Nov 02, 2021

Department of Commerce

Chavez

Brailey

Camacho

Three recent hires by the Washington State Department of Commerce significantly increase the agency's Community Engagement and Outreach team dedicated to promoting equity and opportunity for rural and underserved communities, small businesses and organizations. Jessica Camacho of Yakima will lead Commerce's Small Business Resiliency Network, a statewide program formed in Spring 2020, that works to ensure historically underserved business owners have access to business assistance, including COVID relief funding and support. Karlena Brailey joins the Community Engagement team. Brailey joined Commerce in September and is based on the Olympic Peninsula. Norma Chavez fills a similar post based in Kennewick, covering Adams, Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Klickitat, Yakima and Walla Walla counties. Brailey and Chavez bring their experience to the growing Commerce Community Engagement and Outreach team stationed throughout the state. Community Engagement and Outreach Office Deputy Director JB Bennis is based in Seattle, assisted by Contracts and Program Development Lead Tracy Gunter based in Olympia. Also based in Olympia, Engagement Specialist Steve Dunk serves southwestern Washington communities. Based in Spokane, Julia Havens manages the team and also serves as specialist for the far eastern portion of the state. Commerce is currently recruiting two more community engagement specialists, one serving north central Washington and the other covering the northwestern region. For more information on these positions, see Commerce's website.

Parcion Private Wealth

Parcion Private Wealth, a Seattle-area wealth management firm focused on helping business owners and entrepreneurs optimize wealth events, recently welcomed Brendan Sullivan as chief operating officer. Sullivan joins the 2-year-old firm and will preside over the daily management of the firm's business operations. Sullivan has more than 15 years in the finance industry, with the majority of that spent with independently owned advisor businesses. Prior to joining Parcion, Sullivan spent several years at HighTower Advisors and Charles Schwab Institutional. Most recently, he served as the chief operating officer at Sound Legacy Wealth Advisors.

Oct 29, 2021

SanMar Corp.

SanMar Corp., a national supplier of wholesale apparel and accessories, announced that Steve Cuthbert has been named its new vice president of sales.

Cuthbert's career in the outdoor textile industry spans 25 years. Most recently, he served as vice president of sales for The North Face. In the eight years at the company, Cuthbert bolstered its worldwide brand and built strong relationships with suppliers and retailers across the industry. Before that, he spent 15 years with Polartec where he served as director of sales.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Cuthbert studied textile engineering at Philadelphia University and earned his master's degree in textile technology at the Institute of Textile Technology.

Oct 28, 2021

King County Council

King County Council Chair Claudia Balducci (Dist. 6) awarded Kirkland resident Kurt Triplett with the Martin Luther King Medal of Distinguished Service, an award that recognizes individuals whose work has answered the question asked by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “What are you doing for others?” Triplett has dedicated his life to public service across King County. For the last 11 years, he has served as city manager for Kirkland where, in 2020, the community found itself in the national spotlight as the first epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States. Triplett previously worked for King County for 17 years, including serving as the interim county executive in 2009, chief of staff to Executive Ron Sims, deputy director of natural resources and parks, and deputy chief of staff for Executive Sims and former Executive Gary Locke. He currently serves on the board for A Regional Coalition for Housing. He is also chair of the Eastside Public Safety Communications Agency, as well as a joint board member for the Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network.

CLIPr

Kirkland-based CLIPr, a Video Analysis and Management (VAM) platform using AI and machine learning to index video content, hired Durk Stelter as chief revenue officer. Stelter will lead sales, services and marketing teams and be responsible for all revenue-generating activities, as well as operationalize CLIPr's vision and strategy to accelerate growth. Stelter brings over 30 years of experience across telecommunication and artificial intelligence industries. He was CRO of Linc Global, an AI-driven customer experience automation platform. Prior to that, he was the CRO for Pypestream. Stelter received his Bachelor of Science in Technical Management from the University of California, Davis.

iGrafx

Portland-area software company, iGrafx, a worldwide leader in digital business transformation and process management, announced the appointment of technology executive Teesee Murray to chief executive officer. With over 30 years of experience, Murray brings significant go-to-market success to iGrafx. At global ERP company Epicor, she set new sales records, created new partnership ecosystems, and delivered growth in all product lines that she led. At multi-billion-dollar global software company Infor, she led the team's transition to cloud, driving cloud sales while launching new products and designing a new GTM strategy to serve larger customers. This year marks the 30th anniversary of iGrafx. The company delivers business process management solutions to some of the largest companies in the world – particularly those in heavily regulated markets where process management and compliance are critical functions. Murray replaces Andrew McFarland.

Oct 27, 2021

Gonzaga University

As Gonzaga begins a yearlong centennial celebration of the School of Business Administration, a gift of $2 million has established the Jud Regis Chair of Accounting. Of that amount, $1.75 million endows the Jud Regis Chair while $200,000 is designated for the accounting program itself and $50,000 for the Fund for Gonzaga in support of student scholarships. Donors Dan and Cecelia Regis, of Bellevue, named the endowed position to honor Dan's father, Jud, whom they credit with instilling the values of faith, family and freedom in Dan and his siblings. Jud Regis grew up in Spokane where Dan was born. During his career, Dan Regis oversaw the Northwest offices of the accounting firm Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) as managing partner before leaving in 1996 for the venture capital arena. Accounting has long been a strength of Gonzaga's business school. The program's 82.4% CPA pass rate is 10th in the nation and first on the West Coast for schools with at least 60 candidates taking the exam. The undergraduate accounting program is ranked 31st in U.S. News & World Report's 2022 business school rankings. Gonzaga's School of Business Administration was founded in 1921.

Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear announced the promotion of Andrew Burns to vice president, strategic planning and investor relations. Burns has been at Columbia Sportswear for more than three years leading the investor relations program. In his new role, he will take on leading strategic planning and initiative management in addition to his responsibilities for investor relations. Columbia Sportswear was founded in 1938 in Portland, Oregon, and the company's brands are sold in approximately 90 countries. In addition to the Columbia brand, Columbia Sportswear also owns the Mountain Hard Wear, SOREL and prAna brands.