Oct 21, 2022

Symetra

Ellis

McGarry

Cerrone

Symetra Life Insurance announced the promotion of Dayna Cerrone to vice president, channel head for the bank and wirehouse channels, a new role. Cerrone joins Kevin McGarry, vice president, independent broker-dealer channel, in leading Symetra's core distribution channels. The executives report to Andrew Farrell, senior vice president, retirement sales, distribution and marketing. Most recently vice president, Western Division, Cerrone joined Symetra in 2013 and is a veteran financial professional whose 30-year career encompasses roles as financial advisor, external wholesaler and corporate sales trainer at multiple financial institutions including Transamerica, AIG and American Express. In her new role, Cerrone assumes leadership for the Retirement Division's field sales teams and relationship management in the bank and wire distribution channel. McGarry joined Symetra in November 2021 following 10 years at Nationwide Financial where his most recent role was vice president and national sales manager for mutual fund distribution. Prior to Nationwide, he worked for MFS Investment Service Groups, Alliance Bernstein, and Travelers Insurance in roles that include divisional vice president, mutual fund wholesaler, and annuity wholesaler. Symetra also announced that Courtney Ellis, formerly vice president, internal sales, will take on an expanded role that now includes retirement product marketing, as VP, retirement marketing, internal sales and sales effectiveness. Ellis joined Symetra in 2012 as a product specialist in the Retirement Division before moving into internal wholesaling. She was promoted to assistant director, internal sales & distribution in 2016, and was named AVP, internal sales & distribution in 2019. She was promoted to vice president in 2022. Based in Bellevue, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers.

Gordon Rees

Estes

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani partner Allen W. Estes, III has been selected to serve as a fellow with the American College of Construction Lawyers. The ACCL is a national organization of lawyers who have demonstrated skill, experience and high standards of professional and ethical conduct in the practice, or in the teaching, of construction law, and who are dedicated to excellence in the specialized practice of construction law. Estes is one of only four fellows in Washington state and the first Gordon & Rees attorney to be invited.

Estes serves as a co-chair of the Construction Practice Group, a co-managing partner of the Seattle office, and is a member of the firm's executive committee. In his practice, he advises developers, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and sureties in all phases of project administration and delivery on public and private projects. His litigation experience includes bench and jury trials, as well as arbitrations, throughout the United States. Estes earned his B.A. with distinction from San Diego State University and his J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of Law. He served as a law clerk to Judge Franklin D. Burgess of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. Founded in 1974, Gordon & Rees has offices and attorneys in all 50 states.

Avalara

Avalara, a provider of tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, announced the completion of its acquisition by Vista Equity Partners, a global investment firm focused exclusively on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, in partnership with institutional co-investors, for $93.50 per share in cash. With the completion of the transaction, Avalara shares have ceased trading and are no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Goldman Sachs served as exclusive financial advisor to Avalara, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Perkins Coie acted as legal counsel. BofA Securities served as financial advisor to Vista and Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal counsel. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the U.S. and around the world in Brazil, Europe, and India.

Oct 20, 2022

Vacasa

Gonzalez

Vacasa announced that Rachel Gonzalez will serve as an observer on its board of directors. The company intends to seek stockholder approval to expand the size of its board and to elect Gonzalez as an independent director at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. From 2014-2018, Gonzalez served as general counsel and then chief administrative officer of Sabre, a global travel software and technology provider, where she oversaw multiple departments including human resources, corporate communications, legal strategy, regulatory and government affairs, and compliance. Gonzalez most recently served as executive vice president and general counsel of Starbucks, where she supported the board of directors and oversaw the Law & Corporate Affairs department. She currently sits on the board of Electronic Arts Inc., serving as a member of its nominating and governance committee. Vacasa, headquartered in Portland, is a vacation rental management platform.

Standard Insurance

Standard Insurance (The Standard) and Securian Financial Group reached a definitive agreement under which The Standard will acquire Securian Financial's retirement record-keeping business. The acquisition is expected to close this year. The Standard, founded in 1906 and based in Portland, has offered retirement plans since 1982 with an emphasis on small to mid-sized plans. Securian Financial, founded in 1880 and headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, offers a similar suite of defined contribution and defined benefit products and services. The transaction, which excludes Securian Financial's pension risk transfer and institutional retirement businesses, will significantly expand the scale and competitive position of The Standard's retirement offerings in the U.S. and will accelerate its diversification and growth in the retirement record-keeping segment. Securian Financial's employees, sales team and management who supported the recordkeeping business will join The Standard following the close of the transaction. PJT Partners is acting as financial advisor and Locke Lord is acting as legal advisor to The Standard. Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor and Eversheds Sutherland is acting as legal advisor to Securian Financial.

Tanium

Tanium, a provider of converged endpoint management (XEM), won best-in-class for endpoint security in the CISO Choice Awards 2022, selected by a panel of CISO judges who have served at some of the world's best-known companies. The Tanium XEM platform won top honors for its capabilities that unify disparate teams and workflows across the organization while protecting every endpoint from cyber threats. Tanium's approach integrates IT, Risk and Compliance, and Security into a single platform, complementing anti-malware solutions with real-time visibility, management, and remediation capabilities to improve cyber resilience and reduce IT shelfware. Tanium has been named to the Forbes Cloud 100 list for seven consecutive years and ranks on Fortune's list of the Best Large Workplaces in Technology.

Oct 19, 2022

Habitat for Humanity

Gali

Collins

Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County hired Robert Collins as construction manager, and Heidi Gali as bookkeeper. This growth allows Habitat to build affordable homes at a faster rate, while identifying efficiencies and cost savings across its operations.

Collins comes to Habitat with more than 20 years of corporate experience in program, financial, supply chain and operational management, and held leadership roles at Microsoft, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase. Collins will be focused on managing all aspects of Habitat's construction projects. Gali joins Habitat with more than 15 years of accounting and bookkeeping experience, most recently having worked for Gooding O'Hara and Mackey. In her new role, Gali manages Habitat's accounts receivable and payable, and supports the finance director with payroll and benefits administration. Founded in 1998, Habitat EJC is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, and operates to serve the East Jefferson County, WA community. Habitat EJC built its first home in 1999 and has since completed nearly 100 home builds, renovations and repairs.

CoreStack

Bellevue-based CoreStack, a global multi-cloud governance provider, and Feuji, a global technology services company, announced the formation of a strategic partnership. Feuji will offer its OpsRight cloud managed services on CoreStack's NextGen Cloud Governance platform to actualize best practices for cloud operations, security, compliance, access, and resources by implementing a well-architected framework. This solution will help customers achieve integrated and continuous governance across FinOps, SecOps, and CloudOps. CoreStack is backed by strategic advisors, including the ex-CEO of Wipro and ex-CIO of Microsoft. The company is a Microsoft Azure Gold Partner, Amazon AWS Advanced Technology Competency Partner, Oracle Cloud Build Partner, and Google Cloud Build Partner. Feuji

is headquartered in Dallas, with operations in Costa Rica and India.

Journey Strategic Wealth

Journey Strategic Wealth, a financial advisory firm with advisors across the country, announced the addition of three advisory teams led by Mark Newfield, Laurie Adams, and Kathleen Barlow, totaling $210 million in new assets under management. Newfield and his team in Richmond, VA, join Journey after departing Bleakley Financial Group. Adams, a Seattle-based advisor, comes to Journey after spending 14 years at Eagle Strategies, a subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company. Adams focuses on creating a supportive community, within her practice, for female wealth holders. Adams will be based in Seattle but travel across the country working with clients. As Adams integrates her practice into the firm, Journey will acquire her business. Barlow joins from Raymond James, and Journey will partially acquire her financial planning practice specializing in serving families and women.