Nov 19, 2021

Sustainable Seattle

Piro

Garcia

Sustainable Seattle (S2) named Dr. Natalie Garcia as its new co-director, joining former executive director and now co-director Em Piro at the helm of the sustainability nonprofit, now in its 30th year. Piro joined the organization in 2018, succeeding local environmentalist BJ Cummings. In her three years as executive director, Piro built upon S2's legacy of community-centered sustainability initiatives. Programmatic shifts included the introduction of Interweave, S2's community-led sustainability accelerator program. Garcia is a former organizer of Black Star Farmers, one of the first members of Interweave. Of the over $1.2 million in grant funding that S2 worked with Interweave organizers to secure for local environmental initiatives, nearly half were authored by Garcia. Garcia also helped lead COVID-19 equity forums focused on food access and vaccine education. Over the past year, Garcia has focused on food sovereignty for BIPOC communities by partnering with the Indigenous women-led Na'ah Illahee Fund (NIF), an organization dedicated to the ongoing regeneration of Indigenous communities. Sustainable Seattle has assembled community members from a range of backgrounds, experiences, and sectors to align, amplify, and activate a more sustainable Seattle.

Data I/O

Redmond-based Data I/O, a global provider of advanced security and data deployment solutions for microcontrollers, security ICs and memory devices, announced that it received a 2021 GLOBAL Technology Award in the category of Programming for its SentriX Product Creator tool suite. The award was presented during a ceremony that took place Tuesday at the Productronica trade show in Munich, Germany. The GLOBAL Technology Awards have recognized the best new innovations in the printed circuit assembly and packaging industries since 2005. SentriX secures the global electronics supply chain and protects IoT device intellectual property from point of inception to deployment in the field.

City of Tacoma

Nominations for the city of Tacoma's City of Destiny Awards, which has been honoring local volunteers for the past 36 years, are due on Feb. 7, 2022. “The City of Destiny Awards Ceremony provides a place to recognize those who create vibrancy in our community and make the City of Destiny what it is,” said city Events and Recognitions Committee Chair Jessica Johnston. The CERC spends months planning and producing the City of Destiny Awards event. The committee is comprised of volunteers. For more information, visit http://www.cityoftacoma.org/CityofDestiny.

Nov 18, 2021

Lane Powell

Skattum

Wong

Schilbach

Shin

White

Huck

Lane Powell announced the hiring of several attorneys in its Seattle office. Karla Martinez White is an associate on the Commercial Litigation team. Martinez White is a commercial litigator whose practice focuses extensively on commercial general liability and property claims. Prior to joining Lane Powell, Martinez White assisted domestic and international insurer clients on insurance coverage and defense issues. Isaac Shin is an associate on the Private Client Services team. Shin works with high net worth families and individuals to accomplish their goals through customized estate planning strategies. Prior to joining Lane Powell, Shin assisted clients with a broad range of state and local tax matters. He also assisted clients with strategic planning, transaction, audit defense, refunds and administrative appeals. Aleksander (Sascha) Schilbach is an associate on the Private Client Services and Fiduciary Litigation teams. Schilbach focuses his practice on estate planning and estate-related litigation, including TEDRA litigation for high net worth families and individuals. Betty Wong joins Lane Powell as counsel to the firm on the Immigration team. Wong provides consultation and representation of immigration-related matters to a diverse client base, including startups and established companies, investors and entrepreneurs, artists and entertainers, researchers and academic scholars. Kai Subic-Skattum is an associate on the Private Client Services team. Subic-Skattum counsels high net worth families and individuals on estate planning, estate and gift tax planning, and probate and trust administration. Prior to joining Lane Powell, Subic-Skattum worked as a legal intern drafting, revising, and reviewing LLC agreements and related documents, with a focus on Opportunity Zone projects and regulations, COVID-19 legislation, advantages of different entity structures and estate planning techniques, and planning opportunities for tax savings. Finally, Lachlan Huck is an associate on the Corporate, Securities and M&A team. Huck is a corporate attorney who helps startups, technology, and SaaS companies reach their full potential. Prior to joining private practice, Huck served as an in-house attorney for both a biopharmaceutical company and clean water technology company.

Nov 17, 2021

StrongBox Data Solutions

Hall

Portland-based StrongBox Data Solutions, a provider of autonomous large-scale data management and archive solutions, announced the appointment of Andrew Hall as chief executive officer to lead the growth and transition of the company as it expands the market presence of StrongLink, the company's flagship product. StrongLink delivers automation and performance to simplify data management, offering both IT managers and channel partners a vendor-neutral solution to data and multi-vendor storage resource management with scalability to accommodate environments of any size. As a senior advisor within PartnerOne Capital, a private equity firm managing a growing portfolio of enterprise software companies, Hall is in a position to bring the resources of the larger company to StrongBox Data. He has 30 years of leadership experience, most recently serving as managing director of Insider Technologies (Manchester, UK), a company developing and supporting monitoring, tracking, and alerting products for central banks and government agencies. Prior to Insider Technologies, Hall was president of ETI-NET (Montreal Canada), which specialized in deploying business continuity solutions into major data centers globally.

Smartsheet

Bellevue-based Smartsheet, an enterprise platform for dynamic work, announced a partnership with Special Olympics to empower its teams and athletes to manage projects, automate workflows and collaborate more easily. The new partnership expands on their existing relationship and will provide Special Olympics with additional Smartsheet capabilities and support to realize the full impact that seamless collaboration can have across its whole organization. Special Olympics provides year-round sports, health, education and community building to 5.7 million people with intellectual disabilities in 200 countries. Today, more than 80 percent of Special Olympic teams use Smartsheet to manage their work and plan events. In addition to the partnership, Smartsheet will provide employee volunteer opportunities at regional Special Olympics community events around the globe. Most recently, Smartsheet, the Seattle Kraken, and Special Olympics Washington (SOWA) held an employee volunteer event on Smartsheet's rink at the Kraken Community Iceplex for SOWA athletes to learn about the game of hockey. Smartsheet employees also recently volunteered with Special Olympics Massachusetts and Denver; future events are scheduled in London and Edinburgh, where Smartsheet offices are located.

Milne Fruit Products

Michael Sorenson has been promoted to CEO & president of Prosser-based Milne Fruit Products. Sorenson will report to Court Wyckoff, executive chairman of the board. Sorenson joined Milne in 2005 with the acquisition of Milne by the Wyckoff Family. Sorenson has led Milne since his promotion to president and general manager in 2010. During the past decade Milne has expanded their production capacity, product offerings and global sales reach. Since 1956, Milne has been an industry leader in the production of fruit and vegetable juices, concentrates, and purees. Today, Milne is a global supplier to the industrial food, beverage, and health and wellness markets. Milne continues to be a growth-focused fruit and vegetable solutions partner with its full line of not-from concentrate and concentrated juice and puree offerings.

HomeStreet Bank

HomeStreet Bank announced a grant in support of Seattle area police officers, HomeStreet Bank will match up to $150,000 in donations to the Seattle Police Foundation. The funds will be used to support officer wellness and morale programs in the months to come.

In addition to the $150,000 donation, HomeStreet Bank plans to sponsor National Night Out events in communities it serves. National Night Out is a community building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships which culminates on the first Tuesday in August every year. HomeStreet is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Seattle, serving consumers and businesses in the Western United States and Hawaii through its various operating subsidiaries.