Mar 31, 1998

Frank Russell Co.

Frank Russell Co., a Tacoma-based global investment management and consulting firm, has named Len Brennan to head its international operations. Brennan will oversee all operations outside the U.S., including offices in London, Zurich, Paris, Amsterdam, Toronto, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo. Brennan was formerly managing director of Russell's operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Pacific Medical

John Chen, M.D., has recently joined the medical staff at PacMed-Bellevue. Chen focuses on adult medicine including prevention and health maintenance. Pacific Medical Clinics has 18 clinics in the Puget Sound area.

KeyBank

Luke S. Helms has been named vice chairman of KeyBank, the $70-billion banking unit of KeyCorp, a financial services company. Helms will focus on building Key's middle-market and public-sector banking businesses in metropolitan areas which Key has targeted for expansion in the West. Helms was formerly chairman and CEO of Seafirst Corp.

Virginia Mason

Anchorage philanthropists Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson have given $5 million to support the Virginia Mason Research Center. The gift is the single largest donation in the research center's history and will build the Rasmuson Laboratory and endow the Elmer and Mary Louise Rasmuson Arthritis and Rheumatic Disease Center. The new facilities will be part of the Benaroya Research Institute, scheduled to open next year.

Glasshouse Studio

The new owners of Glasshouse Studio will celebrate the grand reopening of the Northwest's oldest glass blowing studio on April 2 during the First Thursday Gallery Walk in Pioneer Square. The artists that have worked at the Glasshouse during the last decade have purchased the company. Glasshouse Studio is located at 311 Occidental Ave. S. For more information, contact Emily Loving at (206) 682-9939.

Pacific Northwest Theater

The Pacific Northwest Theater Association, a Seattle-based theatrical supplier, has appointed Sheryl Wiser as marketing director. Wiser will manage production of the association's annual catalog, Dog-A-Log, as well as in-house marketing. Wiser was formerly administrative associate for Earth Ministry.

Foster Pepper & Shefelman

Carmen Flores, an associate at Foster Pepper & Shefelman, has been elected to the board of governors of the National Hispanic Bar Association. During her one-year term as Region XI president, Flores will act as liaison between the National Hispanic Bar Association and the local Hispanic state bars of Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana.

King County Superior Court

Patricia Hall Clark has been appointed a King County Superior Court judge. Clark, a constitutional court commissioner for the past two years, is a former King County senior deputy prosecutor.

Saturn Associates

Bill Alma has been appointed by Saturn Associates to oversee its Butler Roofing Products operations in Washington and Alaska. Alma is a former contractor and graduate of Seattle University. Saturn is a unit of Coastal Atlantic Associates.

Poe Asphalt Paving

Poe Asphalt Paving Inc. of Clarkston has won a Quality in Construction Award from the National Asphalt Pavement Association. Poe won the honor for its Interstate-90 overlay project in and near Kellogg, Idaho. The project was unique in that it was part of a Superfund site.

Wilder Construction

A Quality in Construction Award was recently presented to Everett-based Wilder Construction Co. by the National Asphalt Pavement Association. Wilder won for its rehabilitation project of a runway/taxiway at Paine Field in Everett.

Light Green Co. is go

BELLEVUE -- A small startup company in Bellevue is trying to help big corporations and utilities listen to their conscience. Established in November, Light Green Co. is a consulting firm that helps businesses incorporate "social responsibility" in their domestic and overseas operations. The firm is planning to spearhead a research project called "The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century." "Companies and industries are becoming more and more self-regulating," said Mark Sten of Bellevue, a founding partner of Light Green Co. "They're being asked to take up social leadership as part of their responsibility as government becomes more budget-constrained and less relevant as trading barriers disappear." Light Green Co. already has attracted many high-profile clients, including Levi Strauss, Mattel, The Foot Zone, pharmaceutical company Allergan Inc., Puget Sound Energy, Snohomish County Public Utility District, BC Hydro and TransAlta, a private, investor-owned utility in Canada. "The real issue for utilities is green power marketing, or marketing of renewable resources," Sten said. "We're helping them with that." In addition to Sten, the other three founding partners of the Light Green Co. are Jonathan Naimon of Seattle, Lynn Auch of Portland, and Gary Lewis of Los Angeles. Sten most recently was a principal at Seattle environmental consulting firm Shapiro & Associates. Before that, he was a founding partner of the Hartman Group, an environmental marketing and business strategy firm that was purchased in 1994 by DDB Needham. Naimon formerly ran his own company, Eco Efficiency Associates. Before that, he did research with the Investor Responsibility Research Center in Washington, D.C. So where did the name "Light Green Co." come from? "We've done consumer research and we've seen that there are different shades of green," Sten said. "'Light green' represents the fact that mainstream consumers want environmental improvements without having to pay for them or make lifestyle sacrifices."

Seattle to issue RFP for garbage contracts

SEATTLE -- The city of Seattle will issue a request for proposals (RFP) this fall for new contracts for the collection of residential garbage, yard waste and recyclables. The city also may request proposals for the collection of food waste. The new contracts will begin April 1, 2000. These coveted municipal contracts promises to have many suitors, including Rabanco Companies Ltd., General Disposal Corp., Waste Management of Seattle, Northwest Waste Industries Inc. and possibly others. Under the current contracts, local companies Rabanco and General Disposal handle most of the city's garbage, yard waste and recycling. Waste Management of Seattle does curbside recycling under the name Recycle America in the city north of the Ship Canal. Rabanco has had contracts with the city since the 1930s, and General Disposal has worked for the city since 1967. The last time a new company won a city contract was in 1988, when Waste Management came on the scene. Ed Steyh, contracts manager for Seattle Public Utilities, predicts that competition for the upcoming contracts should be intense. "This time, we're going to combine all the services in a couple of contracts, so the value of each contract is bigger and the scope of the contracts is bigger," Steyh said. "That will increase the competition, and you could see some other companies come in." Seattle Public Utilities is compiling a mailing list of firms interested in bidding on these contracts. In May or June, interested people will be invited to tour the current system, attend an informational meeting and provide input on the design of the RFP. Anyone interested in these contracts should send their request to be on the mailing list to: Ed Steyh, Contracts Manager, Seattle Public Utilities, Community Services Division, 710 Second Ave., Room 505, Seattle, WA 98104. For more information, call Ed Steyh at (206) 684-7645.

Julie Norman steps down from Headwaters

ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Julie Norman, a veteran of the intense battles over logging on federal lands in the Northwest, announced Monday she is resigning as president of the environmental group Headwaters. Norman said she planned to take the summer off, living with friends along the Rogue River, before going back to work as an environmental education consultant. "I'm not intending to disappear from the citizen activist movement," she said in a letter to the Headwaters board of directors. "I'm taking five months off to step back and re-evaluate my niche and my approach to environmental education." A former IBM systems programmer turned river guide, Norman joined Headwaters as a volunteer in 1985, soon after environmentalists had succeeded in stopping the extension of the Bald Mountain Road into the North Kalmiopsis Roadless Area on the Siskiyou National Forest. The Bald Mountain Road fight is widely regarded as the "shot heard round the world" in what became the spotted owl wars. She became president of Headwaters in 1988 and was on a panel of people suggesting solutions to the conflict between logging and the environment for President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the Northwest Forest Conference in 1993 in Portland. While she was president, Headwaters was a party to the lawsuit that stopped logging in spotted owl habitat on federal lands in the Northwest until the federal government came up with its current plan to protect fish and wildlife. Logging on federal lands dropped 80 percent, triggering painful changes in timber-dependent communities. "I feel like we made significant gains, especially in terms of getting away from clear-cutting, and making people aware of how special this area is," Norman said. Norman's duties as president will be delegated to existing staff. Pamela Tennity, public education team leader, said Headwaters' mission to spread the word about forest ecosystems will not be interrupted by Norman's absence.

Town of Twisp to improve sewage plant

TWISP, Okanogan County -- A loan recently awarded by the state Department of Ecology will allow sewage treatment plant improvements to move forward in the town of Twisp. The loan for $222,500 will pay for some immediate upgrades at the treatment plant, as well as preparation of plans and specifications for long-term improvements. "The engineering report is complete, and now they have the money to do the design work to improve plant capacity," said Jim Milton, a water-quality environmental engineer with Ecology. "After the design work is complete, they can begin construction." Improvements will bring the plant into compliance with current federal requirements and increase reliability, Milton said. Design plans call for providing treatment capacity to meet the town's needs for the next 20 years. Ultimately, the improvements will protect the water quality of the Methow River. Part of a $2.6 million project, the loan is authorized under the federal Clean Water Act and issued through Washington's Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund.