Dec 23, 2009

Otak

Otak has named Curtis LaPierre, Tom Litster, Kevin Timmins and Brad Bielenberg to senior associates. LaPierre, a landscape architect and planner, is based in the Kirkland office and has been with the firm for eight years. He has 24 years of experience and is a member of the firm's transportation infrastructure services team. He is working on the National Park Service Cape Cod National Seashore Bike Trail in Massachusetts and South Lander Festival Street in Seattle. Litster, an urban planner, and Timmins, a water resources engineer, are both based in the firm's corporate office in Lake Oswego, Ore. Litster has been with Otak for 17 years and his project experience includes Smart Growth planning for land use and transportation projects, as well as the development of enhanced transit service through light rail, streetcar and bus rapid transit systems. Timmins has been with the firm for a decade and has experience in water resource engineering. He played a key role in the Cedar Creek Culvert to Bridge Replacement in Sherwood, Ore, which won the 2009 Public Works Project of the Year award from the Oregon American Public Works Association. Bielenberg is a landscape architect and planner based in Otak's Tempe office. He has been with the firm for four years and has 18 years of experience as a landscape architect and urban planner. He has designed and managed an array of streetscapes, parks, residences and plazas throughout the U.S., India, Japan, Brazil and Israel. He was project manager in the downtown redevelopment plan for Florence, Ariz.

Landau Associates

Landau Associates hired Perry Welch as a senior ecologist in its corporate office in Edmonds. Welch is a registered professional wetland scientist and natural resource biologist with more than 20 years of experience in wetland and stream restoration, habitat assessments and environmental permitting. Dustin Hinson, a senior fisheries biologist, was hired to work in the firm's Spokane office. Hinson has 13 years of experience in fisheries management and ecology, aquatic habitat function and assessment, and environmental impact analysis. He will work throughout the Inland Northwest. Chris Burke joined the Edmonds office as a senior staff hydrogeologist. Burke is a recent graduate with experience in environmental site investigations. Martin Valeri, also a recent graduate, was hired as an environmental intern technician. The firm also hired Cathy Ridley and Cindy Kester in the Edmonds office as marketing coordinators. Ridley has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and technical communications, and Kester has 23 years of architecture/engineering marketing and public relations.

Boxwood

Boxwood promoted Kristen Atchity Fritsch and Jeremy Reding to principals. Fritsch started at Boxwood in 1999 and has worked as a designer, project manager and LEED consultant. Her recent projects include the Seattle Joint Training Facility, Gibraltar's renovation of the William Tell apartments in Belltown for Hostel Seattle, Hightower Cellars on Red Mountain, and Vulcan's Veer Lofts sustainable consulting and LEED certification. She is managing Lewis Creek Park north site development. Reding has been with Boxwood for seven years as designer and project manager. His recent projects include Waters Winery in Walla Walla, Snoqualmie Valley Eye Clinic, Col Solare winery on Red Mountain, and the Wines of Substance branding and Web site design, which was recognized this year with graphic design awards from Graphic Design USA. He is overseeing construction of a monastery in Omaha, Neb.

KeyBank

Jean Lewis has joined the KeyBank Seattle private banking team as a vice president and relationship manager. Lewis started her banking career 20 years ago at KeyBank as a loan document specialist and credit analyst. Most recently, she was vice president and private banker at Wells Fargo in Bellevue and in Minneapolis.

UW School of Medicine

The University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle promoted Terry Gernsheimer to professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Department of Medicine. Gernsheimer is also Puget Sound Blood Center's director of medical education and medical director of transfusion at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Airtight Games

Seattle's Airtight Games hired Kim Swift as project lead. She will build and lead a team to develop games aimed at a more diverse audience. Swift worked at Valve and has been part of teams that developed popular titles such as Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

Wells Fargo Insurance

Wells Fargo Insurance Services has acquired Orca Bay Benefits, a single-office, employee benefits insurance brokerage located in Mercer Island. Orca Bay was founded in 2001.

Dec 22, 2009

Stoel Rives

The Seattle office of law firm Stoel Rives hired Maren Norton and Erin Lennon. Norton is returning to the firm as an associate in the Litigation Group, where she practiced from 2004 to 2008. She served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington. Lennon is an associate in the Employee Benefits Group. She was a judicial clerk for the Honorable Justice Susan Owens.

South Snohomish Chamber

The South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce and its board of directors elected Stan Finley as board chair for the current term. Finley replaced Barbara Earl, who remains part of the organization as an executive committee member and co-chair of the Joint Government Affairs Committee.

Clark Nuber

Clark Nuber, a CPA firm in Bellevue, promoted Winn Richardson to senior manager in charge of the Accounting Services Group, which provides accounting and consulting solutions to businesses. Richardson has 11 years of public accounting experience.

Washington State Algae Alliance

The Washington State Algae Alliance, comprised of bioscience firm Targeted Growth, Inventure Chemical and Washington State University, will benefit from $2 million in funding through WSU as part of the 2010 Senate Energy and Water Development appropriations bill. The alliance will jointly develop a new system for making sustainable and renewable fuels, and chemicals and chemical intermediates.

MCA of Western Washington

Jack Cheetham of McKinstry Co. was elected 2010-11 president of the board of directors of the Mechanical Contractors Association of Western Washington. Other new board members include: vice president Mike Shinn of Shinn Mechanical; secretary/treasurer Jerry Bush of University Mechanical Contractors; and directors Stacy Johnson of Auburn Mechanical and Mark Webster of MacDonald-Miller Facility Solutions. Steve Stirrett of Stirrett-Johnsen is the immediate past president. MCA's members are union-signatory plumbing, piping and HVAC contractors throughout Western Washington.

JE Dunn Construction NW

JE Dunn Construction NW added Darin Stegemoller as vice president of construction in its Portland office. Stegemoller has worked for the company for eight years and recently moved to the Northwest. He holds a bachelor's degree in building construction management from Purdue University. He also is a Design-Build Professional and is certified through the Design-Build Institute of America.