Nov 07, 2019

Central Washington University

Mazzacavallo

Jack Mazzacavallo joined the culinary team at Central Washington University Dining Services as campus sous chef. Mazzacavallo worked at several upscale restaurants in Seattle, including Copine, Marche, the Goldfinch Tavern at the Four Seasons and Matt's in the Market. He was named one of Seattle's Next Hot Chefs 2018 by Seattle Met.

Mission Support Alliance

Ward

Ashley Ward won Innovator of the Year at the Women in IT Awards Silicon Valley 2019 event recently held in San Francisco. Ward is director of information systems for Mission Support Alliance at the Hanford Site. She was recognized for equipping Hanford workers with mixed-reality technology, potentially streamlining training and accelerating schedules. Mission Support Alliance, a team of Leidos and Centerra Group, is leading cleanup at Hanford.

Phoenix Lab

New Jersey-based Zoetis bought Mukilteo-based Phoenix Central Laboratory for Veterinarians. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Phoenix Lab was founded in 1989 and serves veterinary clinics in 20 states with clinical and anatomic pathology testing. Zoetis is an animal health company developing and manufacturing medicines, vaccines and diagnostic products.

Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator

Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator, operated by VertueLab in Portland and CleanTech Alliance in Seattle, awarded prizes to four clean technology startups as part of its 2019 program. Here they are: BlueDot Photonics, a Seattle developer of an efficiency-boosting coating for solar panels, won the Grand Prize; Hempitecture, a Ketchum, Idaho, developer of hemp-based insulation for buildings, won the Standout Company Award; Hexas Biomass, an Olympia producer of non-wood biomass also won the Standout Company Award; and Stark Street Materials, a Portland maker of recyclable X-ray shielding garments, won the Customer Discovery Award. BlueDot also won the Impact Award, which recognizes the startup with the biggest tangible environmental and market impact. The accelerator provides education, mentorship and business connections.

T-Mobile

Bellevue-based T-Mobile and the T-Mobile Foundation are donating $1 million to over 120 nonprofits across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. The donation is part of the company's Regional Grants Program, an employee-led approach that allows them to volunteer hours and choose where the funding will go in their communities.

Basics

Basics, a food market designed to help people cook more at home with fresh regional ingredients, opened in Tualatin, Oregon. The new location is across from Dutch Bros. Coffee at 8680 S.W. Old Tualatin Sherwood Road. The store offers seasonally rotating meal stations, nutrition classes and cooking demos. Basics is part of the Wild Rose Food Co. Its first store opened last year on Northeast Sandy Boulevard in Portland; another store is planned for Northwest 14th Avenue in Portland.

Nov 06, 2019

Columbia Sportswear Co.

Boyle

Gertrude “Gert” Boyle, board chair of Portland-based Columbia Sportswear Co., died Sunday at age 95. Boyle became the company's president in 1970 after her husband, Neal Boyle, died. Gert was known as “One Tough Mother” in a number of advertisements for the company's clothing. Her son, Timothy Boyle, took over as president and CEO a number of years ago and has assumed the role of acting chair following Gert's passing. Columbia's board in January will consider appointing a permanent chair.

Pemco Mutual Insurance

Seattle-based Pemco Mutual Insurance hired Chris Purcell as vice president and chief information officer. Purcell was vice president of technology for over 13 years at Vulcan Inc., where he was responsible for business systems, emerging technology, R&D engineering and IT operations. Before that, he was chief technology officer at McKinstry and assistant vice president of information systems and services at Safeco Insurance.

Gravis Law

Richland-based Gravis Law has seven new principals: Katherine Sierra-Kelly, Josh Bam, Stella Edens Pederson, Chad Wold, Rick Forman, Charles Bauer and Michelle Finch. Sierra-Kelly, Bam, Pederson and Wold practice law in Washington state. Their practices range from estate planning to family law to business law. Forman has over 30 years of legal experience and practices in Florida. Bauer is a member of the Idaho and Washington bar associations, and handles individual cases in Oregon. Finch has been practicing law in Idaho since 1985 and in Montana since 1993. Gravis Law has 12 locations across the country and nearly 100 employees.

Skagit County

Skagit County won the state Auditor's Stewardship Award for outstanding accomplishments in accountability, transparency and good stewardship of public resources. The county collaborated with the state to assist special purpose districts with financial reporting. Sandy Perkins is the county's auditor.

Nike

Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike is selling its Hurley surf apparel and footwear brand to Bluestar Alliance LLC. The deal is expected to close in December. Financial details were not released. Bluestar licenses and markets consumer brand companies, including Bebe, Limited Too and Brookstone.

Lamb Weston Holdings

Eagle, Idaho-based Lamb Weston Holdings formed a joint venture with Sociedad Comercial del Plata in Argentina to sell frozen potato products under the Rapipap and Morixe brands. Each partner will own 50% of the new joint venture, called Lamb Weston Alimentos Modernos S.A. Other financial details were not disclosed. Up to 130 million pounds of potato products will be made yearly in a plant in the Buenos Aires area.