Oct 08, 2020

Comcast

Comcast announced that it is partnering with the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to launch a new program for schools throughout Washington state to connect low-income K-12 students to the internet at home, free of charge. Washington's K–12 Internet Access Program allows students and their families who previously didn't have internet access to connect to online learning from home. Internet Essentials is a Comcast program designed for low-income families and individuals to acquire access to the internet. The Comcast portion of the OSPI program will serve up to 38,000 qualifying low-income families with free internet service through the remainder of the 2020-2021 academic school year. Funding for the Washington's K–12 Internet Access Program comes from the federal CARES Act.

GOOD PLANeT

Belleuve-based GOOD PLANeT Foods, a plant-based cheese company, has expanded internationally to serve Japan and South Korea, and plans to announce service to four additional countries. Founded in 2017, the GOOD PLANeT brand offers a variety of plant-based cheese products for retail and food service applications. The plant-based food category is valued at $21.18 billion globally, according to UnivDtos Market Insights.

Traction Guest

Traction Guest announced the appointment of Roger Beharry Lall as vice president of product marketing. Beharry Lall has held leadership positions at Think Research, Adlib Software, BlackBerry and ISM-BC (an IBM Subsidiary). At Traction Guest, Beharry Lall will be responsible for product marketing, analyst relations and market research. Traction Guest offers cloud-based solutions for enterprise visitor management systems.

BECU

BECU announced Fumbi Chima as its executive vice president and chief information officer, following Tom Morgan's retirement. Chima leads the credit union's technology division, overseeing technology strategy, information security and IT operations for its nearly 2,500 employees and over 1.2 million members. Chima joins BECU with more than 25 years of experience in both the retail and financial sectors, including roles at Fox Network Group, Burberry, Walmart Asia, American Express and JP Morgan Chase. Most recently, she served as chief information officer at Adidas in Germany. Morgan retired after five years of service to BECU and 40 years in the financial services industry.

Oct 07, 2020

HomeStreet Bank

HomeStreet Bank, headquartered in Seattle, announced the promotion of David Parr to executive vice president and director of commercial banking. Parr will be responsible for the commercial lending business across Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. Parr achieved the bank's annual President's Club recognition for 15 consecutive years. He currently serves as a board member on the Milgard Business School Executive Council for the University of Washington, Tacoma.

Skagit County

The Skagit County Board of Health announced the appointment of its fifth member, Aaron Katz. The Skagit County Board of Commissioners passed an ordinance expanding the size of the Board from three to five members. Previously, the Board of Health appointed Dr. Connie Davis as the fourth member. Mr. Katz spent 32 years as a faculty member at the University of Washington. Mr. Katz received the American Public Health Association's Award for Excellence in 2006 and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the U.W. School of Public Health in 2004. The Skagit County Board of Health convenes at least quarterly to discuss health issues of concern to Skagit County.

ISOutsource

ISOutsource announced that Naveen Rajkumar will be joining ISOutsource as its CEO and president. Naveen was the executive vice president and chief business officer at iLink Digital, Prior to iLink, Naveen was senior vice president and chief information officer at Onvia, and general manager at Aditi Technologies. ISOutsource is a consulting firm focused on technology, strategy and business transformation, and is headquartered in Bothell, with additional offices in Seattle, Phoenix, Portland, and Spokane.

Oct 06, 2020

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management

Ridgeway

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management announced the addition of wealth manager, Michael Ridgeway. Ridgeway joins the firm as managing director and wealth manager and will work in collaboration with current wealth manager, Erik Boe, at the Seattle location. Ridgeway, a Seattle native, brings 27 years of investment and capital markets experience to Robertson Stephens. Previously, he was a founding partner and senior investment committee member at Steelhead Partners, a Seattle based hedge fund. He was also vice president at Ragen Mackenzie, a firm specializing in research and investment banking with Northwest based companies. Ridgeway earned his BA and MBA at Seattle University and serves on the board of the Overlake Hospital Foundation. Robertson Stephens has six office locations across the United States.

Avangrid Renewables

Portland-based Avangrid Renewables, a developer of utility-scale solar, onshore and offshore wind projects, announced the appointment of Bill White as head of U.S. offshore wind and Sy Oytan as deputy CEO of Vineyard Wind. Through its partnership with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Avangrid Renewables is jointly developing Vineyard Wind, the nation's first large-scale offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts, and Park City Wind, which will supply energy to Massachusetts and Connecticut, White served as president and CEO of EnBW North America. He was previously the senior director of offshore wind sector development for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. Oytan led offshore wind development efforts for Arup, a multinational engineering firm.

Axia Home Loans

Belleuve-based Axia Home Loans launched Unified Reliance Wholesale, which will focus on servicing mortgage loans on the West Coast, with an emphasis on lending in California. Joining UR Wholesale are Dave Pilotte, Sigrid Hauser and Chris Seinturier, who bring more than 70 years of combined wholesale experience. Founded in 2007, Axia is the nation's first 100 percent employee owned independent mortgage bank. “Mortgage Executive” magazine named Axia one of America's top 100 mortgage companies three years in a row.

Skagit County District Court

Skagit County anticipates a vacancy in the District Court Judge Position 3 in early January 2021. Pursuant to Washington State law, the Board of County Commissioners has the authority to appoint a qualified person to fill any district court judge vacancies. The board will accept applications to fill the potential vacancy until Oct. 30, 2020, from qualified lawyers admitted to practice law in the state of Washington. Applicants must also be registered voters in Skagit County. Additional information is available online at http://www.skagitcounty.net/dcjudge.