Feb 12, 2021

Mason Transit

Trina Gwerder has been named Mason Transit Authority's Employee of the Year. Gwerder has worked at Mason Transit for 14 years, starting out as a shelter monitor. As one of three operations supervisors, she plans, supervises and coordinates transit schedules and services. In addition, she supervises about 34 drivers. Staff nominate fellow employees for Employee of the Year every February. Mason Transit leadership and the Employee Engagement Committee team select the recipient based on employee nominations.

Bellevue Chamber

The Bellevue Chamber has launched the New Executives program for young professionals in the 2-6 year mark in their career. The program builds business skills, connects participants with senior executives and entrepreneurs, and creates long-term relationships with a core group of peers across several industries. This year, in addition to leaders in the community, Seattle University and Tombolo have partnered with the chamber to provide experts and resources. The schedule for the year is as follows: March 9th CEO Day, March 23rd Decision Making, Apr 6th Communication Enhancement, April 20th Financial Wellness, May 4th Relationship Building, May 18th Leading People, June 1st Civic Engagement and June 15th Community Involvement. For applications or more information, see https://bellevuechamber.org/educate/new-execs/.

Feb 11, 2021

JND Legal Administration

JND Legal Administration, a legal management and administration services provider serving plaintiff and defendant firms, corporations and government entities, hired Shandarese (Shandy) Garr as vice president of operations. Garr has over 25 years of experience in class action administration. Garr served as both vice president of securities and Midwest operations at Garden City Group. Garr is a former administrator for the National Association of Shareholder & Consumer Attorneys and has been a Mobilization for Justice board member since 2016. JND was founded in 2016 by Jennifer Keough, Neil Zola and David Isaac, and has offices in Washington, California, Minnesota, New York and Washington, D.C.

Ekata

Seattle-based Ekata, a provider of digital identity verification data, announced that in 2020 the company grew its global customer base and revenues, gained momentum in the financial services and payments sector, expanded its product portfolio, and drove growth in Europe and Asia-Pacific through its global offices and data infrastructure despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic lead to an increase in demand among global eCommerce providers for customer onboarding and fraud prevention solutions. In addition, a rapidly changing regulatory environment in the financial services and payments industry has led to increased demand for identity verification solutions, particularly in pre-credit-card-authorization use cases in Europe, according to CEO Rob Eleveld.

City of Bellevue

The city of Bellevue is presenting a series of virtual events for Black History Month, including a museum exhibition and panel on the history of racism. Now through March 31 the public is invited to explore a virtual adaptation of the American History Traveling Museum: The Unspoken Truths. The traveling museum is a collection of artifacts and information detailing elements of the history of racism in the U.S. and the Pacific Northwest, and sharing the experiences and innovations of the Black community. Museum creator Delbert Richardson chose select artifacts from his traveling exhibit to share as part of the virtual museum experience being presented in partnership with the city of Bellevue. On Feb. 18 a panel discussion will feature leaders in the community who will discuss the historical and current impacts of race in our communities. Registration information is available at https://bellevue-blackhistorypanel.eventbrite.com.

Feb 10, 2021

Taste Washington

Taste Washington unveiled its 2021 programming, a month-long celebration of Washington wine and food. In its 24th year, Taste Washington is adjusting to meet the needs of public safety by offering an entire month of new promotions encouraging people to directly support Washington wineries and restaurants. Taste Washington 2021 will introduce Taste Washington To Go and Taste Washington At Home, along with unique winery and restaurant activations and hotel packages. Taste Washington To Go, presented by Alaska Airlines, highlights some of Washington's top produced wines, paired with different themed menus. Each week, chefs will create a special takeout pairing crafted for the specific theme. Wineries across the state will offer promotions highlighting the week's featured variety, and local restaurants will offer their own spin on the theme. Taste Washington At Home is presented by Whole Foods Market. Each week Whole Foods will share a different recipe and Washington wine pairing. The program runs March 1 through April 4. Additional information is available at http://www.tastewashington.org.

Club Champion

Custom golf club fitter Club Champion has opened a new fitting studio, located at 5849 Tacoma Mall Blvd, Tacoma. The store is open and accepting fitting appointments. This is Club Champion's second location in the state of Washington. Club Champion fits, sells and builds custom golf clubs using brands like Callaway, TaylorMade, Ping, Titleist, Cobra, Fujikura, Golf Pride and many more. The new studio features two indoor hitting bays with TrackMan launch monitors for analyzing performance, a SAM PuttLab system, and a build shop for repairing and assembling golf clubs by hand. Club Champion has been ranked by Golf Digest as one of the 100 Best Club Fitters for the last ten years. Club Champion was established in 2010 and is headquartered in Chicago.

Protego Trust Bank

Protego Trust Bank, a bank designed and built specifically for institutional clients seeking opportunities within the world of digital assets, announced that it has received conditional approval from the Untied States Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The new federal charter will allow Protego to convert from a Washington State chartered trust company into a nationally chartered trust bank and will enable Protego clients nationwide to hold, trade, lend and issue digital assets. Protego is the first financial institution to receive such approval from the federal regulator. Protego is backed by Science Blockchain, an investor in RealBlocks and Wave Financial Group, and has a leadership team with experience from Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, State Street, BNY, and Morgan Stanley.