Jun 16, 2022

Seattle Opera

Seattle Opera has selected Dennis Robinson, Jr., a seasoned theater administrator with extensive experience as a stage director, as its next director of programs and partnerships. Robinson studied opera directing at Carnegie Mellon University. He was most recently the manager of artistic administration at Palm Beach Opera. Before arriving in Palm Beach, Robinson served as director of education and accessibility at City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh and manager of community programs and accessibility at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. His directorial career includes engagements at Boston Lyric Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival, Pittsburgh Opera, and Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, where he was resident assistant director for five years. Robinson designed collaborations in Pittsburgh with organizations such as the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Seattle Opera was established in 1963.

BECU

BECU's CEO and President Benson Porter announced that he is retiring at the end of the year, after ten years leading the credit union and more than 35 years in the financial services industry. During Porter's time at the credit union, BECU has grown from just under $10 billion in assets to more than $30 billion in total assets today. During that same period, membership grew from over 800,000 members to more than 1.28 million members this past year. The credit union also expanded its business services to serve over 68,600 business members.

The BECU Board of Directors has established a CEO Succession Committee to select its new leader. Recruiting efforts will begin soon, which includes executing a nationwide search that will consider internal and external applicants.

Altavair

Altavair appointed Brian Rynott as senior vice president, marketing – Americas. Rynott will play a key role in expanding and deepening relationships across the Americas to further grow Altavair's managed fleet of leased commercial aircraft. Rynott brings over 20 years of airline and aviation experience to Altavair. Prior to joining Altavair, he held senior positions at Alinda Capital Partners, an independent investment manager, and Alton Aviation Consultancy, where he contributed to the firm's practice areas in aircraft financing and leasing, airline advisory and restructuring, and strategy and management consulting engagements. Previously, Rynott was the chief investment officer with Intrepid Aviation, a commercial aircraft lessor. Earlier in his career, he served as vice president of risk management at aircraft lessor AWAS. Altavair is an asset manager focusing on the acquisition of new and used commercial aircraft for leasing to domestic and international passenger airlines and cargo operators. Altavair maintains offices in Seattle, London, Dublin and Singapore.

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the largest winery in the Pacific Northwest and the third-largest premium winery in the United States, announced several changes to its winemaking team, under the direction of Chief Winemaker Juan Muñoz-Oca. After 9 years as winemaker for Col Solare and 26 years with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, Darel Allwine will retire at the end of June. Allwine joined Col Solare in 2006 as a cellar master before taking over as head winemaker in 2013. Stephanie Cohen, who has been working alongside Allwine at Col Solare since 2020, has been named winemaker. Cohen has held vineyard and cellar roles at wineries in New Zealand, California, Australia, and Oregon prior to joining Col Solare. And, after nearly 20 years at the helm of one of Oregon's founding wineries, Gary Horner of Erath Winery, will also retire at the end of the month. Leah Adint has been named head winemaker for Erath. Adint is just the third head winemaker in Erath's 50-year history. She has held viticulture and winemaking roles at wineries in California, Australia, France, Switzerland, and Washington. Prior to joining the winemaking team at Erath in 2021, she was the traveling winemaker for Chateau Ste. Michelle. Col Solare is a partnership between Chateau Ste. Michelle and Italy's Marchesi Antinori. The Ste. Michelle Wine Estates portfolio includes Chateau Ste. Michelle, 14 Hands Winery, Columbia Crest, Intrinsic Wine, Erath Winery, Patz & Hall, Borne of Fire, Northstar, and Spring Valley Vineyard, along with several other premium brands.

Jun 15, 2022

Puyallup Tribal Council

Bill Sterud and Annette Bryan won re-election to the Puyallup Tribe’s seven-person governing body. They will serve three year terms. Bryan, who was first elected in 2016, is now serving her third term. Sterud first joined Tribal Council in 1978 and has served many times in the chair and vice chair offices. The Tribal Council voted to reappoint Sterud as chairman and Sylvia Miller as vice chair for the coming year. The Puyallup Tribe of Indians is a sovereign nation of more than 5,000 members and one of the largest employers in Pierce County. The Puyallup Tribal Council is the elected governing body of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. Additional councilmembers are James Rideout, Anna Bean, Monica Miller and Fred Dillon.

Jun 14, 2022

Seattle Art Museum

Diaz

The Seattle Art Museum announced that Jose Carlos Diaz will be the museum's Susan Brotman deputy director for art, following an international search. Since May 2016, Diaz has served as the chief curator at The Andy Warhol Museum, part of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. He will assume his position with SAM in July. He succeeds Chiyo Ishikawa, who retired in 2020 after 30 years at the museum. In his role at SAM, Diaz will oversee the museum's artistic program, leading eight curators and other staff in exhibitions, collections, publications and libraries to present art in support of SAM's mission. Diaz is a specialist in contemporary art, multidisciplinary programming, and an expert on Andy Warhol. Prior to his role at The Warhol, Diaz was the curator of exhibitions at The Bass in Miami Beach. Diaz also held positions at Tate Liverpool and at the Liverpool Biennial. In 2003, Diaz tenured as curatorial intern at The Rubell Museum in Miami. He received a BA in art history from San Francisco State University and a MA in cultural history from the University of Liverpool. Diaz was a 2018 Fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership and chaired the Curatorial Leadership Summit at The Armory Show in 2020. He currently serves on the board of trustees for the Association of Art Museum Curators.

Aduro

Aduro promoted Justin Jed and Cliff Drane to their executive leadership team, as chief operating officer and chief experience officer, respectively. Both Jed and Drane have extensive software and agency leadership experience, bringing a combined 50+ years in product development, user experience, and employee wellbeing technology to the team. Jed started at Aduro as general manager of the new markets division. He formerly worked as the vice president of product management at employee wellbeing company Limeade, as head of product, platforms and background check and user experience at software company Sterling, and director of product management and planning at Microsoft. Drane joined Aduro in 2021 as vice president of product & design for the new markets division. He previously worked as vice president of design and user experience at Under Armour, group creative director at Razorfish, and vice president of creative & user experience, and VP of global expansion for Limeade. As chief operating officer, Jed is tasked with leading the Aduro client and member experience teams and business operations team. As chief experience officer, Drane will lead marketing, PR and brand for Aduro, as well as provide vision for the customer and user experience across the entire range of Aduro solutions. Based in Redmond, Aduro is a SaaS provider of corporate wellness solutions.

Frazier Healthcare Partners

Frazier Healthcare Partners, a Seattle-based, healthcare-focused private equity firm, announced the completion of its acquisition of Apollo Intelligence, a provider of real-time data and insights to the healthcare and life science industries. Apollo was founded in 2019. The Apollo platform launched with its acquisition of InCrowd, a pioneer of real-time, automated insights for the life science industry. In 2020, Apollo acquired Survey Healthcare Global, a global market leader of first-party healthcare data collection and custom survey solutions. Frazier Executive in Residence, Vivek Sharma, will join Apollo as executive chairman on the board of directors. Sharma has extensive experience leading tech-enabled healthcare services organizations supporting the life science end market, including most recently as CEO of Decision Resources Group before its sale to Clarivate. Frazier Center of Excellence Partner, Ken McLaren, will similarly play a role in developing and executing Apollo's growth strategy, leveraging his prior experiences as SVP of data analytics and insights at Clarivate and chief strategy officer at DRG. Assisting in this agreement was Kirkland & Ellis, acting as legal advisor to Frazier. Apollo was advised by Canaccord Genuity (lead financial advisor), Houlihan Lokey Capital (co-financial advisor), and the law firm of Goodwin Procter.