Dec 15, 2023

Cambia Health Solutions

Portland-based Cambia Health Solutions announced several changes to its leadership team. Lindsay Harris has been promoted to the new role of chief commercial officer to lead the day-to-day performance and growth of Cambia's health plan business across its four-state footprint, as well as leading network management, clinical services and marketing. Harris has over 20 years of experience in health care, most recently as president and CEO of Healthcare Management Administrators (HMA), a Cambia company. Aadam Hussain has been appointed president and CEO of HMA, where he will drive ongoing innovation, growth and support in the design of health plans for employers providing self-funded health benefits. Hussain has led digital programs and strategic partnerships for Cambia since 2020. Prior to Cambia, Hussain spent his career as both an operator and investor working with growth and early-stage health care companies. Finally, Laurent Rotival, who leads strategic technology solutions and serves as Cambia's chief information officer, has been promoted to executive vice president. These leadership changes will take effect Jan. 1.

Oregon Pacific Bank

Oregon Pacific Bank appointed Angelique Whitlow and Jason Hall to its board. Whitlow is the chief financial officer at Hunter-Davisson, and has a background in financial operations, strategic leadership and community engagement. Hall, a CPA partner at Hoffman, Stewart & Schmidt, has a background in assurance, tax consulting and financial statement analysis. The additions of Whitlow and Hall to the board highlights Oregon Pacific Bank's move to fortify its presence in the Portland market. This expansion complements the opening of the bank's new full-service branch in Tigard, Oregon.

Parks and Recreation Commission

Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Scott Merriman as the newest member of the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. The commission is made up of seven citizen members appointed by the governor. Commissioners are responsible for guiding the policies that steer the agency. Other duties include approving the agency's strategic plan, setting budget priorities and approving changes to Parks-related Washington Administrative Code. Merriman recently retired after 35 years of public service in governmental relations, where he worked with the state Legislature, tribes and local governments. Merriman's term runs through Dec. 31, 2028. He takes the seat vacated by Mark O. Brown, who sat on the commission for two consecutive terms, with his tenure totaling over 12 years. Brown also supported Parks through many transformative periods, including a shift from relying primarily on state general tax funding to developing the revenue streams that now fund 80% of the agency. The commission manages more than 100 state parks and properties totaling about 120,000 acres.

Dec 14, 2023

Woodland Park Zoo

Zhang

Woodland Park Zoo named Linda Zhang as its new chief financial officer. Zhang most recently was CFO for Seattle Indian Health Board. Her first day at the zoo will be Dec. 29. Zhang has leadership experience from diverse sectors, including nonprofit, health care, global manufacturing, investment consulting, architecture-engineering-construction and private equity. Previously, she was CFO of HRC Fertility Management, global manufacturer Fushi Copperweld and Chicago-based investment consulting firm Marco Consulting Group. In her new role, Zhang will oversee the business and finance strategy and operations at the zoo. She holds an MBA in finance from Penn State University, and a bachelor's degree in engineering and architecture from Tongji University.

Department of Commerce

Williams

Anderson

Washington Department of Commerce welcomed back two former agency executives to lead industry sector economic development: Julie Anderson rejoined the department in November as agricultural innovation sector lead; and Dr. Joseph Williams came back on board this month as information and communications technology (ICT) sector lead. Both are based in the department's Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness in Seattle. Anderson returns after stints with the city of Tacoma and Pierce County, where she was the elected county auditor for 13 years. Prior to that, she served Commerce (then the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development) as a senior policy advisor focused on Washington's green economy job initiative, industry cluster development, and Innovation Partnership Zones. She also served on the Community Economic Revitalization Board, providing low-interest loans and grants for public infrastructure to promote private business growth. Williams will again lead ICT sector development at Commerce after serving as the Seattle director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory from 2019 to 2022. He held the ICT sector lead role from 2016 to 2019, during which time the state experienced unprecedented economic growth in its tech sector. Williams most recently was the global lead partner for the cybersecurity practice at Infosys Consulting. During his previous tenure at Commerce, he was appointed as an assembly program fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, where he worked with others on developing an AI ethics framework. A former executive at Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, Williams also served as the dean of the School of Business, Government, and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. Williams will lead Commerce's work with the industry, stakeholders and partners to deepen Washington's status as a world leader in quantum computing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. His immediate focus includes helping the state secure federal funding made possible by the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

Dec 13, 2023

BECU

BECU named Drew Wolff executive vice president and chief financial officer. In his role, Wolff is responsible for ensuring all aspects of BECU's financial strategy, management and performance support the credit union's near- and long-term strategic objectives. Prior to joining the executive team, Wolff was BECU's audit committee chairperson and was CFO at Trupanion, a pet insurance provider in Seattle. He was also previously CFO of Starbucks' International and Channel Development divisions, and held senior roles at Barclays and Washington Mutual. Wolff also served as an officer on several nuclear submarines with the U.S. Navy. He replaces Melba Bartels as CFO, who joined BECU in 2017 and recently announced her decision to retire on April 1. She will support Wolff's transition in an advisory role. Wolff has participated on the boards of the Center for Sustainable Energy, Bainbridge Community Foundation and L.A.C.E.S. Wolff holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the U.S. Naval Academy. BECU operates 60 financial centers.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo, a platform for businesses to find, acquire and grow customers, is ranked No. 8 on the Fortune Future 50 for 2023 — a list that recognizes the long-term revenue growth prospects of the world's largest public companies. Since 2017, Fortune has teamed up with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to produce the Future 50, an index of companies that are built to deliver robust growth, along with outsized returns for shareholders in the long term. To identify the Future 50, the BCG Henderson Institute think tank examined over 1,700 publicly traded companies and used a “vitality” index to determine the rankings. This index is based on a top-down, market-based assessment of a company's growth potential, and a bottom-up analysis of its capacity to deliver against this potential, based on financial and non-financial metrics such as long-term strategic orientation, technology and investments, people and structure. ZoomInfo is part of a tech industry cohort that accounts for 28 of the 50 spots on this year's list, with BCG's analysis citing the strong overall long-term growth potential of the sector. ZoomInfo is headquartered in Vancouver, Clark County.

Dec 12, 2023

The Standard

Fung

Rivera

Portland-based Standard Insurance Co. (The Standard) announced that Angelo Rivera has been promoted to second vice president of specialty market sales and partnerships in Employee Benefits. In his new role, Rivera will oversee voluntary product and absence management practice leaders, technology solutions consultants, national account practice leaders and strategic partner consultants. Rivera has been with The Standard for more than 15 years. For the past eight years, he has served as employee benefits manager of the Denver office. Rivera earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from Northeastern University in Boston. The Standard also announced that Tony Fung has been promoted to second vice president of IDI underwriting and GSI. Fung will lead the fully underwritten and Guaranteed Standard Issue Individual Disability Insurance underwriting teams in addition to leading GSI operations. Fung joined The Standard in 2016 as director and chief underwriter for GSI. For the past four years, he has served as senior director of GSI operations and underwriting. Prior to joining The Standard, Fung worked as an underwriting manager at Kaiser Permanente and a financial consultant at Mercer. In business since 1906, The Standard provides financial protection products and services for employers and individuals.

Port of Bremerton

Each year, the Washington Public Ports Association selects one port to honor as the Washington Port of the Year. This award is given to the port that shows the greatest success in the industry as a way to motivate new innovation. The Port of Bremerton was this year's recipient. The Port of Bremerton operates four facilities: Bremerton National Airport, Bremerton Marina, Port Orchard Marina, and Olympic View Industrial Park. During the past year, the port received $15.7 million in funding for the Port Orchard Marina breakwater, hosted U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for a press conference, added an electric charging conduit at Bremerton National Airport, and started community initiatives. The Port of Bremerton is the largest port in Kitsap County, and according to a recent study, has created almost $1.2 billion in economic impact and provides approximately 2,615 jobs. The port has also donated an average of 6,700 pounds of nonperishable items each year to local food banks, started an Earth Day initiative in partnership with the Great Peninsula Conservancy, helped fund over 55 events each year, and helped in the creation of Seabeck's pickleball courts. Jim Rothlin is the port CEO.

Seattle Preschool Program

For the sixth year, the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) has received national recognition for high-quality preschool programming. The award was presented by CityHealth and the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University for Seattle's publicly funded preschools, which include SPP, Seattle's Pathway program, and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. Seattle was one of 22 cities, out of 75 rated by CityHealth, to receive a gold medal award. The honors stem from an annual report released by NIEER that rates how 75 of the largest U.S. cities are leading on policies that address health and well-being, including 10 standards for high-quality, accessible pre-K. Between 2018 and 2021, SPP received silver medal awards. With ongoing improvements to the program, including new dual-language classrooms, SPP received its first gold medal award in 2022. SPP currently serves almost 2,000 children. It is funded by the 2018 Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy and is an integral component in the city's strategy to eliminate race-based opportunity gaps in educational outcomes.