Oct 23, 1995

Dexter & Chaney

Dexter & Chaney, Seattle-based developer of FOREFRONT, an accounting and project management software for the construction industry, has named John Ulacia director of operations. Ulacia, a certified public accountant, had been a Dexter & Co. customer and FOREFRONT user since 1984 while employed at several companies. He most recently was chief financial officer and treasurer at a contractor operating in eight western states.

Pierce Transit

Pierce Transit Human Resources Director Marnie Slakey has received Washington State Department of Transportation's 1995 Outstanding Achievement Award for her contributions to the transit industry and innovations in implementing mandatory drug and alcohol testing procedures. Slakey led the formation of an 11-member joint labor-management task force and seven employee subcommittees to draft Pierce Transit's drug policy and testing procedures, assembled an employee training committee that provided drug and alcohol education, and created a newsletter entitled "Straight Talk" that kept employees informed on task force decisions. She also shared her expertise by conducting workshops throughout the state and by assisting other agencies in developing their own testing programs.

Washington State University

The Washington State University Foundation board of trustees has inducted Tim Pavish, executive vice president and director of account management for Seattle-based communications firm Elgin Syberg/DDB Needham (ES/DDBN), as a board member. Pavish, a 1980 graduate of WSU, became involved with the Foundation when he directed the ES/DDBN team that developed and launched an advertising campaign supporting a fund-raising effort of over $200 million to help increase diversity and access to the university and to enhance teaching and research opportunities. In addition to his seat on the board of trustees, Pavish also is a member of the board of advisors to WSU's highly regarded Edward R. Murrow School of Communication. Pavish has been with ES/DDBN since 1983.

Washington State Funeral Directors Assoc.

The membership of the Washington State Funeral Directors Association recently elected a new board of directors. New officers include: Howard E. Fear, Wiggen & Sons Mortuary Inc., Seattle, president; Russell C. Weeks, Weeks Funeral Homes, Enumclaw, Buckley, Tacoma, president elect; Virginia L. Mahan, Herring Funeral Home, Walla Walla, vice president; Janet Roy-Dufault, Langevin-Mussetter Funeral Home, Yakima, secretary/treasurer; and Charles E. Hennessey Jr., Hennessey-Smith Funeral Home, Spokane, immediate past president. Board directors are: Robert M. Moles Jr., Jones-Moles Funeral Home, Bellingham; Walter L. King, Brown Mortuary Service Inc., Chehalis; James H. Noel, Mountain View Funeral Home, Tacoma; James E. Richardson, Seattle Cluster Manager, SCI, Kirkland; and Dave Sharp, Mills & Mills Funeral Home.

Oct 20, 1995

Quinn Consulting Group

Quinn Consulting Group, a full-service research specializing in focus groups and polling for the media, has relocated from Portland to the Eastside with an office in Woodinville, at 14201 209th Ave. N.E. Quinn, who has 15 years of experience in marketing, specializes in professional training and market research. She is a certified instructor of Steven Covey's "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," and is a part-time instructor of International Business at City University.

Whitman College

Whitman College, a private liberal arts and sciences college in Walla Walla, has hired Tony Cabasco as the new assistant director of admission in charge of its Seattle-area office. Cabasco replaces John Bogley, who recently was promoted to director of admission. After graduating from Whitman, Cabasco spent one year teaching English in Xian, China, as part of the Whitman-In-China exchange program. He then worked as an admission officer at Whitman for two years before spending the past two years completing a master's degree in international studies at the University of Washington.

The Puyallup Fair

The board of directors of the Western Washington Fair has selected Hinton and Steel as the advertising agency for the Puyallup Fair. The account is estimated in the $750,000 range. Fair advertising has swayed in recent years from the well-known "Do The Puyallup" theme, but the board decided to come back to that slogan and hired its originator Dennis Hinton. He created the previous fair-advertising theme while working as a copywriter at Seattle-based Cole & Weber in 1976.

Oct 19, 1995

Watson Wyatt

Seattle-based Watson Wyatt Worldwide, an international human resources and management consulting firm, has hired Valerie Stevens as Northwest retirement practice leader. Stevens has particular expertise in coordinating retirement benefits alignment studies, early retirement incentive programs and strategic retirement planning. Prior to joining Watson Wyatt, she was a consulting actuary with Towers Perrin in Houston and San Francisco. She began her actuarial career with Safeco Life Insurance in Seattle in 1984, and has served as primary actuary to public and private sector organizations including Continental Airlines, San Francisco city and county, and Union Texas Petroleum.

MWW/Savitt

Dana Smith has joined Seattle's MWW/Savitt, the West Coast office of independent public relations firm MWW/Strategic Communications Inc., as an account executive. Previously, Smith was deputy director of communications for Northwest Strategies. She honed her government relations savvy and writing skills during a four-year tenure as public information officer for the Democratic Legislative Services office at the Washington State House of Representatives.

Puget Sound Therapy Services

Allen Weymiller has been named practice manager for Puget Sound Therapy Services. Weymiller comes to PSTS after five years as an administrator for the University of Washington's Housing Services Department. Prior to that, he worked for the Housing Services department at Michigan State University. With offices in Kent, Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton and Bainbridge Island, PSTS is one of Western Washington's largest locally owned providers of occupational, physical and speech therapists.

KOMO TV

KOMO TV 4, a Seattle affiliate of ABC owned and operated by Fisher Broadcasting, has made several additions and promotions hired in its news department. Debra Preitkis, previously a TV news producer at KOAT TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been hired as the weekday morning TV news producer. Alan Blaich has been hired as a TV sports photo journalist. He formerly worked for KTXL in Sacramento as a news/sports photo journalist. Tina Pontecorvo has been promoted to TV news writer/producer. Previously, Pontecorvo worked for KOMO TV as a part-time TV news writer in 1994 and in 1993 as a Microwave production assistant. And, Sharon Quashie has been hired as TV news receptionist/desk monitor. Before joining KOMO, she worked for Seattle's KIRO TV in local programming.

Washington State University

Three executives from Trillium Corp. have been named Washington State University's Fall De Young executive-in-residence program. The Bellingham-based company acquires, develops and manages a portfolio of real estate and natural resource assets in the United States, Canada and Chile with a value approaching $500 million. Chairman and chief executive officer David Syre, a 1964 WSU graduate who founded and owns Trillium, and co-presidents Steve Brinn and Erik Anderson will be on the Pullman campus Oct. 26 and 27 to visit classes and share their company's story with students. As part of that visit, the trio will present a public program, "Entrepreneurial Leadership, Artistry and Hope," at 8 p.m. on Oct. 26 in the Todd Hall Annex, Room 276. The executive-in-residence program, established in 1973 and later sponsored by the Dennis DeYoung family of Kirkland, brings regional, national and international business leaders to WSU.