Aug 03, 2021

Rafn Co.

Cottell

Hager

Salas

Gregory

Bellevue-based general contractor Rafn Co. promoted Chip Gregory to COO, Art Salas and Brien Hager to assistant superintendents, and Jered Cottell to assistant project manager. Gregory has been with Rafn for 20 years and has been running its Special Projects Division since 2004. He holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from the University of Washington. Salas has 21 years with Rafn and is a graduate of CITC's carpentry apprenticeship program. He also graduated from the UW's construction management certificate program. Hager has been a carpenter and foreman for 17 years at Rafn. Cottell has been with the company for eight years and holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from Washington State University.

USACE

Van Epps

Col. Geoff Van Epps has taken command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division. Van Epps comes from the Office of the Chief of Engineers in Washington, D.C., where he was director of the Pentagon office of the Chief of Engineers. Van Epps was commissioned as an engineer officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1995, where he received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He later earned master's degrees in engineering management from the University of Missouri at Rolla; in economics, finance and management from Universitat Pompeu Fabra; and in international relations from Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals. He replaces Brig. Gen. Peter Helmlinger, who is retiring after a 33-year career with USACE. The Northwestern Division is the largest division in USACE. It administers five districts based in Portland; Seattle; Walla Walla; Kansas City, Missouri; and Omaha, Nebraska.

Kwame Building Group

The Port of Seattle selected Kwame Building Group as one of 12 businesses to participate in its inaugural PortGen Accelerator program. PortGen Accelerator connects minority- and women-owned small businesses with the training and tools to make them more competitive in bidding. Based in St. Louis, Kwame operates a Seattle office to manage construction projects in the Northwest. Local clients include Washington State Convention Center and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Theiss Law Group

Theiss Law Group PC, a Seattle law firm serving construction and manufacturing clients, has changed its name to Truss Faber PC in a rebranding effort. This new brand stems from the etymological connection of the words “truss” and “faber” to the construction and manufacturing industries. The firm has four practice areas, including construction, manufacturing, architecture and design, and government contracts. It also launched a new website at http://www.trussfaber.com.

Jul 27, 2021

Walsh Construction Co.

Souve

Kurle

Slothower

Grim

In Seattle, Walsh Construction Co. promoted Joe Grim to senior project manager, and hired Sam Slothower, Ian Kurle and Keenan Souve as project engineers. Grim joined the company in early 2007 as an assistant superintendent and transitioned to project engineer soon afterward. He was promoted to superintendent in 2010 and project manager in 2018. Grim is managing the Bellwether Housing and Mercy Housing NW Cedar Crossing project, the El Centro Childcare TI project, and the Pacific Housing NW Colina East & West project. Slothower interned with Walsh at the Community Roots Housing Station House project in summer 2019 and Chief Seattle Club Together project in summer 2020. He recently graduated from Washington State University with a degree in construction engineering, and is supporting the estimating department. Kurle interned with Walsh over the past two summers at the Wesley Homes and DES Capitol Campus Child Care Center projects. He recently graduated from Boise State University with a degree in construction management and will be working with the Elisio project team. Souve interned on the DESC Hobson Place project last summer 2020, and is a recent WSU civil engineering graduate. He is working on-site at Hobson Place.

Skanska

Kimble

Skanska hired Dana Kimble as senior director of business development in Seattle. Kimble is an Associate Design-Build Professional with over six years in regional and local business development roles at Coffman Engineers. She has 20 years of experience working in marketing and business development roles across health care, higher education, commercial office, life sciences, museums and athletic venues. She also has served on the board of the Design-Build Institute of America's Northwest Region for the past three years, and chairs the regional membership committee for the organization.

Hermanson Co.

Thibeau

Matt Thibeau was promoted to group leader of Hermanson Co.'s Tech Major Projects team. With over 25 years of industry experience, Thibeau oversees a group providing mechanical design and construction services to technology companies across the Puget Sound region. He joined Hermanson in 2013 and has worked with tech clients including Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. He previously spent over 12 years working with Vulcan in South Lake Union.