Dec 16, 2002

Federal Bar Association

Kevin Swan, a Preston Gates & Ellis attorney, is the new president of the Federal Bar Association of the Western District of Washington. Swan served as vice president of the association for the past year. The association currently has over 1,500 members and 14 active committees.

Group Health

Rosemary Daszkiewicz has been appointed to fill a newly vacant position on Group Health Cooperative's board of trustees. The position is being vacated by Robert Radford, who is resigning. Daszkiewicz is a partner and chair of the employment law group at Cairncross & Hempelmann in Seattle. Group Health also announced that Grant Hendrickson will be the new chair and Ruth Ballweg will be vice-chair of the 11-member board.

Grand Taj Restaurant

Everett's Grand Taj Restaurant will serve a free Christmas dinner on Dec. 22. The restaurant's owner, Kewal Singh Johal, the Marysville Sikh community and other volunteers have joined to present the free dinner and distribute clothes to those in need. The restaurant is also making available flu shots administered by the County Health Clinic Program. The restaurant is located in the Red Barn complex at 600 91st Ave. N.E., in Everett and can be reached at (425) 334-0417.

Edmonds Community College

Edmonds Community College was awarded $500,000 from the United States' Department of Defense to provide materials science and technology education to the local work force. The award will help fund a joint program between Edmonds Community College and Central Washington University in offering degrees for industrial and engineering technology. Last month, the schools celebrated the grand opening of Snoqualmie Hall, a shared facility on the Edmonds campus.

West Sound Work/Life Awards

West Sound Work/Life Awards were presented to seven Kitsap area businesses for work/life policies and practices that improve employee performance, strengthen families and benefit the community. Receiving recognition were: Kitsap Credit Union, Edgren, Hecker & Lemmon Insurance, Fred Hill Materials, Paladin Data Systems Corp., Drury Construction Co. and Longs Drug Stores. The Olympic Area Agency On Aging won an Alumni Award for policies it has implemented since winning the award in 2000.

Dec 13, 2002

Saint Martin's College

Saint Martin's Abbey presented a gift of $335,000 to Saint Martin's College to assist the college in completing expansion of existing dining and food-service areas in the school's Old Main building. Funds will also be used to connect the college's library with Orbis, a direct-borrowing system among academic libraries in the Northwest. Saint Martin's College is located in Lacey.

Aventail

Aventail promoted Mark English to vice president of engineering. English joined Aventail in 2001 as director of engineering. Prior to that he was vice president of information technology at Paradigm4/EGL Networks. Aventail's clientless VPN appliances and services provide "anywhere access" to any application from any Internet-enabled device.

Association for Women in Communications

The Seattle chapter of the Association for Women in Communications is seeking nominations for its Communicator of the Year Award. The award is open to any professional communicator, male or female, who is outstanding in the communications field. Information on the nomination process and criteria is available at http://www.seattleawc.org or by calling (206) 242-5614.

Northwest Food Processors Association

Celeste Gazarek has been named chair of the Northwest Food Processors Association. Gazarek is vice president of finance for National Frozen Foods, headquartered in Seattle. The Northwest Food Processors Association has been an advocate for the fruit and vegetable industry since 1914.

Matson Intermodal System

Robert C. Papworth joined Matson Intermodal System as president. He will be based in San Francisco. Previously, Papworth served as executive vice president of transportation purchasing and business development at Packer Stacktrain