Sep 02, 2022

ExtraHop

Seattle-based ExtraHop, a provider of cloud-native network intelligence, announced the appointment of four new leaders to its executive team: Matt Parson as chief financial officer, Christine Nurnberger as chief marketing officer, Lauren Zajac as chief legal officer, and John Hoffman as chief people officer. As CFO, Parson will oversee the company's financial operations with an eye toward bringing public-market discipline to ExtraHop. He was most recently CFO at Paymentus, a publicly traded SaaS-based payment solutions provider. Parson also spent 12 years at Red Hat across a number of roles in the organization. As CMO, Nurnberger will focus on growth and marketing strategies to help ExtraHop tap into new global markets and expand in existing markets. Most recently, Nurnberger spent eight years as the CMO at Bottomline, a provider of business payment automation and digital banking solutions. As CLO, Zajac will oversee all ExtraHop global legal, ethics and integrity, and compliance strategy and operations. She spent the past 15 years at Workhuman where she led all legal, compliance, and data protection functions. Zajac also has served as general counsel for a broad mix of high-growth technology companies. As CPO, Hoffman will guide ExtraHop people functions, including human resources, global recruitment, and talent acquisition. Most recently, Hoffman was chief people and productivity officer at Alvaria.

Somalytics

Somalytics received seed funding of $1.9 million to launch mass production of its new sensor. The funding was led by hard science investment firm IP Group with support from WRF Capital. IP Group provided the initial investment for Somalytics that helped launch the company last year out of CoMotion, University of Washington's collaborative innovation hub. The nanotechnology start-up is commercializing a patent-pending carbon-nanotube paper composite capacitive sensor, which is a new technology developed by University of Washington researchers in collaboration with CoMotion. Somalytics expects to begin mass production of its sensors before the end of the year out of its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Redmond, which it moved into in July. WRF Capital, a reserve pool of funds that Washington Research Foundation invests in local early-stage companies, has backed 119 startups since 1996.

State of Washington

Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced he has selected Assistant Attorney General Morgan Damerow as the Attorney General's Office Open Government Ombuds. For the previous two years, a team of assistant attorneys general performed the ombuds' duties. That team included Morgan Damerow and one of the deputy attorneys general who serves on the office's Core Leadership Team. In 2013, Ferguson restored the Open Government Ombuds to a full-time position. Ferguson's first ombuds, Nancy Krier, retired in June 2020, after seven years of service. Damerow will assist citizens, public agencies and elected officials with Open Public Meetings Act and Public Records Act compliance. The work of the ombuds includes: answering questions about the Open Public Meetings Act; providing Open Public Meetings Act training to newly elected officials; answering inquiries from individuals on how agencies should comply with the Public Records Act; and providing guidance to state and local agencies on their approach to public records requests.

WaFd Bank

Washington Federal, parent company of Washington Federal Bank, (WaFd Bank) announced the promotion of Kelli Holz, veteran banker and current senior vice president chief risk officer to chief financial officer effective January 1, 2023. She replaces Vincent Beatty, who announced in January 2022 that he will be retiring at the end of this December. Holz is both a certified public accountant and certified anti-money laundering specialist, and brings 34 years of finance and risk experience in various leadership positions to this role. She was controller and interim chief financial officer at Horizon Bank in Bellingham, prior to that institution being acquired by Washington Federal Bank in 2010. Holz holds an accounting and business administration degree from Western Washington University. She is also active as a member of the board of trustees and treasurer for the Meridian Public School Foundation where she oversees the granting of college scholarships for high school graduates. Established in 1917, WaFd Bank operates branches in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico.

Sep 01, 2022

University of Washington

Liu

Yajuan (Susan) Liu, CPA and principal of Hongxin Wealth & Tax Planning Group, has been appointed to the University of Washington Bothell School of Business Dean's Advisory Board. The board provides strategic guidance, helps build external partnerships and deepens the school's relationship with the business community. Spanning manufacturing, retail, aerospace, accounting, design, software, services, healthcare and consulting, volunteer board members bring their experience and expertise to bear on the advice they provide the school. Liu is an internationally recognized expert in international tax planning and tax compliance services to U.S. citizens, green card holders, and Chinese investors. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Nankai University in China. Before starting Hongxin Wealth & Tax Planning Group in Bellevue in 2015, she worked for eight years at Microsoft and spent two years at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor to high-net-worth clients. Liu is frequently invited to Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities to lecture to local investors and companies on tax consulting and planning. She has been a featured speaker on topics of accounting, taxation, and finance at the University of Washington - Bothell, the Northeast China Association, and the Washington Association of Chinese American Physicians.

Madrona

Mehandru

Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm based in Seattle, announced that Karan Mehandru is joining the firm's investment team as a managing director. He has fifteen years of experience as a venture investor and board member for rapidly scaling private businesses, working closely with founders, their teams, and partners to build lasting companies. Mehandru will be based in Silicon Valley, opening a Madrona office in Palo Alto to expand the firm's Bay Area network and team. Immediately prior to Madrona, Mehandru led the venture capital practice at STEADFAST Capital, where he focused on AI, enterprise software, future of work, fintech, and related sectors. He led acceleration stage investments in, and partnered with, companies like Zapier, Klaviyo, Jumpcloud, Algolia, LucidChart, Sendbird, Wealthsimple and Pipefy. Before Steadfast, Mehandru spent more than a decade at Trinity Ventures investing in early and acceleration stage founders and teams. Mehandru started his venture career at Scale Venture Partners, working with mid-stage companies. The Madrona team is currently investing out of Fund 8 and Acceleration Fund 2, announced in early 2020. Fund 8 focuses primarily on Seed and Series A companies based in the Pacific Northwest. The Acceleration Fund focuses on Series B stage companies and beyond anywhere in North America.

Lane Powell

Miles

Jesse Miles has joined Lane Powell as an associate on the Commercial Litigation Team. Prior to joining Lane Powell, Miles was a law clerk for the Hon. David S. Mann of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I. Miles' time with the court exposed him to myriad areas of Washington law and afforded him the opportunity to work on nearly 60 opinions over two years. Before his time with the court, Miles worked as a clerk for the Department of Energy's Bonneville Power Administration, The Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resource Division, the legal clinic Western Resources Legal Center, and Occidental Petroleum. Miles is a published biologist with experience in the environmental sciences. He worked as a research fellow during his study at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, as a laboratory technician at The U.S. Geological Survey, and as a teaching and research assistant at Purdue University. Miles received his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, his M.S. in Aquatic Ecology from Purdue University, and his B.S. in Biology from The University of Virginia's College at Wise.

Aug 31, 2022

Summit Bank

Brian Thomas, commercial banking team leader for Summit Bank, announced that Jackie Costello has been hired as vice president, business client advisor for Summit Bank's Portland/Southwest Washington market. Costello comes to Summit with over 30 years of banking experience supporting commercial and private banking clients in the Portland and Washington area, most recently as a lender for another community bank. She is also a former team lead for a regional trust bank. Costello serves on the board of Candlelighters for Children with Cancer. Costello will help manage Summit Bank's client portfolio and help grow Summit's loan and deposit portfolio. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and downtown Portland. In 2021, the bank was named the Top Small Business Administration Community Bank Lender in the State of Oregon and in 2022, has been named to Oregon Business Magazine's Top 100 Best Places to Work.

Masonry Institute

The Masonry Institute of Washington is accepting submissions for the 2023 Excellence in Masonry Design Awards, celebrating the best masonry designs in Washington State. Masonry materials include: brick, CMU, stone, tile, marble and terrazzo. These projects represent the finest standards in masonry design, innovation, structural performance, and overall masonry integration with the client and surrounding community. Keeping with tradition and celebrating over 40 years of Northwest Masonry projects, the 2023 Projects will be judged by out-of-state from the A/E/C industry and the Banquet will include a presentation and ceremony. The MIW Excellence Awards in Masonry will have an awards banquet on February 23, 2023. Architects, contractors and building owners are encouraged to submit their projects to the competition. Submission guidelines are available at masonryinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023-Awards-Entry-Guide.pdf. For further information contact bdodge@masonryinstitute.com.

Standard Insurance

Portland-based Standard Insurance (The Standard) has promoted Nathan Whiteley to assistant vice president of short term disability, absence management and return to work services. Whiteley joined The Standard in 2005 and has been a member of The Standard's claims team for 17 years. Most recently, he was senior director of disability benefits where he led the company's Group LTD teams since 2018. Whiteley earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from Oregon State University. The Standard, in business since 1906, is a provider of financial protection products and services for employers and individuals.