Aug 06, 2021

Banzai

Seattle-based Banzai promoted Ashley Levesque to vice president of marketing. When Banzai acquired webinar company Demio, it also added Levesque, who was Demio's director of marketing. After a few months, Banzai elevated Levesque to her new role. At Demio, Levesque started as an executive assistant, rising to senior executive. Banzai is a SaaS provider of engagement marketing solutions for virtual, in-person and hybrid events.

Windstar Cruises

Windstar Cruises hired Stijn Creupelandt, a 20-year veteran of the luxury cruise industry, as the small ship cruise line's vice president of hotel operations and product development. Creupelandt will be based in the company's new Miami headquarters and will work with newly promoted vice president of marine and technical operations Paul Barrett to manage all of the operations aboard Windstar's fleet of six yachts. Windstar announced earlier this year that the company will be moving its office from Seattle to Miami in June 2022, with some corporate positions moving to Denver and others operating remotely from the Seattle area. Creupelandt was most recently director of hotel services at Seabourn Cruise Line.

Hiya

Hiya announced Sarah Franklin, president and CMO at Salesforce, has joined its board of directors. Prior to becoming president and CMO, Franklin was executive vice president and general manager of Platform and AppExchange, where she led Salesforce's developer initiatives with a focus on democratizing technology. In her 13 years at Salesforce, Franklin has helped launch Trailhead, Salesforce's gamified online learning platform. Hiya also added Aaron Martin as chief financial officer and Bill McAleer as a board advisor. Martin brings experience in strategic growth, financial planning and analysis, and investor relations with several leading technology companies, including Yapta, which was acquired by Coupa Software in 2019. McAleer is managing director at Voyager Capital and brings a long track record of advising and investing in high growth startups. Hiya's Voice Performance Platform connects businesses with their customers, helps carriers secure their networks, and protects people from spam and fraud calls.

Hotel Andra

Curator Hotel & Resort Collection announced Hotel Andra, a luxury boutique property in downtown Seattle, has joined its collection of members. Hotel Andra is the second non-founding member hotel to join the collection following Inn at the Market, which joined in May. Hotel Andra's introduction to Curator coincides with its upcoming reopening following the completion of renovations, including replacement of all furnishings, HVAC systems and a modernization of the guest elevators. Curator is a collection of hand-selected small brands and independent lifestyle hotels and resorts worldwide, founded by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust and seven industry-leading hotel operators. Curator provides lifestyle hotels the power to compete together while allowing its members the freedom to retain what makes their hotels unique. Pebblebrook is a publicly traded real estate investment trust and one of the largest owners of urban and resort lifestyle hotels in the United States.

Aug 05, 2021

Central Washington University

The Central Washington University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Robert Nellams as its new chair. The 1982 CWU College of Business alum began his six-year term on the board in 2015 and previously served as vice chair under outgoing president Ronald Erickson. Aside from his role on the board, Nellams is the director of the Seattle Center, where he manages a staff of 240 full-time employees and more than 650 intermittent staff. He also is the former chair of the CWU Foundation Board. In addition, Nellams has been an active member of the Breakfast Group, a Seattle-based nonprofit service organization devoted to mentoring African-American and other low-income and at-risk young men of color. He currently serves on the group's board of directors as chair of the fundraising committee. The board also voted to install Ray Conner, former vice chairman for The Boeing Co., as its new vice chair. Conner graduated from CWU in 1979 and joined the board in 2018. Erickson was chair of the board from 2018-21, and has more than 35 years of experience as an attorney and entrepreneur, leading a number of technology enterprises in the global marketplace.

First Interstate Bank

First Interstate Bank has hired Patrick Kennedy as a commercial relationship manager. Kennedy will be responsible for developing and growing new business and maintaining and strengthening existing relationships. With more than 30 years of experience in banking, Kennedy holds a BA in Political Science from Kent State, an MBA from Northern Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. He serves as the president of the board of directors for the Whidbey Camano Land Trust and on several committees for the Goosefoot Community Fund. First Interstate is headquartered in Billings, Montana, and offers banking and wealth management services throughout Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota and Wyoming.

FCS GROUP

Melanie Hobart, who joined FCS GROUP in 2016, has been promoted to project manager. In addition to providing financial analysis and rate modeling for water, sewer, electric and solid waste utilities, Hobart also performs policy and regulatory analyses for public utilities and special purpose districts. Prior to joining FCS GROUP, Hobart maintained her own consulting practice, in addition to previously working with two other management consulting firms. Hobart has been supporting clients throughout the Western United States with projects in Colorado, Washington, Arizona and Idaho. FCS GROUP, established in 1998, specializes in utility rates and charges, utility management, general government finance, and economic services, and is headquartered in Redmond.

Aug 04, 2021

PRR

PRR, an integrated communications agency, announced that Greg Eppich will serve as its new senior director of creative and marketing. Eppich has more than 20 years of creative and marketing communications experience. As part of PRR's senior leadership group, Eppich will lead a team of social marketing, creative, digital marketing, and behavior change specialists across a portfolio of public and private sector clients including King County, Sound Transit, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington State Department of Health, Washington State Department of Transportation, and the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation. Prior to joining PRR, Eppich was a senior vice president at MSL, a global marketing communications firm. Established in 1981, PRR is a certified women-owned business, and has offices in Seattle, Washington D.C., Norfolk, Va., and Baltimore.

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson announced that its Family Law Practice Group has received Tier 1 ranking recognition by Chambers and Partners Global High Net Worth Guide for 2021 in the category of Family/Matrimonial. In addition, family law attorneys Linda Kelley Ebberson and Lisa Ann Sharpe were recognized in Tier 1 and Tier 2, respectively, with high marks in complex divorce proceedings for wealthy and notable individuals. Chambers research is conducted by 200 research analysts, across 200 jurisdictions and provides nearly 6,000 rankings tables. They collect hundreds of thousands of responses from clients, the majority via in-depth interview, each year. Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson was founded 48 years ago in Seattle.

NW Natural Holdings

NW Natural Holdings has released its second annual Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report outlining the company's progress in 2020 on safety, carbon reduction, diversity, community engagement and governance goals. The ESG report, posted online at http://www.nwnatural.com/about-us/the-company/sustainability, incorporates disclosures recommended for the industry by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). The items highlighted in the report included that the company moved its Portland headquarters and operations center into a new LEED Core and Shell Gold certified building that reduces energy use and waste; continued its focus on diversity, equity and inclusion; contributed nearly $1 million to community organizations through the NW Natural Corporate Philanthropy Fund; and provided a 100% company match for two employee-giving campaigns that raised $350,000 for local nonprofits. Northwest Natural Holdings has been doing business for over 160 years in the Pacific Northwest. It owns NW Natural Gas, NW Natural Water and other business interests.