Feb 10, 2022

Institute for Functional Medicine

The Institute for Functional Medicine announced reappointments to its board: Jeffrey Bland, Mike Bond, Mark Hyman, David Jones and Joseph Pizzorno. In addition, the institute appointed the following officers to two-year terms: Pizzorno, chairman; Gail Christopher, vice chair; Terry Cook, treasurer; and Jones, secretary. Functional medicine determines how and why illness occurs and restores health by addressing the root causes of disease for each individual. The Federal Way-based institute was founded in 1991 and is dedicated to the widespread adoption of functional medicine. It advances education and training, clinical patient care, research, and outcomes in functional medicine worldwide.

Buchalter

Buchalter added Marissa Alkhazov, Midori Sagara and Jonathan Mahoney to the firm's Seattle office. Alkhazov joins as a shareholder and Sagara as senior counsel, both in the Litigation Practice group. Mahoney joins as an associate in the Real Estate Practice group. Alkhazov has extensive experience in product liability, asbestos, toxic and mass torts defense, environmental, and general liability claims. A trial attorney handling litigation in both Washington and Oregon, she represents clients ranging from pharmaceutical companies, product manufacturers and distributors, retailers, food industry and agribusiness companies, to small businesses and local tech startups. Sagara focuses on product liability, mass tort defense and third-party insurance defense. She handles litigation for clients that include pharmaceutical companies, product manufacturers, individual and corporate policyholders, and insurers. Mahoney focuses on commercial real estate transactions. He represents both developers and lenders, assisting in the acquisition and disposition of real estate, negotiating and drafting purchase and sale agreements, development agreements, contribution agreements, loan documents, and leases.

Insurance Commissioner

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced that Michael Wood is the agency's new chief deputy commissioner. Wood joined the office in October after serving as administrator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Oregon. While there, he oversaw a staff of 200 who are responsible for workplace safety and health of all workers in Oregon. Before his time in Oregon, Wood worked at the Washington Department of Labor and Industries and the state Legislature. He replaces Mark Dietzler, who resigned to return to the private sector as an attorney.

Feb 09, 2022

Darigold

van den Berg

Darigold, the Seattle-based farmer-owned dairy co-op, announced that it has named Cor van den Berg chief financial officer. Van den Berg is an international food and consumer packaged goods leader. In nearly 20 years with MARS, the global confectionary and food products company, he held several key finance roles across divisions and in multiple countries spanning the United States, Europe, and the Middle East, including CFO of the company's Health & Nutrition division, CFO of its North American food operations, and global director of strategic revenue management. Most recently, he was at City of Hope, a clinical research center, hospital, and graduate medical school in California, where he held a variety of senior finance positions, including interim CFO. The CFO role at Darigold may have added importance for the foreseeable future as the co-op is set to embark on some of the largest capital investment projects in its 104-year history, including construction of a new premium protein and butter production facility in Pasco that will elevate the co-op's production capacity, and restoration of a butter and milk powder facility in Caldwell, Idaho, that suffered fire damage in October. Darigold is the marketing and processing subsidiary of Northwest Dairy Association, which is owned by nearly 350 dairy farm families in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana.

Northwest Kidney Centers

Heaton

Campbell

Northwest Kidney Centers has named Tonia Campbell vice president of finance and chief financial officer and Marsha Heaton vice president of development. Campbell, comes to Northwest Kidney Centers with executive and healthcare experience, coupled with more than 20 years of financial leadership in for-profit and non-profit organizations. As chief financial officer, she is responsible for managing the financial health and wellbeing of the Seattle-based non-profit. She serves as a strategic business partner to senior executives and board members, advising them on enhancing performance and growth, and expansion opportunities. Campbell most recently worked at Community Health Care, a Federal Qualified Health Center serving Pierce County, where she served as the chief financial officer. She has also held senior level positions in financial life and investment services at Symetra Financial. Heaton, who oversees Northwest Kidney Centers' fundraising efforts, brings more than 20 years of experience working with non-profit organizations and the private sector, most recently serving as director of major gifts at United Way of King County. She also previously worked in multiple marketing roles at Nordstrom. Founded in 1962, Northwest Kidney Centers was the world's first dialysis organization.

Washington Federal Bank

Washington Federal Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of Washington Federal, Inc., announced the successful completion of its conversion from a national bank charter, supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to a Washington state chartered commercial bank. Going forward primary supervision of the bank will be by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. As part of this conversion, the legal name of the bank has been changed from “Washington Federal Bank, National Association” to “Washington Federal Bank.” The bank will continue to do business as WaFd Bank. WaFd Bank is headquartered in Seattle, and has 219 branches in eight western states.

Feb 08, 2022

Impinj

Impinj promoted Hussein Mecklai to chief operating officer. In his expanded role, Mecklai is directly responsible for Impinj's engineering and operations. Mecklai joined Impinj in 2018 and has more than 20 years of experience leading engineering organizations. Prior to Impinj, Mecklai was vice president and general manager of the product architecture group at Intel, where he led the organization responsible for defining the product architecture of Intel's mainstream products, including the processors for the personal computer and datacenter franchises. Previously, he served in senior engineering and leadership roles at Infineon Technologies, LSI Group, Agere Systems and Lucent Technologies. Additionally, Impinj announced that director Steve Sanghi will become Impinj board chair after Peter van Oppen's current term ends. Sanghi has experience as the long-term CEO and current executive chair of Microchip. The company also announced that Meera Rao has joined Impinj's board of directors. Rao has more than 25 years of experience in high-tech companies. She currently serves as a director and audit committee chair on the board of Rambus, a chip and silicon IP provider. Previously, she was CFO at Monolithic Power Systems, a high-performance power solutions company. The Impinj, headquartered in Seattle, is a leader in RAIN RFID technology.

Leafly Holdings

Seattle-based Leafly Holdings, an online cannabis discovery marketplace and resource for cannabis consumers, and Merida Merger Corp. I, a special purpose acquisition company sponsored by Merida Capital Holdings, announced the closing of their previously announced business combination. In connection with the closing, Merida has adopted the Leafly name, and Leafly's common stock will begin trading on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the ticker symbol “LFLY.” Since announcing the proposed combination with Merida in the summer of 2021, Leafly has introduced new tools for brands subscribers and enhanced its app to enable users to place pickup orders for cannabis products in legal state markets. The company has also announced a post-combination board of directors with wide-ranging expertise and bolstered its executive leadership team. Peter Lee, former president of Merida Merger, will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors of the combined company. Oppenheimer & Co. served as exclusive financial advisor to Leafly, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges served as legal advisor.

PRR Communications Agency

PRR, a women- and employee-owned integrated communications agency, announced that Kristen Bishop will serve as director of PRR Portland. Bishop has more than 20 years of experience in communications, community outreach, and urban planning. She has extensive experience working with public agencies at the local, regional and national levels, including port authorities, electric utilities, community-based organizations, and state and local governments. Prior to joining PRR, Bishop served as executive director for Lois D. Cohen Associates, a Portland-based community engagement firm, where she led community engagement work for several local and state agencies. The firm recently closed due to the passing of its founder, Lois Cohen. Bishop, a member of WTS and IAP2, will work with PRR's current clients in Oregon, including the city of Portland and the Oregon Department of Transportation. Celebrating its 40th year of service, PRR brings multi-disciplinary expertise in communications and outreach for environment, healthcare, and transportation industries, prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all work the agency does. PRR has offices in Seattle, Washington D.C., Norfolk, Portland, and Baltimore.