Nov 12, 2010

Seattle Women's Commission

Jamila Johnson, an associate in the Seattle office of Northwest law firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, was appointed by Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to the Seattle Women's Commission where she will serve as the commission co-chair. The Seattle Women's Commission advises the mayor, city council and city departments on issues that affect women.

Columbia Bank

Columbia Bank hired Megan Sweeters as senior vice president and private banking team leader in Seattle and Bellevue. Sweeters will provide banking, credit, investment, financial planning and trust services to affluent individuals and their families. She has 32 years of experience.

BizXchange

BizXchange, a business-to-business barter network based in Seattle, has acquired Dibspace, an online marketplace where small businesses and consumers buy and sell products and services using an online complementary currency called Dibits. Dibspace was launched in February of 2009 by Dominic Canterbury as a community trading platform and was adopted by individuals and small businesses as a way to fill downtime or sell excess capacity. The site has nearly 5,000 users in the Seattle area.

WSU College of Communication

Larry Ganders has been named director of special projects for The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. Ganders has 10 years of experience as a reporter and editor for the Tri-City Herald. His first responsibility will be to coordinate rollout of the Murrow News Service.

Colby & Co.

Colby Haugness launched Colby & Co., a commercial real estate brokerage and sale-leaseback advisory company in the Whatcom County town of Custer. The company focuses on triple-net properties, 1031 exchanges and shopping centers. It will work with individuals, private real estate investment trusts, developers, trusts, companies and banks. Colby has been in commercial real estate for 11 years, and has completed $750 million in sales. He worked at Capital Real Estate Investments in San Diego, Marcus & Millichap in Bellevue and Net Leased Real Properties in Vista, Calif. He founded R&R Capital, a private equity company that provides sale-leaseback financing for restaurateurs and retailers.

Windermere

Windermere Real Estate opened a property management office in Seattle at 819 N.E. 65th St. The office has six agents, and owner Lori Gill is recruiting new associates.

Keller Williams

Broker Julie Selmikeit joined the Keller Williams Realty Seattle Metro West Market Center in West Seattle. She has worked primarily in luxury condo sales for Seattle developers.

Home-buying workshop Nov. 20

The ReMax Bothell office will host a free workshop for first-time home buyers at 10 a.m. Nov. 20 in the Woodlands Technology Building, 1909 214th St. S.E., Bothell. Register by calling (206) 817-5532.

Appraisal conference Nov. 30

The Seattle Chapter of the Appraisal Institute will hold its annual day-long Fall Real Estate Conference at 8 a.m. Nov. 30 at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle. Robert White Jr., president of Real Capital Analytics, is the keynote speaker. There will be educational sessions throughout the conference. Continuing education credits are available. For more information or to register, go to ai-seattle.org or call (206) 622-8425.