Feb 23, 2010

ABC

James Elmer, founder and president of James W. Elmer Construction Co. in Spokane, was sworn in earlier this month in San Diego as ABC national chairman. Elmer has been involved with the association for 25 years on national and local levels, and has won several ABC awards. He has 38 years of construction experience and holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from Washington State University.

Portland CFMA

The Portland Chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association is offering two $2,000 scholarships for high-achieving students majoring in accounting or finance. Applications are due by Feb. 28 and the scholarships will be awarded in April. For more information, visit http://www.cfma-portland.org/Committees/ScholarshipCommittee/tabid/81/Default.aspx

JayRay

JayRay, a communications consultancy, hired Debra Carnes as senior advisor. Carnes hanlded communications for Gov. Chris Gregoire's re-election bid, was interim speechwriter for Gregoire and was recently communications manager for the Seattle City Council.

Bluff Restaurant Bar Terrace

The Bluff Restaurant Bar Terrace at Friday Harbor House on San Juan Island hired Joseph Foriska as chef. Foriska has 20 years of culinary experience and was recently food and beverage purchasing manager at Roche Harbor Resort.

Frause

Erika Schmidt of Frause, a communications firm, was awarded the Hugh Smith Community Service Award by the Puget Sound Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America's. Schmidt is president and COO at Frause. She was honored for her personal and professional service to the community.

BMI Audit Services

BMI Audit Services, a national health care benefits auditing firm, is expanding to the West Coast and is opening an office in the Seattle area. Chad Gallaher will be western regional practice development executive. This is the first geographical expansion for the company since acquiring New Jersey-based Health Cost Solutions in 2007.

Feb 19, 2010

Lane Powell

Ronald J. Friedman has joined Lane Powell as a shareholder in the White Collar Criminal Defense, Regulatory Compliance and Special Investigations Practice Group. He served as an assistant United States attorney in Seattle for more than 20 years, and worked in every unit of the Criminal Division.

Fortune Bank

Fortune Bank hired Cheryl Gunderson as senior vice president, Bellevue. She was most recently a SVP and manager at Frontier Bank in Redmond and also worked for Wells Fargo, Seafirst and Pacific Northwest Bank.

Tacoma Water

Tacoma Water's current deputy superintendent, Linda McCrea, has taken over as superintendent. McCrea replaces John Kirner, who has been superintendent since 2004. She has worked for Tacoma Public Utilities for 27 years.

LaserMotive

LaserMotive, a Kent-based independent R&D company specializing in laser power beaming technology, named co-founder Tom Nugent as president and tech industry veteran David Bashford as vice president of operations. The company won nearly $1 million in the 2009 NASA-sponsored Power Beaming Competition. The company said it is preparing to develop laser power beaming for a variety of commercial applications, both near and long term. Nugent is project team leader for LaserMotive's entry in the Space Elevator Games.