Apr 21, 2021

Amazon

Amazon announced nine new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects in the United States, Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The company now has 206 renewable energy projects globally, including 71 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 135 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide. With this announcement, Amazon is now the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in Europe. These projects supply renewable energy to Amazon's corporate offices, fulfillment centers, Whole Foods Market stores, and Amazon Web Services data centers. The renewable energy from these projects also helps Amazon meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent to the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices. All of these projects put Amazon on a path to power 100% of its activities with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of the original target of 2030. Investing in renewable energy is one of the actions Amazon is taking as part of The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

Salon Services

Fingernails2Go, a leader in creative nail art, announced its new U.S. distribution partnership with Salon Services. The new distributor, based in Seattle, has locations in nine states with a variety of physical stores. It also has a distribution network with salons all over the U.S. Fingernails2Go is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where it manufactures digital nail art printers. Customers can select a design from the nail art library or use the Fingernails2Go App on their phone to upload an image. Nail care is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with ReportLinker projecting the worldwide nail care market to top $6 billion by 2027.

Pacific Medical Centers

Pacific Medical Centers, a primary and integrated multi-specialty healthcare network across the Puget Sound region, selected Redspin to conduct a readiness assessment of their current security posture to determine how to prepare for the Department of Defense's new security framework certification for vendors, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. The Department of Defense is aiming to reduce the estimated $600 billion in cybercrime losses impacting the nation's military supply chain every year by requiring third-party cybersecurity assessments of contractors with access to controlled unclassified information. Pacific Medical Centers holds a contract with the Department of Defense to administer the US Family Health Plan. Redspin, a division of CynergisTek, is a cybersecurity company providing security testing, assessments, validation, and consulting services to companies in highly regulated industries including government, financial, technology, and manufacturing.

Apr 20, 2021

Symetra

Symetra Financial announced that its investment subsidiary, Symetra Investment Management (SIM), is now a Registered Investment Advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Launched in January 2020, SIM will expand its existing relationship with Symetra, continue to facilitate the ability of Symetra's Japan-based parent, Sumitomo Life Insurance, to invest in U.S.-based assets, and begin to pursue third-party institutional clients. Mark Hunt, president of SIM and executive vice president and chief investment officer of Symetra Financial and its insurance subsidiaries, directs the company's investment policy and strategy. The SIM team includes Colin Elder, senior managing director and head of commercial mortgage loans; Nicholas Mocciolo, senior managing director and head of structured bonds and derivatives; and Evan Moskovit, senior managing director and head of corporate fixed income. SIM's fixed income team is based in Farmington, Connecticut, and its commercial mortgage loans operation is based in Bellevue.

Lamb Weston

With a goal of using more sustainable materials, two Lamb Weston Alexia brand products will use corn and potato starch in their packaging beginning this month. The packaging is partially made of potato starches, a byproduct of producing french fries, and will be identified with a label on the front of the package indicating it is partially made from plants. Sweet Potato Fries and Alexia's Organic Yukon Select Puffs will feature a special seal, identifying the plant-based packaging. Lamb Weston's packaging team spent two years collaborating to create a durable, sustainable packaging alternative and continue working to expand their sustainable packing efforts. Lamb Weston is a food processing company headquartered in Eagle, Idaho.

Willamette Valley Bank

Willamette Valley Bank hired Ryan Allbritton, a longtime banking executive from Salem, Oregon, as senior vice president and chief banking officer. Allbritton has held various roles for a large national bank including regional president, which included overseeing the growth and development of branches throughout the Willamette Valley region. He has served as president of the Salem Chamber of Commerce, president of the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley, and board member of SEDCOR and numerous other non profit organizations. Oregon Bancorp is the parent company of Willamette Valley Bank, a community bank headquartered in Salem. The bank conducts commercial and retail banking activities at four full-service branch locations in Salem, Keizer, Silverton, and Albany, Oregon. The bank also operates 13 Home Loan Centers located in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.

The Standard

Portland-based Standard Insurance (The Standard) has been awarded multiple honors based on the results of the Plansponsor 2020 Best in Class Provider Survey, an annual survey of approximately 3,000 defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors across the country. The Standard received 48 Best in Class DC Provider awards and two top-five Net Promoter Score placements in the Micro Market and $25 million to $50 million categories. Plansponsor Best in Class Awards are based on client satisfaction within a given area of service. The three highest-scoring providers in each service category earned an annual Best in Class Award.

Apr 16, 2021

Oregon Pacific Bank

Robert Edstrom, executive vice president and chief credit officer, will be retiring from Oregon Pacific Bank on June 25th, 2021. Edstrom joined Oregon Pacific Bank in 2014, leading the loan approval process between 2016 and 2020, Edstrom also revitalized the bank's credit risk practices and implemented underwriting standardization procedures. In the wake of Edstrom's retirement, the position of executive vice president and chief credit officer will be filled internally by James Atwood. Atwood joined Oregon Pacific Bank in 2020 as senior vice president, senior credit administrator. He brings with him over eighteen years of experience in various facets of credit administration.

Auth0

Auth0 has appointed Lucy McGrath as the company's first vice president of privacy. McGrath has 20 years of diverse data privacy experience working with Fortune 500 brands, including Thermo Fisher Scientific, Promontory Financial Group, NBCUniversal, Salesforce, and TJX Europe. As Auth0's VP of privacy, she will lead global data privacy programs, further embed privacy-by-design principles into Auth0's products and processes, and continue to shape a culture of privacy for the company and its customers. McGrath holds degrees in science and law, and is based in London. Auth0, whose North American headquarters is located in Seattle, provides a platform to authenticate, authorize, and secure access for applications, devices, and users.

Washington Trust Bank

Washington Trust Bank announced that it will open a new branch in Central Oregon. The new financial center, located at 1203 NE 3rd Street in Bend, will be completed in September 2021 and will include approximately 12 team members offering commercial, mortgage, private and retail banking and wealth management services. The current team is now serving clients at a temporary office space until the financial center opens in the fall. Senior vice president Cory Allen heads the Central Oregon team which includes assistant vice president credit analyst Audrey Belden, alongside relationship managers Mike Groza, Paul MacMillan and Ashley Mears. The bank has been a growing presence in Oregon since it first entered the Portland market in 2005. Headquartered in Spokane, Washington Trust Bank currently has 42 branches and offices in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

NW Natural Water

NW Natural Water Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding, completed two acquisitions and signed three additional agreements to acquire utilities near its existing service territories, furthering the company's growth strategy in the water utility sector. Closed acquisitions include Morning View Water in the Idaho Falls area and Del Bay Association in Freeland, Washington. In addition, NW Natural Water subsidiaries have executed the following acquisition agreements: Troy Hoffman Water in northern Idaho; Belle Oaks Water & Sewer in southeast Texas; and Pelican Point Water in Washington. Northwest Natural Holding Company is headquartered in Portland and has been doing business for over 160 years in the Pacific Northwest. It owns NW Natural Gas, NW Natural Water, and other business interests.