May 22, 2002

Association of Washington Business

The Association of Washington Business honored 17 companies throughout Washington for contributions to their communities. Winners include: Hendrikus Schraven Landscape Construction & Design, Bellevue; Ferguson Construction, Bellevue; Clark Nuber, Bellevue; MacroSearch, Seattle; CenturyTel, Seattle; The Bon Marche; and Safeway. The association also honored also honored Patrick Quigg, president of Grays Harbor Paper, with the Bruce Briggs Award. Quigg was honored for chairing a $10 million effort to build a new Grays Harbor YMCA.

University of Puget Sound

Susan Resneck Pierce, president of the University of Puget Sound for the past 10 years, announced she will retire in the summer of 2003.  Under Pierce’s leadership, UPS has gained respect among national liberal arts colleges and currently attracts more than 4,000 applications for its 650 freshmen spaces.

Mercury Cloud

A new business providing creative services for business has been formed in Seattle called Mercury Cloud Creative Communications. James Robinson and Joshua Green created the business to provide Web, branding and content development services. The company's Web site is http://www.mercurycloud.com.

Clark Nuber

Nolan Newman joined Bellevue-based Clark Nuber. Newman was previously a tax partner with Arthur Andersen's Seattle office. Newman will be working with the firm's nonprofit services group.

Pacific Lutheran University

Pacific Lutheran University named James L. Pence chief academic officer. Pence is currently provost and dean of the colleges at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. He will begin his new position in August.

SETI Institute

The SETI Institute, in Mountain View, Calif., added four high-tech leaders to its board of trustees. Lewis Platt, former Hewlett Packard chairman and CEO; Linda Bernardi, founder and CEO of ConnecTerra; Joel Birnbaum, former HP senior vice president of research and director of HP labs; and Alan Bagley, former HP executive, will join 11 other members on the board. SETI does research on the origins of the universe.

May 21, 2002

Family Services of King County

Family Services of King County raised over $185,000 at its annual spring benefit luncheon, which also honored the organization’s 110th year. More than 600 people attended the event to support Family Services. All of the money will go directly to support family stabilization, violence prevention and counseling programs. The event was underwritten by more than 30 local companies, including premier sponsor Davis Wright Tremaine and benefactor sponsors Boeing, Starbucks and Washington Mutual.

Safeco

Safeco named Caryn Siebert vice president of claims and John Ammendola vice president of service for its property and casualty operation. Siebert was previously with General Electric’s Employer’s Reinsurance Corp. Ammendola is an 11-year veteran of Geico. Siebert and Ammendola will join Eleanor Barnard, who was recently named vice president of sales and distribution.

REI

REI plans to open two 22,000-square-foot stores this fall in Tacoma and Tukwila. The new stores will be near the Tacoma Mall at the Rainier Place shopping center and in Southcenter Mall. REI has 63 stores nationwide.

University Book Store

Bryan Pearce will succeed Bob Cross as general manager of the University Book Store. Cross will retire from the general manager position he has held for 28 years in June. Pearce has been the director of finance since 1990 and will serve as associate general manger until Cross' retirement. Julie Willmes will be the new director of finance and administration. Willmes was previously with Deloitte & Touche.

Topia Ventures

Topia Ventures of Tacoma has been awarded a U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator’s Award for Excellence. Topia was nominated by Boeing as a top small business subcontractor based, in part, on the growing level of business between the two companies and the emergence of agent software as a solution to technology opportunities. Topia uses mobile agents to diagnose and fix technical problems.

Epoch Biosciences

Dr. Cy Cabradilla has been appointed vice president, operations at Epoch Biosciences of Bothell. He was vice president of genomics for BioSource International. Epoch Biosciences develops proprietary products with commercial applications in the genomics and molecular diagnostics fields.