Jun 03, 2022

Estate Planning Council of Seattle

Halos

The Estate Planning Council of Seattle has appointed a slate of new officers to lead the council for 2022-2023, with Dan Halos, ChFC, CLU, with The Bailey Group, in Bellevue, as president.

Joining Halos is Immediate Past President Jolene Cox, CPA, with Deloitte Tax LLP, in Seattle; President-elect Debra Smiley, CTFA, with Laird Norton Wealth Management, in Seattle; Treasurer Teresa Byers, JD, with Ogden Murphy Wallace, in Seattle; and Secretary Allison Kollack, CPA, MST, with King & Oliason CPAs, in Seattle.

The executive committee includes Chris Downing, with Greene Wealth Management, in Seattle; Elizabeth McGrath, CFP, CTFA, with Key Private Bank in Seattle; Sara Berkenwald, JD, MBA, LLM, with Jeppesen Gray Sakai in Bellevue; and Nate Rothbauer, CPA, with Ascent Private Capital Management in Seattle. Johanna Coolbaugh, JD, with Karr Tuttle Campbell in Seattle, will chair the 67th annual Estate Planning Seminar on Oct. 24-25, 2022, and Chad Proctor, JD, LLM, CTFA, with BNY Mellon in Seattle, will co-chair the event.

The new slate of officers will take office on July 1, 2022.

The Estate Planning Council of Seattle is comprised of King County's top estate planning lawyers, Certified Public Accountants, trust officers, insurance agents, and financial planners. The council aims to promote the highest quality estate planning services in the Pacific Northwest by developing and improving the capabilities of its members, fostering cooperation among professionals, and by educating the public about estate planning matters.

Jun 02, 2022

United States Navy Band

Farmer

Chief Musician Antje Farmer, of Redmond, advanced to the rank of senior chief petty officer in the United States Navy May 25, during a promotion ceremony among friends, family and shipmates. As one of five chiefs in the United States Navy Band selected for advancement to senior chief, Farmer joins a prestigious list of just 2% of sailors that will reach the rank of E-8 throughout their career in a total force that exceeds 330,000 personnel.

“I could not be more proud of those selected for promotion. These individuals represent the best our command has to offer and the future of the Navy Band looks bright with these folks moving into more senior leadership positions” said Captain Kenneth Collins, commanding officer of the U.S. Navy's premier band. Keeping with tradition, select family members and shipmates ceremoniously removed the chief collar insignia of their sailors and replaced them with their newly earned senior chief devices.

Farmer joined the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters chorus in 2005 as a soprano vocalist. Prior to joining the Navy, she completed a bachelor of music in vocal performance and pedagogy from Brigham Young University and returned to her home state to complete a master's of music, cum laude, at the University of Washington. She also studied at the Musik Hochschule in Graz, Austria, for one year, and was engaged as an opera singer at the Tiroler Landestheater opera house in Innsbruck, Austria, for the 2003-04 season.

May 27, 2022

NAVEX

Thompson

Portland-based NAVEX, an integrated risk and compliance management software firm, announced that Sean Thompson has been appointed as the company's new president and chief executive officer. Thompson, an experienced SaaS technology leader, will succeed CEO Bob Conlin, who will assume the role of NAVEX's executive chairman. Thompson joined NAVEX as president and chief operating officer in September of 2021. Thompson's professional experience prior to NAVEX includes ten years at Microsoft, where he held a variety of roles, culminating with group product management for its database business, followed by a series of leaderships roles at SAP, where he rose to the position of executive vice president for the company's business network. Thompson was also the founder of a successful AI startup, Nuiku, which sold to Nortek in 2016. He began his career at Deloitte Consulting.

Daybreak

James Westmoreland, president and chief executive officer, announced that Daybreak Oil and Gas has completed its acquisition of Reabold California, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daybreak. Daybreak Oil and Gas is an independent crude oil and natural gas company currently engaged in the exploration, development and production of onshore crude oil and natural gas in the United States. The company currently operates in California's Kern, Contra Costa, and Monterrey counties, and owns a 3-D seismic survey in an oil producing area in Montcalm County, Michigan. Daybreak is headquartered in Spokane Valley, Washington with an operations office in Friendswood, Texas.

Summit Bank

Summit Bank promoted Brian Thomas to senior vice president, commercial banking team leader for the bank's Portland and Southwest Washington team. The announcement was made by Craig Wanichek, chief executive officer and president of Summit Bank. Thomas has more than 13 years of experience in commercial lending with a focus on local manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and professional service providers. He will take a key role in building out the bank's community-based business, commercial real estate, and manufacturing client base. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and downtown Portland.

May 26, 2022

Skagit County

The Economic Development Alliance of Skagit County (EDASC) has hired Jorge Estefan as its new bilingual business advisor, responsible for increasing entrepreneurial opportunities and success for small business owners in Skagit County. In this role, he'll provide culturally aware one-to-one business support, lead classes and workshops, and advise on policy and programmatic work. He speaks English and Spanish fluently. Estefan joins EDASC after most recently running his own real estate business. Estefan lived in Mexico City, where he earned a bachelor of science in business administration and marketing, until 2010 before moving to the U.S. Estefan brings with him 18 years of experience in sales and management roles. He is also a current Leadership Skagit facilitator.

YouthCare

YouthCare, a Seattle-based nonprofit focused on ending youth homelessness, announced Degale Cooper as its new chief executive officer. Cooper has been YouthCare's chief program officer since 2018. YouthCare's CEO search committee worked with national search firm Kittleman and Associates and engaged community leaders and staff in defining agency needs. More than 50 individuals applied and seven candidates from across the country engaged in an interview process. As YouthCare's CEO, Cooper will be charged with working in close partnership with the board, while leading the staff to further YouthCare's strategic direction and programming in support of youth experiencing homelessness. Cooper has more than 30 years of experience meeting the needs of children and families in the Puget Sound region. Cooper held leadership positions at the YWCA, Youth Eastside Services, Treehouse and the Mockingbird Society. Colleen Echohawk has served as interim CEO since September 2021. Echohawk has recently accepted the role as CEO of Eighth Generation, a Seattle-based art and lifestyle brand owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe. Echohawk will continue to serve as a member of YouthCare's board of directors. Founded in 1974, YouthCare was one of the first shelters to serve runaway and homeless youth on the West Coast. Since then, YouthCare has expanded to offer 19 programs at 16 locations serving more than 1,500 youth every year.

Crelate

Crelate, a flexible recruitment platform for the talent industry, has added two new hires. Leigh Haydon will serve as senior vice president of revenue, and Gabe Hicks will serve as vice president of engineering. With over 15 years of sales and account management leadership across a range of successful B2B SaaS companies, Haydon will lead all sales and go-to-market functions to accelerate growth for the Crelate platform. Haydon's recent experience includes serving as vice president of investmentmanagement at Real Page, chief revenue officer at Investor Management Services, and as an advisor to early-stage SaaS B2B companies. Hicks, a technology veteran, will lead the engineering team in driving platform scale and innovation. He previously served as CTO to both Dev9 and Nortal. Earlier this year, Crelate announced new funding from Five Elms to support additional strategic growth, including key hires as the company scales. Located in the Seattle area, Crelate was founded in 2012.