May 31, 2012

City of Seattle

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn appointed Magdaleno Rose-Avila director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. Rose-Avila was executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project of the Social Justice Fund NW and regional director of Amnesty International.

Sound Transit

Seattle's Sound Transit Deputy CEO Celia Kupersmith will retire Aug. 3. Prior to joining Sound Transit in 2010, Kupersmith worked as general manager/CEO of the Golden Gate Bridge, and was executive director of the Regional Transportation Commission in Reno, Nev.

KeyBank

Karen Mills, secretary of the U.S. Small Business Administration, named Ohio-based KeyBank top lender of the year.

Cupcake Royale

Jody Hall said her Seattle company Cupcake Royale is launching Cupcake Royale Ice Cream and opening a new location in July at 108 Pine St. in Seattle. Cupcake Royale plans to carry 14 flavors of ice cream and ice cream sandwiches.

May 30, 2012

Williams Kastner

Seattle law firm Williams Kastner hired Katherine Steele to its Seattle office. Steele was partner at Stafford Frey Cooper and practices civil litigation and product liability. Williams Kastner is a full-service law firm with offices throughout Washington and Oregon.

Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau

The Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau hired Marco Bloemendaal as senior vice president of convention sales and services. Bloemendaal served as director of convention sales at Experience Columbus in Ohio. Prior to that, Bloemendaal was senior national sales executive with the Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. The Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau is a private nonprofit marketing organization.

Qualis Health

Seattle-based Qualis Health hired Julie Sylvester as president for quality and safety initiatives. Sylvester has twenty years of healthcare leadership experience and was administrative director of analytics and finance and director of contracting for the Heart and Cancer Insitutes at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Qualis Health is a nonprofit organization committed to improving healthcare quality and value.

May 25, 2012

Frause

Whitesides

Seattle-based Frause hired Amanda Whitesides as senior account executive. Whitesides managed community outreach and public input for a large regional transportation project. Frause is an integrated communications firm.

Big Fish

Seattle-based Big Fish has added Bill Lee to the board of directors. Lee is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and technology investor whose recent investments include Tesla Motors, SpaceX and Social Concepts, which was acquired by Big Fish. Lee is on the advisory board of i/o ventures and was CEO and co-founder of Remarq. Big Fish provides Internet media delivery software and game services.