Nov 14, 1995

Mayor Rice wins comedy showdown

SEATTLE (AP) - Seattle Mayor Norman Rice won a televised "Funniest Mayor" contest, edging out fellow chief executives with a joke that compared his rain-soaked city to a moisturizing pad. The victory on HBO's "Comic Relief VII" show Saturday night earned a $7,500 donation to Seattle's Health Care for the Homeless program. In a vidoetaped routine played for the HBO audience, Rice said poked fun at Seattle's rainy climate, manipulating his voice to gurgle as though he was speaking under water. "Seattle is so wet I've heard some people describe Seattle as a moisturizing pad disguised as a city," he said. "In fact, Seattle is so wet that sometimes (gurgling begins) you talk like you're under water. So, if you come to Seattle, be ready for wet." Second place, which included a $1,500 donation for homeless assistance, went to Newark Mayor Sharpe James. Baltimore's Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke came in third and took home $1,000. The rankings were determined by an applause meter that measured audience approval, said HBO spokesman Henry Gomez. The three finalists were picked by a panel from among nine mayors who submitted videotaped routines.

Northwest Natural Gas

PORTLAND (AP) -- Richard G. Reiten, president of Portland General Electric, has been named chief operating officer of Northwest Natural Gas Co. He also will succeed Robert L. Ridgley as chief executive officer of Northwest Natural Gas on Jan. 1, 1997, when Ridgley, 61, retires. Reiten, 56, spent 20 years in the wood products industry and 18 months as director of the Oregon Economic Development Department under then-Gov. Neil Goldschmidt before moving to PGE. Reiten said the switch to the gas company was motivated in part by the chance to head it as CEO. He's the No. 2 executive at Portland General Corp., PGE's parent company, whose chairman, Ken Harrison, 53, appears in no hurry to move on. Harrison said Reiten will not be replaced at PGE, and senior officers will now report directly to him. Northwest Natural Gas serves 400,000 customers in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington, while PGE serves 635,000 customers.

Bondo & Remer Creative Marketing

Dennis Palmer has joined Seattle-based Bondo & Remer Creative Marketing as vice president/management supervisor. Palmer, who has 20 years of advertising and marketing management experience, has held executive level positions in some of the region's largest agencies, including the Seattle office of Evansgroup as vice president/account supervisor. He also owned Pacific Rim Advertising, a Seattle-based agency that conducted campaigns in Japan for U.S. clients. Most recently, Palmer was the top advertising executive for Time Oil Co.

MWW/Strategic Communications

MWW/Strategic Communications, parent company of Seattle's MWW/Savitt, has been named the hottest public relations agency in the United States for 1995 by Inside PR, an industry magazine covering public relations news and issues. The company, ranked second in last year's competition, advanced to first place due to its growth and the addition of several new services in 1994, including graphic and multimedia design, investor relations and high-tech public relations. Founded in November 1993, the Seattle-based firm now has 17 employees and billings of more than $2.8 million.

Nov 13, 1995

Tully's Coffee

George Hubman, co-founder of Walker Richer Quinn, has been named vice president of sales and marketing for Tully's Coffee, a gourmet coffee retailer based in Seattle. Hubman recently retired as vice president of sales and marketing at WRQ, a software developer with gross revenues of approximately $67 million. He co-founded the company with two partners 14 years ago. In addition to serving on the board of Tully's, Hubman is past-president of the Business Advisory Committee for the Washington State University College of Business and Economics and a member of the board of high tech startup Xact Data.

Midcom Communications

Seattle-headquartered voice and data telecommunications provider Midcom Communications has hired Edward T. Gardner as senior vice president of human resources. Gardner has over 15 years of experience in human resources management, the past eight as vice president of human resources and site administration for Spectra-Physics Lasers Inc. Before that, he was manager of human resources for Rolm Corporation Systems Development Group, coordinator of graduate professional placement at the University of Arizona, and personnel manager for Martin Marietta Orlando Aerospace Co.

Lee Bothwell Park

A seven-acre park in the Master Planned Community of Sunrise will be named after Lee Bothwell, an Airlift Northwest pilot and Sunrise resident who died on Sept. 11 when his helicopter crashed into Puget Sound. A dedication ceremony for Lee Bothwell Park will be held at 3 p.m. on Nov. 22.

Bellevue Boys and Girls Clubs

Boys and Girls Clubs of America has selected Rob Parker, president and chief executive officer of the Bellevue Boys and Girls Club, as its Administrator of the Year for the Pacific region. Since Parker came to Bellevue in 1993, the Club has increased its membership from 4,000 to 6,000, opened a new Teen Center, developed a Computer Learning Center in public housing, added two on-site after-school programs in East Bellevue and purchased land for a major expansion of the main clubhouse in West Bellevue.