Jul 19, 2024

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson

Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson announced that four of their attorneys were included in the 2024 Chambers High Net Worth (HNW) Guide. Recognized in the Family/Matrimonial category are Linda Kelley Ebberson, Lisa Ann Sharpe, and Jamie Polito Johnston. Recognized in the Private Wealth Law category is George Holzapfel. Ebberson's practice focuses exclusively on complex divorces. She is an original founder of Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson. Ebberson has more than 40 years of experience in commercial, construction and dissolution cases. Sharpe counsels high net worth individuals from both the private and public sectors, across a wide variety of industries including technology, sports, entertainment, finance, healthcare, and professional services. She is skilled in financial and custody litigation, prenuptial agreements, custody evaluations, mediation and trial practice. Polito Johnston's practice focuses on complex marital dissolutions, representing high net worth individuals involving the valuation and division of closely-held companies, stock options and awards, family trusts and partnerships, separate property tracing, as well as custody matters and prenuptial agreements. Holzapfel serves as general legal counsel to hundreds of private and family companies and also serves as estate planning counsel to the owners of virtually all of these businesses. In addition, he acts as estate planning counsel to executives of publicly held corporations and their families. The Chambers HNW guide covers global private wealth management work and features in-depth editorial about leading lawyers and law firms providing wealth preservation and estate planning. Lasher Holzapfel Sperry & Ebberson was founded over 50 years ago in Seattle.

Shockey Planning Group

Anderson

Everett-based Shockey Planning Group (SPG) announced a change in company ownership. Camie Anderson, an employee of the firm for the past 24 years, has purchased SPG from its original founder, Reid H. Shockey. Anderson joined SPG in 2000 after receiving a degree in planning and environmental policy from Western Washington University. During her years with SPG, she has played a key role in all aspects of land use and environmental planning for both private and public sector clients.“It is with great pleasure and confidence that I have been able to hand over to Camie the reins of the company I founded in 1980.” said Shockey. “I will remain on staff to support the organization, but the management will be completely in Camie's capable hands. We have been thoughtfully approaching this ownership change over the past few years to ensure a seamless transition.”

Jul 18, 2024

Digimarc

Digimarc appointed Katie Kool as the new chairperson of the company's board of directors. Kool succeeds Alicia Syrett, who has served as chairperson since 2020. Kool has served on the Digimarc board since 2022. While serving as CEO of Tide Cleaners, Kool grew the business from 35 dry cleaning and laundry service stores to 191 stores. As chief financial officer of North America Fabric Care, she partnered with the company's leadership team to profitably grow the business by $1.5 billion in sales. Kool was a co-founder and is currently president of Impact100 Genesee County, which empowers women as philanthropists to make grants to non-profit organizations within local communities. Kool earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Kalamazoo College, and an MBA in finance from Washington University in St. Louis. Digimarc is a digital watermarking company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.

Washington Secretary of State

Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has been elected the treasurer of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the nation's oldest nonpartisan professional organization for elected officials. Founded in 1904, NASS includes secretaries of state, lieutenant governors, and chief state election officials from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories. Hobbs previously served on the NASS Executive Board as the Western Region vice president and was co-chair of the State Heritage Committee. He is a member of the NASS Elections, Cybersecurity, State Records and Archives, International Relations, and Business Services committees. He will serve as the treasurer for a one-year term. Washington's Office of the Secretary of State oversees areas within state government including managing state elections, registering corporations and charities, and governing the use of the state flag and state seal.

Clarion joins ACG effort in Lynnwood

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Earlier this month, the DJC reported the land sale and imminent start on Enso, a seven-story, 316-unit apartment project near Lynnwood City Center Station. American Capital Group is both the architect and contractor for the project, which should take about two years to complete. Now Clarion Partners has joined the effort, as the two announced this week. B.J. Kuula leads ACG, and said in a statement, “Enso could not come at a more critical time, as home ownership has become too costly for many and capital market dynamics have slowed new multifamily housing starts.” Rick Schaupp of Clarion added, “Clarion is excited to develop our first multifamily project in Lynnwood, particularly in such a prime location.” At the same time, they named Pacific Life Insurance as the provider of a recent $67.6 million construction loan.

JLL arranges $17M loan in Wenatchee

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Over in Wenatchee, the Landing at Saddlerock is an 84-unit garden apartment complex that was completed in December. Graystoke Capital Partners recently acquired the property from the original developer, Eider Construction, for an undisclosed price. (Mason Fiascone at Paragon Group was the seller's broker; Chelan County recorded the late May sale at just under $26 million.) Graystoke is based in Boise, and worked with the JLL office in Denver to secure a Fannie Mae loan worth nearly $16.9 million. Leading the acquisition financing effort were JLL's Brock Knapp and Tony Nargi. The latter said in a statement, “Graystoke uncovered a terrific buy of a brand-new property at well below current replacement cost. The strong sponsorship, market fundamentals and acquisition financing allowed for Fannie Mae to utilize their near stabilization program and close the loan at 82% occupancy.” Graystoke invests in the Mountain West region, with about 2,000 units in a portfolio it values at $400 million. The firm's Graye Parnell said in a statement, “We are excited about Wenatchee and the recent economic developments within the market.”

Walsh tops out on Tacoma apartments

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The Low Income Housing Institute announced this week that Walsh Construction has topped out on its six-story, 77-unit Patsy Surh Place in Tacoma. Work began in December on the affordable housing project, which is intended for seniors. Weber Thompson is the architect. Completion is expected around April of next year in the Lincoln District of the city, south of Interstate 5. LIHI is partnering on the project with the Asia Pacific Cultural Center, which was founded by Surh. Financial backers include various public sources and Banner Bank.

Jul 17, 2024

Art Anderson

Markillie

Fairley

Fairley Art Anderson, a Bremerton-based multidisciplinary engineering services firm, has welcomed two interns for the summer: Isabella Fairley, mechanical engineer intern, and John Markillie, systems engineer/naval architect intern.

Fairley is a Central Kitsap High School alum and is currently enrolled at Montana State University for Mechanical Engineering.

Markillie is from the Tri-cities area in Washington State and is currently enrolled at Maine Maritime Academy for Systems Engineering/Naval Architecture.

Ethos Civil

Mellott

Moretta

Bushnell

Ethos Civil recently added three new employees: Almirah Bushnell, Ali Moretta and Ben Mellott.

Bushnell joins Ethos Civil as a civil designer. She studied civil engineering at Chosun University in Gwangju, South Korea. Bushnell previously worked at JEB Surveys and Engineering in Cambodia, prior to moving to the US. Bushnell is working on several Ethos Civil K12 projects.

Moretta joins Ethos Civil as a project administrator, managing the firm's invoicing, payroll, and other similar tasks. She has a Business Administration – Finance degree from the University of West Florida. Moretta has a background in mortgage finance, having previously worked at Navy Federal Credit Union. Moretta will support Ethos Civil from Orlando, FL.

Mellott is a recent graduate from the Georgia Tech College of Engineering and Covenant College and joins Ethos Civil as a civil designer. He previously worked at Ethos Civil as a summer intern. Mellott is currently working on the Grass Valley Gardens project, a 230-acre development in Missoula, MT with 2,000 units of housing.

Holmberg Mechanical

Dini

Holmberg Mechanical has promoted Michon Dini to the position of account executive. Dini has been with the mechanical contracting firm for 12 years.

He began his journey with Holmberg Mechanical as an intern while pursuing a bachelor's degree in Construction Management at Washington State University, and has progressed from chief estimator to his new role.

Throughout his tenure, he has served in various roles, including project management, estimating, and design-build. He has become an expert in estimating for medical, K-12, higher education, hospitality, transportation and new construction projects.

In his new role as account executive, Dini will manage key client accounts, develop strategic partnerships and drive business growth.

Parametrix

Nielssen

Eric Nielssen has joined Parametrix as a senior construction manager with over three decades of experience in programming, designing and managing K-12 educational, governmental, multi-family, senior housing, and residential construction projects, with a strong emphasis on construction administration.

Nielssen comes to Parametrix from LSW Architects + Path Architecture where he served as a senior project manager. His most recent project experience includes the City of Bend Airport Traffic Control Tower, Vancouver Public Schools Ruth Bader Ginsburg Elementary School and Evergreen Public Schools Mill Plain Elementary School. He is an Associate Design-Build Professional.

At Parametrix, he joins the firm's community building division, providing project and construction management services to public and private clients throughout the Puget Sound and Southwest Washington regions.

PLS Engineering

Ayers

McGraw

PLS Engineering of Vancouver has welcomed civil engineering designer Isaac McGraw to the team.

McGraw will be supporting the firm's growing team of engineers as an engineer-in-training. Graduating from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA, he holds a Masters of Engineering Sciences and Bachelors of Civil Engineering.

Moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2017, McGraw brings 7.5 years of design and drafting expertise to the PLS group. He has survey experience in addition to his engineering skills.

Starting this summer, Madeline Ayers has also joined PLS Engineering as a civil intern. She is in her second year at Oregon State University where she will attend in the fall.

Terracon

Terracon has named Dennis Antenucci construction quality director.

With more than 30 years of experience, Antenucci will serve clients with transportation and infrastructure projects in the Pacific Northwest to ensure a high level of quality standards is met.

His expertise includes managing quality assurance and quality control programs for transit, airports, bridges, schools, overpasses and defense facilities across North America and overseas.

Whatcom County Superior Court

Slattery

Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Jennifer Slattery to the Whatcom County Superior Court. She will fill a new, fifth seat created by the Legislature in 2024. Slattery has focused her 15-year career on family law and general civil litigation. For the last seven years, she operated her own small firm, consistently employing students part-time to build practical experience. Her family law practice includes litigation, collaborative law, and mediation. Since 2023, Slattery has also served as a pro tem commissioner for the Whatcom County Superior Court. In that capacity, she presides over minor guardianship, protection orders, dependency, juvenile detention, unlawful detainers, and criminal arraignments. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Bellingham Sunrise Rotary Club. Slattery has also served for several years as a board director with the Whatcom Community College Foundation and as a volunteer attorney with LAW Advocates and Street Law clinics. As a volunteer attorney, she has provided extensive pro bono legal assistance. Slattery earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, and her law degree from Seattle University Law School.

Amplify Consulting Partners

Sparq, a provider of outsourced digital engineering for technology driven and Fortune 1000 companies, has acquired Seattle-based Amplify Consulting Partners. Amplify, founded in 2017, is a data-first consulting firm providing professional services across the technology ecosystem, including data engineering, visual analytics, program management and data-driven marketing. As part of Sparq, Amplify will increase the scope of services available to its clients. Sparq was founded in 2004, and is based in Atlanta. In 2023, funds managed by Harvest Partners Ascend Management, acquired a majority stake in Sparq, intended to allow the company to further scale its operations and digital service offerings. Bain Capital Double Impact has also been one of Sparq's investment partners since 2019.

Seattle Kraken

The Seattle Kraken and TEGNA are partnering with Gray Media to broadcast all locally available Seattle Kraken games on Gray's KAUU in Anchorage and KYEX in Juneau free over-the-air beginning with the 2024-2025 season. This follows the recent announcement that TEGNA will broadcast all locally available Kraken games, approximately 70 regular season games each year, on KING 5 and KONG in Seattle, KGW in Portland and KREM and KSKN in Spokane. Additional broadcast partners in Washington and Oregon are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The 2024-25 Kraken season will kick off with Seattle's home opener on Tuesday, October 8 against the St. Louis Blues at Climate Pledge Arena. TEGNA operates 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets. Gray Media is a multimedia company headquartered in Atlanta, serving 113 television markets.