Apr 01, 2021

Albertsons

Albertsons and Google have formed a multi-year partnership to make shopping easier and more convenient for millions of customers nationwide. Google and Albertsons have been collaborating behind the scenes for the past year and, as part of the partnership announcement, are debuting several new enhancements to make the shopping experience easier. Albertsons has engaged with numerous teams at Google, covering a wide range of technologies and services aimed at making the customer experience more efficient — for example, integrating with Google Search and Maps to help shoppers more easily find what they need, making it easier to shop with Google Pay, and incorporating Google Cloud AI technologies. Boise-based Albertsons operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Ballard Food Bank

The Ballard Food Bank announced that Amazon has donated to its Hope Beyond Hunger capital campaign and formed a strategic partnership to bring food and assistance to people across northwest Seattle. The multifaceted partnership includes $750,000 in total funding for the future of Ballard Food Bank, Amazon employee volunteering support, and an exploration of innovative community programs and markets where families can shop and access healthy food. Amazon has provided grants totaling $500,000 for the Hope Beyond Hunger capital campaign to support Ballard Food Bank's future home — scheduled to open in fall 2021 — plus $250,000 to support programming for families and children in need. Ballard Food Bank's future location at 1400 N.W. Leary Way will serve an expanded area including Licton Springs through Bitter Lake and up to 145th Street. This will be the first building that Ballard Food Bank has owned — an effort that has brought together supporters including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the city of Seattle, the state of Washington, and many individual donors.

Liberty Northwest Bancorp

Liberty Northwest Bancorp, the holding company for Liberty Bank, has completed a private placement of $5 million in aggregate principal amount of fixed-to-floating rate subordinated notes to certain qualified institutional accredited investors. The company will use the proceeds for general banking purposes with an emphasis on supporting the growth of the holding company and the bank. Liberty Northwest Bancorp was established in 2020 as a single bank holding company for its Washington state-chartered bank subsidiary Liberty Bank. Liberty Bank, headquartered in Poulsbo, serves clients throughout the West Sound and Puget Sound regions. Keller Rohrback served as counsel to Liberty Northwest Bancorp and Los Angeles-based MJC Partners served as the sole placement agent for the offering.

BitTitan

BitTitan, the developer of MigrationWiz and a provider of managed services automation, hired Khan Klatt as its director of engineering. Bringing more than 25 years of diverse technology experience, Klatt will lead development operations and release management for BitTitan. He will be based in the company's Bellevue office. For the past two years, Klatt served as the vice president of technology for the Committee for Children, a global nonprofit that promotes the safety, well-being and success of children. Before that, Klatt spent four years as the senior director of web application engineering for McGraw-Hill Education. BitTitan has offices in the Seattle area and Singapore.

Mar 31, 2021

TrueBlue

Tacoma-based TrueBlue, a provider of specialized workforce solutions, announced that its chief people officer, Andrea Brogger, has been named one of the 10 most influential HR leaders in the United States by Insights Success magazine. Brogger was cited for her innovation in HR, her employee engagement efforts, and her focus on connectivity between people strategy and business results. Brogger has been with TrueBlue since 2011. She was named the company's chief people officer in 2020. Prior to her current role, she served as the vice president of global talent and culture at TrueBlue.

Oversea Casing

Oversea Casing, a producer of natural sausage casings, has changed the name of its sales and distribution unit in Mexico to Oversea Casing S. de RL. de CV. Oversea Casing purchased the parent company, DeWied International, in 2018 for an undisclosed amount, combining two industry leaders and more than doubling production and distribution for Oversea Casing. Formerly known as DeWied Internacional de México S de RL. de CV, the change comes as the company completes the integration of the two organizations and consolidates operations globally. DeWied Internacional has been operating in Mexico for more than 30 years. Although the unit now operates under a new name, all other aspects of operations remain the same. Oversea Casing has been family owned and operated for more than three generations, and is headquartered in Seattle.

Idaho Central Credit Union

Idaho Central Credit Union (ICCU) selected Ameriprise Financial Institutions Group (AFIG) as its broker-dealer. By leveraging the Ameriprise platform, ICCU established a wealth management program, Idaho Central Wealth Management. AFIG partners with community banks and credit unions to help their clients reach their goals through financial planning and investment. Through the new relationship, ICCU members have access to a full range of services and solutions from Ameriprise. Ameriprise formed its Financial Institutions Group after acquiring Investment Professionals 2017 and specializes in the on-site delivery of investment programs to banks and credit unions. ICCU was organized as a state-chartered credit union in 1940. The credit union's administrative office is located in Chubbuck, Idaho, and has 41 locations throughout the state of Idaho.

GlossWire

GlossWire awarded female-founded skincare brand Base Butter $10,000 in its inaugural beauty pitch competition. The competition took place in two phases. The first took place in February, where GlossWire's beauty brands applied and submitted videos pitching their brands. The field was narrowed to 10 top finalists and the brands were then given the chance to compete live at the virtual global GlossPitch event, moderated by Fashwire CEO and founder Kimberly Carney. The 1st place prize was awarded to She'Neil Johnson-Spence and Nicolette Graves, co-founders of Base Butter. The 2nd place $2,500 prize was awarded to Melissa Lis, founder of skincare brand Jumby. The 3rd place $1,500 prize was awarded as a tie to Ginger King, founder of clean vegan beauty brand FanLoveBeauty, and Scarlett Rocourt, founder of haircare brand Wonder Curl. Seattle-based Fashwire's app and web-based shopping platform provides its portfolio of 350+ designers real-time data and insights into consumer shopping behavior patterns. Fashwire recently expanded into the beauty industry with its launch of GlossWire Beauty.