Aug 17, 1995

Evans Group

Denise Gaffney has been named managing director of the consumer division of Evans Food Group, a part of Salt Lake City-based marketing communications firm EvansGroup Public Relations and the seventh-largest food PR agency in the nation. Gaffney comes from McKnight & Co. in Seattle, where she had been president since 1993. She joined McKnight as vice president in 1990, serving several food clients as well as clients in technical, biotech and environmental industries. Her work there won numerous awards, including international honors from the Public Relations Society of America and the Award for Marketing Excellence from Seafood Business magazine. She previously worked for EvansGroup from 1985 to 1990, rising from account manager to senior vice president and general manager of the Alaska office.

Dames & Moore

International engineering and environmental consultants Dames & Moore has announced the opening of a new office in Tacoma and appointed Laura Cooper as manager. Cooper has over 16 years of experience in the environmental business and has been a consultant for the past 5 years. She specializes in environmental management for industry and government. Previously, she was environmental program manager for the Port of Tacoma and a policy analyst with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. She is registered by the National Environmental Health Association as a hazardous substance professional.

Alaska Airlines

The board of directors of Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has announced the election of William S. Ayer as vice president of marketing and planning. Ayer had been senior vice president of operations for Horizon Air, Alaska's sister carrier. Over the past 13 years with Horizon, Ayer also served as vice president of marketing and planning, vice president of route planning, director of scheduling and manager of sales. Prior to that, he founded and served as president of Air Olympia, a local commuter carrier.

Journal American

BELLEVUE (AP) -- Tom Wolfe, an assistant managing editor at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, has been named managing editor of the Journal American in Bellevue. The newspaper also announced Tuesday the appointment of Joanne Plank as city editor. Wolfe, 39, is a University of Oregon graduate and worked at the Salem, Ore., Statesman-Journal, and the Loveland Daily Reporter Journal in Colorado. He has held a variety of positions, ranging from reporter to copy editor, news editor and features editor. Plank, 33, has been a reporter at the Journal American since 1992, most recently covering education. Previously, Plank worked as a reporter at The Seattle Times, the Daily Review in Hayward, Calif., and as city editor of the Alameda Times-Star in California. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University.

Texas Business Hall of Fame

Robert W. Decherd, James M. Moroney Jr. and the late Joe M. Dealey -- the current and past two CEOs, respectively, of A.H. Belo Corp., owners of Seattle-Tacoma's KIRO-TV -- will be inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame on Oct. 5 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. During the past 35 years, Dealey, Moroney and Decherd have overseen and facilitated the growth of A.H. Belo Corp., the largest media company and the oldest continuously operating business in the state of Texas. A.H. Belo's seven network-affiliated television stations reach more than 8 percent of the country's television households, and its principal newspapers, The Dallas Morning News, is now the seventh-largest newspaper in terms of daily circulation.

Aug 16, 1995

Markow Financial Group Inc.

Markow Financial Group Inc., specializing in financial and estate planning, securities and insurance, is opening offices in the Fremont district to serve the Seattle area. Company co-owners Ted and Joy Markow, will work as estate planners in the new office, located in the Burke Building, 400 N. 34th St. Ted was recently with Pacific Estate Group and has four years of experience as a financial planner. He also has three years of experience as a certified public accountant. Joy has an extensive background in sales and marketing. She also served as an estate planner with Pacific Estate Group.

Eaglemont

Eaglemont, a golf community located in Mount Vernon, has appointed Hal Ellis as golf marketing manager, responsible for new membership programs and public relations. Ellis recently retired after 24 years as principal of Mount Vernon High School. Ellis has already announced a special promotion for new members: a 2-for-1 membership offer directed at golfers and their families.

Microsoft

Gordon Bell, former head of research and development at Digital Equipment Corp. and a computing pioneer, has joined the Microsoft Research Group in Redmond, where his responsibilities include exploring the use of video and high-speed networks to expand and facilitate human-human interactions and to reduce physical travel. He will also continue his work on scalable computing. While at Digital, Bell led the development of the VAX (TM) minicomputer and was responsible for the design and development of various other minicomputers and mainframes. In addition, as the first assistant director for computing at the National Science Foundation, he led the National Research Network panel that became the National Information Infrastructure/Global Information Infrastructure (NII/GII), and wrote the High-Performance Computer and Communications Initiative. Bell is author of numerous books and papers and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1991.

Westin Hotels & Resorts

Fred J. Kleisner, formerly group president of operations for Interstate Hotels Corp., has been named president and chief operating officer of Westin Hotels & Resorts. The announcement was made yesterday by Juergen Bartels, chairman and chief executive officer, who joined Westin on May 12 following the sale of the company to a partnership of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Starwood Capital L.P. Kleisner, 50, brings 25 years of experience to his new position. A fourth generation hotelier, he worked for Hilton Hotels for 16 years and was senior vice president of operations, North America-East for ITT Sheraton Corp. before joining Interstate in 1990. As group president, operations, he directed three divisions: Interstate Hotels' core brands, Crossroads Hospitality, and Colony Hotels and Resorts.