Feb 06, 1996

Vander Houwen

Kelly Traw has joined Vander Houwen Public Relations in Bellevue as an assistant account executive. He previously worked in marketing and sales at Festivals, Incorporated on Mercer Island, promoting the Coffee Fest trade shows across the country. Before moving to Seattle, he held marketing positions with First Financial Management Corporation in Boston, and with American Lawyer Newspapers Group In New York City.

Toll Free Cellular

Charles C. Hunter has been named vice president of business development and general counsel for Toll Free Cellular (TFC), a locally-based company providing cellular services which plans to expand nationally in 1996. Hunter, a 15-year veteran of the telecommunications industry, negotiated the first nationwide cellular service agreement. He was also involved in many of the early comparative hearings in which the initial cellular licenses were awarded and was instrumental in establishing the "nonwireline" alliances that dominated the second and third tier markets nationwide. For the last six years, Hunter has served as a consultant to companies on the legal, regulatory and legislative issues affecting the telecommunications industry.

Regional Transit Authority

Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewel has been elected chairman of the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority Board and King County Councilmember Greg Nickels and Tacoma City Councilmember Paul Miller have been elected to serve as vice chairs. Drewel becomes the second person to chair the RTA in its two-and-a-half year history, succeeding Bruce Laing, a former King County Council member who retired from public office at the end of 1995. Drewel also chairs the Transportation Policy Board of the Puget Sound. Drewel takes on the position as the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Board is beginning the detailed work of crafting a new regional transit ballot proposal to submit to the voters this fall. The RTA 's first effort, a $6.7 billion regional bus-and-rail proposal, was defeated at the polls last March. The agency is currently circulating for public comment a hypothetical example of a transit plan that could be completed within 10 years at a cost of about $3.5 billion.

Pacific Utility Equipment Co.

Pacific Utility Equipment Co., offering municipal products in its centers of Portland, Ore., Seattle, Spokane, West Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Norco, Calif., and operating a repair center in Sparks, N.V., has appointed Michael J. Prentice to the position of municipal sales representative and William J. Dalke to the position of environmental specialist. Prentice will be responsible for municipal sales within the Portland service center and Dalke will be responsible for green waste recycling equipment sales at the same center.

Graphic Associates

Graphic Associates, an Eastside graphic design firm, has added Rachael Colbo to its team of designers. Colbo was most recently a designer at Southern University's Office of Publications and Graphic Design in Baton Rouge, La. She joins Graphic Associates with experience in the design of publications, brochure, and annual reports.

Feb 05, 1996

Sedgwick James of Washington Inc.

The Seattle office of Sedgwick James of Washington Inc. has achieved Iso 9000 certification, a quality control system whose standards, published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization in Switzerland, have been adopted by more than 100 countries, including the United States. Sedgwick is the first insurance broker and benefits/risk management organization in the United States to receive the certification. The property/casualty and employee benefits consulting units were certified to Iso 9001, providing a model for quality assurance in design, development, implementation, and servicing; and the personal insurance division received iso 9002 certification covering development, implementation, and servicing. The Iso certificates were awarded by SGS International Certification Services Inc., a worldwide organization in the field of inspection and verification.

The EDC

The Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County (EDC) has announced the arrival of The Washington Entrepreneurs Guide - How to Start and Manage a Business in Washington, a guide which comes complete with financial software and a database of business resources in Washington state. The organization also announced that the publication Foundations for the Future: An Economic Strategy for the Central Puget Sound Region, co-published by the EDC, is now free to EDC's members. For information, call the Economic Development Council of Seattle and King County at 386-5040.

Aerolist Photographers Inc.

Seattle-based Aerolist Photographers Inc., specializing in oblique aerial photography of the Pacific Northwest, now has a site on the World Wide Web. The company has built a stock picture library of over 800,000 images, updating it annually.

The Woodmark Hotel

The Woodmark Hotel, located at Carillon Point in Kirkland, received its fourth consecutive Four-Star Award from the 1996 Mobil Travel Guide. The Mobil Travel Guide Four-Star Award is used in the 1996 Mobil Travel Guide to signify an "outstanding property--worth a special trip". The guide is published by Fodor's Travel Publications Inc., and lists more than 20,000 things to see and do, and more than 20,000 dining and lodging establishments rated annually on Mobil's "One-to-Five-Star" Quality - Rating System.

Elgin DDB

Jennifer Song has been hired by communications company of Seattle Elgin DDB as a production coordinator. Previously, Song worked in the public relations department at AT&T Wireless Services. Elgin Syferd Public Relations (ESPR) promoted Sue Anne Jones to account executive. Jones has been with ESPR since September 1994, when she came on board as an assistant account executive. ESPR also hired Dan Miller as an assistant account executive. For the past four months, Miller has worked as a contractor for ESPR.

The Home Depot

The Home Depot, a retailer in the home improvement industry based in Atlanta which currently operates 423 stores in the United States and Canada, has named managers for two Home Depot Stores. Dave Ward has been appointed store manager of the Seattle Home Depot Store. Ward was formerly the manager of the Tacoma Store. He joined The Home Depot 10 years ago in Los Angeles. And, Neil Goehri has been appointed manager of a new Home Depot Store which will open in Bothell in April. Goehri comes from the Seattle Home Depot Store, located at Sodo Center, where he was manager. He joined the company nine years ago in San Diego.