30 years of aerospace design, development and production experience, with leadership roles at Astronics, Collins Aerospace, Iridium and Boeing. He replaces Chris Chautard, who is returning to Thales after helping start LeoStella a year ago. LeoStella is building 20 satellites for BlackSky Global.

Washington Winegrowers Association

Jeff Andrews of Coyote Canon Vineyards is the new secretary/treasurer of the Washington Winegrowers Association. Returning officers are Patrick Rawn (chair) of Two Mountain Winery and Shane Collins (vice chair) of Rocky Pond Winery. Steele Brown, owner of Golden West Vineyards, is a new board member. Returning board members are James Mantone of Syncline Wines, Julia Kock of Klipsun Vineyards, Scott Williams of Kiona Vineyards, Mike Means of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Dustin Tobin of Precept Wine Brands and John Derrick of Mercer Canyons.

At Home

Texas-based At Home Group opened its first West Coast home decor superstore in Puyallup, at 301 37th Ave. S.E. At Home repurposes former big box stores as well as builds new stores. It has more than 180 stores in 37 states and wants to reach 600 stores.

Mar 08, 2019

Miller Nash Graham & Dunn

Murphy

Attorney Andy Murphy joined the Seattle office of Miller Nash Graham & Dunn. Murphy focuses on cannabis and other highly regulated industries. He comes from Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson in Seattle.

Pace International

Salman Mir on April 1 will become executive vice president and COO of Pace International in Wapato, Yakima County, where he will oversee the global postharvest business. Mir headed up Sumitomo Chemical Co.'s AgroSolutions Division International and was general manager for Asia. Before that, he was vice president of global marketing and business management for Valent BioSciences. Pace is a subsidiary of Valent BioSciences, which is a Sumitomo company.

Loft9

New York City-based Sia Partners acquired Loft9, a management consultant with 70 staff in Bellevue and Denver. Loft9 managing partners Mark Birzell, Ed Beals and Ronan Walsh joined the management team of Sia. Loft9 has tech, utility, healthcare and airline clients. Sia consults in banking, energy and utilities, insurance, tech, transportation and healthcare. Sia said it wants to double its presence in Seattle.

Washington Wine Industry Foundation

In Kennewick, Washington Wine Industry Foundation raised over $237,000 at its annual Party + Auction fundraiser to support the state's growing wine industry. Since 2002, the Cashmere-based foundation has funded projects addressing education, risk management, winery safety, clean plants, cost-of-production calculators and integrated pest management.