Apr 15, 2021

Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken announced their youth hockey and skating academy coaching staff. Chad Goodwin was named director of skating, Martin Hlinka director of youth hockey, and David Min and Katelyn Parker player development coaches. The programs will begin in Fall 2021 when the Kraken Training Center opens to the public. Goodwin comes from the Vegas Golden Knights where he established their skating program, while Hlinka joins from the Canisius College's Men's Hockey Program in Buffalo, New York where he was an assistant coach. Min was most recently a coach for Sno-King Amateur Hockey Association in Kirkland, Renton and Snoqualmie, and Parker was an assistant coach for the Division I NCAA University of Connecticut Women's Hockey team. The Kraken Training Center will consist of three NHL-sized ice rinks, the Kraken Bar & Grill, and a team store. In addition to skating and hockey lessons, fans will be able to participate in activities, including watching Kraken team practice and attending public skate sessions. The Seattle Kraken are set to play their inaugural season in 2021-2022 at Climate Pledge Arena at Seattle Center, developed by Oak View Group.

Rainier Partners

Rainier Partners has acquired Calpine Containers and its subsidiaries in partnership with members of the Calpine's management team. Headquartered in Clovis, California, Calpine is one of the largest West Coast packaging distributors serving the agriculture industry. Calpine's employees have retained an ownership interest in the company alongside Rainier, and it will continue to be managed by Walt Tindell, Ken Sommers (CFO), and Eva Hammond (CAO). Founded in 2020 and based in Seattle, Rainier Partners is a private equity firm that invests in lower middle-market businesses, primarily in the Western United States and Canada.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile US announced that finance executive Bavan Holloway has been nominated to join its board of directors. If elected by stockholders, Holloway is expected to join the board and its Audit Committee after T-Mobile's annual stockholders meeting on June 3. The company's other 12 board members will also stand for re-election at that annual meeting. Holloway previously was vice president of corporate audit for Boeing, among other senior finance roles. She was also a Partner at KPMG. She currently serves on the board for TPI Composites and the YWCA Seattle/King/Snohomish. T-Mobile also announced that board member Lawrence Guffey will not seek re-election at the annual meeting and that board member Stephen Kappes has resigned from the board.

Apr 14, 2021

Western Governors University

Sharify

Western Governors University (WGU) announced the hiring of John Sharify as communications manager for the university's Northwest region. Sharify has nearly 40 years of experience as a journalist and leader in higher education. In his role, he will lead the external storytelling efforts – identifying and securing platforms on which to share the important impact WGU, its students, and its graduates make in communities regionwide. Sharify will develop and execute multimedia strategies for audiences across a nine-state territory, which includes Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Sharify worked as a broadcast journalist in New York City at WPIX-TV and in Seattle at KOMO-TV and KING-TV. In 2021, he earned the Alfred I. duPont Columbia award for his King 5 documentary “Bob's Choice.” He is also a nine-time National Edward R. Murrow Award winning journalist. From 2008 to 2020, Sharify was the general manager at Seattle Colleges Cable Television. He also oversaw the city of Seattle's public access television station, Seattle Community Media. WGU Washington is an online, competency-based university designed to expand access to higher education for Washington residents.

Seattle Art Museum

The Seattle Art Museum has reopened and the Asian Art Museum is reopening to members May 7 and the public on May 28. Member tickets will be available starting April 15 and the public can get tickets starting April 29. Both the Asian Art Museum and Seattle Art Museum are open at limited capacity, Fridays through Sundays, 10 am–5 pm. Outdoor spaces at the Olympic Sculpture Park remain open to the public with the PACCAR Pavilion closed for the time being. Visitors are asked to continue to comply with all COVID-19 directives and guidance issued by the Governor and relevant public health authorities.

Ellensburg Senior Program

The Ellensburg Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) faces the possibility of closing down permanently in the fall. The program has been a part of the Ellensburg community for 47 years, providing volunteer workers to organizations in need. The program needs a sponsor in order to exist, one that can apply for a federal grant which will fund the RSVP. For the last 25 years, that sponsor has been Central Washington University. To remain as a sponsor, CWU has needed to reapply for the grant every three years, and has recently decided not to renew. To keep the program active, another nonprofit will have to apply for the federal grant through Americorps Seniors, when it becomes available at the end of the summer. The program has worked to provide senior volunteers, older than 55, to any nonprofit who needs them. RSVP would train and interview the volunteers so they had the knowledge needed to make an impact wherever they worked.

Apr 13, 2021

Coppinger Carter

Coppinger Carter

Coppinger Carter, a law firm that for over a decade has focused on personal injury, insurance and employment-related legal issues, has opened a third office in Bellevue. The Bellevue office is located at 14205 S.E. 36th St. Coppinger Carter also has offices in Bellingham and Everson. Coppinger Carter primarily serves plaintiffs in matters involving wrongful death, serious injuries, auto accidents, premise liability, insurance-related disputes, medical malpractice and employment-related disputes. The firm's founder, Carrie Coppinger Carter, is a graduate of the University of Washington and the Seattle University School of Law. She has more than 20 years of legal experience as a trial lawyer. Coppinger Carter recently was added to the list of Super Lawyers in Washington state.

PEMCO

PEMCO Mutual Insurance hired Arif Arain as its new director, data governance. Arain joins the Seattle-based insurer with experience in data governance, data management, data warehousing and solutions in other data related disciplines, leading teams in the insurance, investments and banking sectors. In his role at PEMCO, Arain and his team will collaborate with other teams in information technology and business to create a new data governance discipline, establishing a foundation for data provisioning, information delivery and data quality management. Prior to joining PEMCO, Arain led data governance and information management initiatives for highly regulated institutions, including Allstate Investments, SunTrust Bank and Key Bank.

Tanium

Kirkland-based Tanium, a provider of endpoint management and security built for IT environments, announced that it ranked 26 on FORTUNE Magazine's list of 2021 Best Workplaces in Technology in the “large company” category. This marks the company's fourth consecutive appearance on FORTUNE's lists, which rank employers based on employee-reported quality and consistency of workplace experience. In early 2020 the company announced a permanent move to a remote-first workforce. Through strategic partnerships that promote the creation of equitable access to STEM education for underserved, economically disadvantaged, at risk or historically underrepresented children and young adults, Tanium is committed to donating 2% of its collective time and profits to giving back each year. This year's list of Best Workplaces in Technology is based on survey feedback from more than 122,000 employees working in the technology industry across the United States, with respondents rating their workplace culture on more than 60 elements including trust in managers, fairness of compensation and the effectiveness of leadership in creating daily experiences of innovation.