May 12, 2021

Opsis Architecture

O'Neil

Fashimpar

Ahn

Howard

Long

Hindman

Portland-based Opsis Architecture promoted Carol Long to principal and hired Margaret Howard as chief financial officer, Elisa Ahn as an associate and project manager, Amy Fashimpar as a project architect, Kate O'Neil as a project coordinator and Nick Hindman as an accounting assistant. Long, the firm's marketing director, is a business development and marketing strategist with 30 years of experience. She was marketing director at Opsis from 2001 to 2006 and returned in 2018 to work with the leadership team to guide pursuits and set a path for achieving the design and business goals of the firm. Howard has strategic planning experience and has worked for publicly held and private companies with roles including accounting, administration and human resources. Most recently with Precoa, LLC, she has held similar positions at Maul Foster & Alongi and The Oregonian Publishing Co. Ahn will oversee Opsis's work with a major federal client. Most recently, Ahn was the development team's manager for the Meyer Memorial Trust's Headquarters Building in Portland. She practiced as an architect for a decade in Vancouver, B.C. and the San Francisco area, working on office, residential, student housing, civic, mixed-use and master planning projects. Fashimpar has 15 years of experience, most recently at EHDD in San Francisco, working on civic, cultural, educational and office designs. At Opsis, she will work on Salem-Keizer School District projects. O'Neil will support design teams on major new projects. She has 15 years of experience in project management and orchestrating daily operations within design, manufacturing and architectural projects. Hindman has a master's in education and bachelor's in English from Portland State University. He most recently worked at Travel Oregon as operations coordinator.

Elliott Bay Design Group

Complita

Reeves

In Seattle, naval architecture and marine engineering firm Elliott Bay Design Group promoted John Reeves to principal in charge and Michael Complita to vice president of strategic expansion. EBDG said theses changes to its executive leadership team come shortly after Robert Ekse was appointed president and reflect the company's new vision. Reeves will oversee technical projects, provide direction and engineering support and continue as director of business development. Complita will lead the expansion of service offerings inside and outside of the marine industry. His initial focus will support EBDG's goal to foster business opportunities that will expand the reach of EBDG, Inc. and its family of companies. He will also continue as a principal in charge and remain involved in oversight of engineering projects, recruiting and cross-training opportunities for staff.

Olson Kundig

Matthes

Riordan

Olson Kundig promoted John Riordan and Todd Matthes to principal. Riordan has more than 23 years of experience that includes private residences, hospitality, cultural, commercial and mixed-use projects. He frequently works with international technology companies to design high-tech workplaces, and incorporates meaningful elements of other typologies into these assignments. Matthes has over 20 years of experience. His work includes private residences, retail and hospitality, large-scale mixed use and multi-unit housing projects. Olson Kundig provides architecture, landscape architecture and interior design.

Exeltech Consulting

Cannon

In Portland, Oregon, Exeltech Consulting hired Ian Cannon as deputy director of engineering. The former Multnomah County transportation division director/county engineer has 30 years of experience managing design delivery for public infrastructure projects, including the $330 million Sellwood Bridge replacement in Portland. Cannon will manage Exeltech's Portland office and provide owner's representative, asset management and engineering services to public infrastructure project clients. Lacey-based Exeltech provides civil and structural engineering, environmental documentation and permitting, landscape architecture, and construction management and inspection services.

Oregon Tool

Blount, a global manufacturer of professional grade cutting tools and equipment, has rebranded as Oregon Tool. The company was founded by Joe Cox in 1947 in the basement of his Portland home. Over the years, the company has grown into a multinational organization with numerous acquisitions and mergers. Today, the newly named Oregon Tool has over 3,000 team members and sells thousands of products in more than 110 countries across multiple consumer brands, among them Oregon, Woods and ICS Diamond Tools.

The shift from Blount to Oregon Tool will be effective June 2. The brands and product names will remain the same – they will simply operate under the umbrella of Oregon Tool instead of Blount.

Amazon

Amazon released its 2020 Brand Protection Report which provides a comprehensive view of how it ensures customers shop from authentic products in its stores. Amazon makes investments in dedicated teams and machine learning technology to proactively protect customers, brands and its selling partners from counterfeiters, and to hold them accountable if they attempt to sell fakes through Amazon. In 2020, Amazon invested more than $700 million and employed more than 10,000 people to protect its stores from fraud and abuse. Only 6% of attempted account registrations passed Amazon's verifications processes and listed products for sale, and Amazon seized more than 2 million products that were sent to its fulfillment centers and that it detected as counterfeit before being sent to a customer. Amazon established its Counterfeit Crimes Unit to build and refer cases to law enforcement, undertake independent investigations or joint investigations with brands, and pursue civil litigation against counterfeiters.

USAFacts

Bellevue-based USAFacts, a not-for-profit, nonpartisan civic initiative making government data easy for all Americans to access and Understand, announced its Coronavirus Tracking Hub and Interactive Map earned an Innovation Services Gold Medal in the 2021 Edison Awards. It also won an honorable mention in the Pandemic Response category of this year's Fast Company World Changing Ideas competition. Both awards recognize the work that the USAFacts team did to inform the public throughout the global pandemic.

USAFacts Coronavirus Tracking Hub and Interactive Hub is still live on USAFacts and has been expanded to include a state-level vaccine tracker. USAFacts produces topical content throughout the year. The Edison Awards are named after Thomas Alva Edison, and are operated by Edison Universe, a non-profit organization with the mission of recognizing, honoring and fostering innovations and innovators.

May 11, 2021

Ziply Fiber

Ziply Fiber announced plans to bring gig-speed fiber internet service to an additional 22 markets across Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana this calendar year. This expansion will focus mostly on smaller and rural towns, and is part of the company's multi-year $500 million investment in its network and improved service in both urban and rural settings throughout the region. Ziply Fiber recently launched fiber service in Moscow, Idaho, the company's 16th new fiber market since it began its four-state fiber expansion last spring, after acquiring the Northwest assets of Frontier Communications for $1.35 billion. Since that time, the company has hired more than 400 new employees and has laid more than 1,000 miles of new fiber to help improve internet connectivity in rural areas to be on par with larger metropolitan areas. Ziply Fiber is headquartered in Kirkland, and has offices in Everett, Washington; Beaverton, Oregon; and Hayden, Idaho. Most of Ziply Fiber's executive team consists of former executives from AT&T, CenturyLink and Wave Broadband.

Fortive

Everett-based Fortive has promoted Justin McElhattan and Tami Newcombe to group president. McElhattan joined Fortive in connection with Fortive's acquisition of Industrial Scientific in 2017, where he has served as president since 2007. McElhattan has led the growth and profitability of Fortive's Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) businesses with the acquisitions of Intelex, SAFER Systems, and ehsAI. As group president, McElhattan will drive the growth of Fortive's EHS businesses. Newcombe has served in a series of roles, most recently as president of Tektronix, to drive improvements across all aspects of Fortive's business at Tektronix. As part of her expanded responsibilities within Fortive, Newcombe will oversee Fortive's business operations in India. She will also serve as Chair of the Fortive Inclusion & Diversity Council.

Clearwater Paper

Clearwater Paper announced that Christine Vickers Tucker has been elected to the company's board of directors. Vickers Tucker is vice president and general manager of the Professional Products business at The Clorox Company and has lead Clorox's Professional Products Company since October 2014. Vickers Tucker started her career in financial services and since joining Clorox has served in roles of increasing scope and responsibility. Vickers Tucker has been appointed to the class of directors whose term of office will expire at the 2023 annual meeting. With this addition, Clearwater Paper's board will consist of nine directors, eight of whom meet New York Stock Exchange standards for independence. Spokane-based Clearwater Paper manufactures consumer tissue, away-from-home tissue, parent roll tissue, bleached paperboard and pulp at manufacturing facilities across the nation.

Pacific Northwest CMAA

The Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America is seeking nominations for its annual Construction Management Project Achievement Awards. The submission deadline is May 27 and awards will be presented June 17 as part of the chapter’s Annual Scholarship and Project Achievement Meeting, which will be held virtually. Mike Roberts is in charge of the awards program. He can be reached at mroberts@anchorqea.com. In 2020, the chapter won two national awards: Issaquah Southeast 62nd Street extension for Transportation (construction value under $50 million), city of Issaquah and KBA Inc.; and Bellevue Downtown Tunnel for Transportation (construction value over $50 million), Sound Transit and McMillen Jacobs Associates.