Nov 15, 2022

Yesler

Welch

Yesler hired Michael Welch as vice president of sales, where he will lead the sales and customer experience program. Welch has over 25 years of sales experience, and prior to joining Yesler held roles at New Relic, Thales, Verivo, Safenet and Microvision. Yesler Marketplace is a platform of software tools built specifically for managing and optimizing the buying and selling of lumber and building materials. Matt Meyers is the CEO and founder of Seattle-based Yesler.

Ascensus Specialties

Ascensus Specialties acquired the business and certain assets of Strem Chemicals UK, the independent distributor of Ascensus high-purity, research-grade catalysts, ligands, organometallics, metal carbonyls and CVD/ALD precursors for the UK market. The senior leadership of Strem UK will continue to work with Ascensus to ensure the smooth transition of customer relationships. Ascensus Specialties is headquartered in Bellevue, and operates production sites in Elma, Washington; Evans City, Pennsylvania; Newburyport, Massachusetts; and Cambridge, UK,

Washington Federal

Washington Federal and Luther Burbank jointly announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement. Washington Federal will acquire Luther Burbank and its subsidiary Luther Burbank Savings in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $654 million. The transaction is anticipated to close as early as the second calendar quarter of 2023, and will expand Washington Federal's franchise into California. The combined institution will have approximately $29 billion in total assets, $23 billion in total loans and $22 billion in total deposits with over 210 locations in Washington, California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Washington Federal was advised in the transaction by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company as financial advisor and Davis Wright Tremaine as legal counsel. Luther Burbank was advised by Piper Sandler & Co. as financial advisor and Holland & Knight as legal counsel. Washington Federal is headquartered in Seattle. Luther Burbank is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California.

Schnitzer Steel Industries

Schnitzer Steel Industries announced that its board of directors has appointed Gregory Friedman as a new independent director. Friedman will serve on the audit committee and the compensation and human resources committee of the board. Friedman currently serves as the chief financial officer of Mura Technology, a plastics recycling technology company supported by investments by multiple petrochemical and industrial companies. Friedman served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Corteva Agriscience, a spin-off of DowDuPont. This appointment brings Schnitzer's board of directors to nine members. Schnitzer Steel Industries manufactures and exports recycled metal products, with operating facilities in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and Western Canada. Schnitzer has seven deep water export facilities located on both the East and West Coasts and in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1906 in Portland.

Nov 10, 2022

Ultra Safe Nuclear

Superfin

Alexander Superfin joined Ultra Safe Nuclear as senior vice president, project development. Superfin will drive progress on projects including site characterization, site-specific engineering, and ensuring nuclear plant license applications are submitted to nuclear regulators globally. He brings 40 years of experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors, managing large projects in North America, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. Superfin's previous role of nuclear power president at Worley involved development and oversight of nuclear projects globally, including consultancy and engineering for new-build large nuclear power plant projects and Small Modular Reactors. Ultra Safe Nuclear is headquartered in Seattle.

Mutual of Enumclaw

Sinkus

Titus

Mutual of Enumclaw, a Washington-based insurance carrier, expanded its executive team with the addition of two leaders in the company's Underwriting and Client Services divisions. As chief member experience officer, Jerel Titus brings 25 years of insurance industry experience. He will be responsible for overseeing Claims, Marketing and Member Services. Jerel most recently served as vice president, operations at Prudential Financial. As Mutual of Enumclaw's newly appointed chief underwriting officer, Nick Sinkus brings more than 18 years of experience in the insurance industry to his new role overseeing enterprise-wide underwriting and product organization across the Personal, Commercial and Farm lines. Sinkus most recently served as vice president, personal lines at Mutual of Enumclaw. Prior to joining Mutual of Enumclaw, he served in various roles at Travelers. Mutual of Enumclaw operates in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming and Montana.

SirionLabs

Bellevue-based SirionLabs announced that contract automation platform Zendoc has joined the Sirion team. This expansion further deepens Sirion's commitment to the applications of artificial intelligence in enhancing contract lifecycle management (CLM) as a category. Through the Zendoc acquisition, Sirion is also establishing a Center of Excellence (CoE) in Nice, France, located in the heart of the region known as the European Silicon Valley. This new European CoE joins a recently established Sirion CoE in Toronto as the company continues to scale up just months after its $85 million Series D funding round in May led by Partners Group. Zendoc's co-founder and CEO Laurent Lathieyre will assume the role of Sirion's head of post signature applications.

Nov 09, 2022

Woodruff Sawyer

Schmidt

Woodruff Sawyer hired Tim Schmidt as vice president, producer for its Seattle office. Prior to joining Woodruff Sawyer, Schmidt spent seven years at Parker, Smith and Feek, where he was a construction and P&C producer. Prior to that, he spent 10 years in commercial banking. In his role, Schmidt will partner with construction clients to navigate insurance solutions and advise on their overall risk management. He will be directly involved in the placement of insurance through guaranteed cost, loss sensitive, and alternative risk programs. Schmidt is certified as a Construction Risk Insurance Specialist, and attended Washington State University. Woodruff Sawyer is an insurance brokerage and consulting firm headquartered in San Francisco with offices throughout the U.S.

Summit Bank

Summit Bank was recognized as the 2022 Top Community Bank Lender in Oregon. Lending year-end totals reported by the U.S. Small Business Administration Portland District Office (with territory including Oregon and Southwest Washington) were recently published. The results detail that Summit Bank is the number one community lender in SBA 504 loans and the top community bank lender for SBA 7(a) loans. Summit Bank's SBA program has achieved recognition as the top community bank lender in Oregon since 2015. In addition, Ashley Horner, Summit Bank SBA Program Administrator, was recently elected to the board of directors of the National Association of Guaranteed Lenders, a national trade association serving private-sector lenders. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and downtown Portland.

CRU Data Security Group

CRU Data Security Group announced the addition of Jim McCartney as vice president of sales. McCartney will lead the sales operations for the company from its Vancouver headquarters. McCartney brings more than 30 years of expertise in technology sales and leadership. Most recently he worked with Wacom Technology as head of sales, professional products. His experience spans a wide range of industries including transportation, construction, manufacturing, education, healthcare, consumer electronics, business services and nonprofit organizations. He worked in sales for hardware and software companies in the Silicon Valley after earning his bachelor's degree in strategic communications from the University of Wisconsin. CRU Data Security Group designs and develops products that secure and protect data from cyber and natural threats via its four brands, CRU, DIGISTOR, ioSafe, and WiebeTech. The company's TAA-compliant solutions are used by the Department of Defense, members of NATO, federal agencies, major OEMs, law enforcement, and businesses worldwide. The company maintains offices in California, Idaho, Kansas, Ohio, and Texas.

Pro-Vac

Puyallup-based Pro-Vac has acquired Vac-One, a provider of hydro excavation services in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and New Mexico. The combination will enable Pro-Vac to rapidly expand its subsurface infrastructure service offering across a national footprint. The combination was supported by Gallant Capital Partners, the majority owner of Pro-Vac, who will continue to invest significant capital into the combined business to further expand Pro-Vac. Founded in 2002, Pro-Vac is a provider of essential subsurface infrastructure services. The company's service offerings include hydro excavation, stormwater and sewer systems maintenance, pipeline jetting, pipeline repair / grouting, CCTV pipe inspections, vacuum sweeping and other specialty services. Pro-Vac's customers include contractors, municipalities, and utility companies. Vac-One was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Deer Park, Texas. Gallant Capital Partners, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a private equity firm that makes control investments in industrial, business services, and technology companies.