Jul 14, 2021

Tacoma Venues & Events

Tacoma Venues & Events (TVE) will host a job fair at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center on Wednesday, July 21 from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm, with positions open from TVE venues and local community and national businesses. The event is open to the public and parking at the convention center is free. Tacoma Link light rail is also free with a station on Commerce Street. Hundreds of positions including full-time and part-time are available. Employers are recruiting for event service workers, hospitality and government. Immediate on site interviews will be available with some employers. Participating employers already confirmed include Pierce Transit, the city of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Utilities, Pierce College, Safe Streets Campaign (Americorps), and Washington State Patrol. Hospitality positions are offered from Muckleshoot Casino, El Rinconsito and Chick-fil-A. Labor and warehouse positions include Concrete Technology Corporation, Olympic Eagle Distributing, and FedEx Ground. Healthcare positions include SeaMar Community Health Center, Light Dental Studio, Korean Women's Association, and Cascade Eye & Skin Centers. Event day positions are available from Aramark, Northwest Industrial Staffing and Republic Parking. Employers interested in having a booth may contact Adam Gesacion at agesacion@tacomavenues.

DreamBox Learning

DreamBox Learning announced the appointment of five new executives. Lakshmi Nidamarthi joins the company as chief product officer, Ronit Peled as chief people officer, Jason Sinquefield as senior vice president of sales and partnerships, Michael Savitz as senior vice president of operations, and Tracy Kleine as vice president of marketing. Nidamarthi joins DreamBox from Amazon, where she worked on developing and launching new products, including the Amazon Kindle. Peled served as the global head of people and culture at OpenMarket. Sinquefield is a former educator and holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership. He joins DreamBox after serving as head of sales for LEGO Education. Savitz previously served as vice president and general manager of education services at Blackbaud, and prior to that, he was chief operating officer for Blackbaud's International Markets Group. Kleine, who began her career as a teacher and later earned her master's degree in education, has held marketing leadership positions at high-growth SaaS organizations including Brightbytes and Teaching Channel, and has worked extensively in edtech marketing at companies including Math Solutions, LeapFrog SchoolHouse and Pearson. Founded in 2006, DreamBox Learning is based in Bellevue.

Glowforge

Glowforge, a Seattle-based company that designs and produces 3D laser printers for home and small business use, has hired Megan Lutes as general counsel. Lutes joins the leadership team at Glowforge and will lead the company's legal function. Lutes comes to Glowforge from digital freight network Convoy. Prior to Convoy, Lutes held senior legal positions with Moss Adams and global logistics company Expeditors International. She serves on the board of directors for Providence Pediatric Hospice of Seattle, and the executive board of Centerforce. She was awarded the 2021 “Legal MVP Award” by SimpleLegal for Inhouse Attorneys, and the Women, Influence & Power in Law Innovation Leadership Award by the Corporate Counsel in Leadership group.

Jul 13, 2021

AAA Washington

Snavely

Heather Snavely has succeeded Kirk Nelson as president and CEO of AAA Washington. Snavely is the first woman chosen by the AAA Washington Board of Trustees to lead the organization during its 117 year history. Snavely comes to AAA Washington from PCC Community Markets in Seattle, where she served as vice president of marketing. Previously, Snavely was the senior director of global brand marketing for Brooks Running in Seattle, and director of global consumer communications at Microsoft for Xbox. Snavely also serves on the board of directors for KEXP, a nonprofit arts organization. Bellevue-based AAA Washington serves 1.2 million members in Washington state and North Idaho with emergency road service, leisure travel planning, and personal and small-business insurance.

City of Tacoma

The city of Tacoma was awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) in support of its MBDA Business Center, which has served growing minority-owned businesses in the local area and region since September 2016. Through June 30, 2026, the city will receive $400,000 annually in federal funds over a five-year period, as long as satisfactory performance is met and congressional appropriations are made. With these grant dollars, the city will continue its work to help minority-owned businesses access capital and contracts and expand market opportunities at home and abroad. They will be supported by a federal team of MBDA staff, and receive business development and grant management training annually. MBDA is the only federal agency created to foster the establishment and growth of minority-owned businesses in the United States.

Symetra

Symetra Life Insurance announced the appointment of Solynn McCurdy as senior vice president, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, a new role for the organization. McCurdy, who joins Symetra's leadership team, will lead Symetra's newly formed DE&I office, with responsibility for driving the company's DE&I strategy. He reports to Anne-Marie Diouf, senior vice president, chief human resources officer. Most recently, McCurdy was senior vice president of social impact at BECU, where he oversaw all philanthropic and financial health efforts, community engagement and cooperative community advocacy for the credit union. Prior to joining BECU, McCurdy was chief executive officer at Social Venture Partners Seattle and led social impact programs at Premera Blue Cross. Formerly, he was director of external affairs at Seattle University, where he stewarded regional strategies in community engagement and advocacy. Symetra Life Insurance is a subsidiary of Symetra Financial, a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue.

Jul 09, 2021

Zeitworks

Zeitworks announced that Jay Bartot will be taking on the role of CEO and will lead the company through its next stage of technology and product development. Co-founder and former CEO Ryan Windham will remain active as a board member and assist the company with strategic projects. JAZZ Ventures and Madrona Venture Group will invest an additional $2M in the company. The additional funding, led by JAZZ Ventures, will support the next phase of product and technology development as well as customer and go-to-market initiatives currently underway. Headquartered in Seattle, Zeitworks was founded by veteran machine learning application developers, entrepreneurs and investors with experience backing intelligent automation companies. Bartot will leave his current post as CTO at Madrona Venture Labs (MVL) to become Zeitworks' CEO. He will remain an advisor to MVL.

ATS Automation

ATS Automation, an independent, smart building controls provider for the greater Pacific Northwest, has acquired WayPoint Systems, headquartered in Roswell, GA. This purchase will enable ATS to grow in the Southeast region of the United States and provide increased capabilities and support for national account clients. With this acquisition, ATS will add WayPoint Systems to its family of facility solution providers under the new name, ATS Waypoint. Established in 1986, ATS is headquartered in Renton, with a local management and ownership team. ATS serves clients in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, Eastern Oregon, and the greater Atlanta Metro market.

Ascensus Specialties

New York-based investment firm New Mountain Capital has acquired Ascensus Specialties, a leading U.S. based provider of specialty materials for use in critical life sciences and specialties markets and applications. Wind Point Partners, the former majority shareholder, will reinvest in Ascensus in partnership with New Mountain Capital through a special purpose vehicle raised in association with the transaction. Headquartered in Bellevue, Ascensus is a world leader in borohydride, borane and specialty alcoholates chemistries. The Company supplies a diversified portfolio of reagents and catalysts to a global customer base in the pharmaceutical, microelectronics, and other specialty end markets. The company serves its global customer base at its three facilities located in Elma, Washington, Evans City, Pennsylvania, and Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Edifecs

Edifecs, a global health information technology solutions company, announced that Sunny Singh will transition to the role of chairman of the board of directors and Venkat Kavarthapu will become chief executive officer. Singh founded Edifecs in 1996 and has been CEO since, growing the company to over 600 employees and more than 350 customers worldwide. Singh was also instrumental in securing a significant growth investment from TA Associates and Francisco Partners in 2020. Kavarthapu has served in a number of senior leadership capacities at Edifecs over the past 12 years, and has been working closely with Singh for months to prepare for the transition. Edifecs is headquartered in Bellevue, with additional offices in Atlanta, Georgia and Mohali, India, and an engineering center in Moldova.