Mar 06, 2020

South Sound 911

Deborah Grady on April 6 will become the new executive director of South Sound 911 in Tacoma. Grady currently is the public safety communications manager for the Sacramento Police Department. From 2009 to 2015, she was executive director of Snocom 911 in Mountlake Terrace. Grady's base salary at South Sound 911 will be $205,000.

Marchex

Seattle-based mobile advertising analytics company Marchex hired Ryan Polley as chief product and strategy officer. Polley has experience developing product strategies at emerging technology companies. He was chief product officer at Kargo, a mobile technology and advertising company. Before that, he was senior vice president of product management and strategy at the Rubicon Project.

Jensen Investment Management

Amphaphone Mar and Philomena A. Ferree are new shareholders in Jensen Investment Management of Lake Oswego, Oregon. The company also announced that shareholders Rama Balasubramanian and Keith Reiland increased their ownership stakes in the firm. The investment management firm is 100% employee owned. It manages over $10 billion in assets.

KCPQ

Nexstar Media Group divested Seattle Fox affiliate KCPQ in a deal involving other stations around the country. As part of the deal with Fox Television Stations, Nexstar bought Charlotte, North Carolina, Fox affiliates WJZY and WMYT for $45 million and sold KCPQ and affiliate KZJO, along with Milwaukee Fox affiliate WITI, for $350 million. Irving, Texas-based Nexstar owns, operates, programs or provides services to 197 television stations in 115 markets.

Oregon Pacific Bank

Oregon Pacific Bank is upgrading its branch at 3250 Hillcrest Park Drive in Medford to become a full-service branch. The branch has been a trust office since 2012, with limited commercial loan origination capabilities. The bank on Monday will add full banking services. It will cater to professionals, business owners, commercial real estate investors and nonprofit organizations throughout Jackson County.

LifeBalance Program

Newport Beach, California-based Alliant Insurance Services acquired Portland-based LifeBalance Program, a company that helps employers provide well-being discounts for employees. Alliant will retain LifeBalance staff in Portland. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Mar 05, 2020

The Standard

Rucker

Flora

Portland-based Standard Insurance Co. (The Standard) promoted Stephanie Flora to vice president of internal auditing and hired John Rucker as assistant vice president of corporate tax. Flora joined the company in 2002 as an internal auditor and later became a senior internal auditor. She most recently was assistant vice president of internal auditing. Rucker has over 38 years of corporate tax experience with Ernst & Young and Deloitte Tax. Most recently, Rucker was senior vice president of tax at Lionsgate Entertainment.

HomeStreet

Mark R. Ruh on June 5 will resign from HomeStreet Bank, where he is executive vice president and CFO. Ruh will assist in transitioning the next CFO and could extend his tenure with the bank to Sept. 11, if necessary. Ruh was CFO for three years at HomeStreet, helping to change it from a thrift to a commercial bank. Seattle-based HomeStreet is searching for a new CFO and anticipates filling the position in the near term.

Traction Guest

David Sutcliffe joined Seattle's Traction Guest as board chair. Sutcliffe has nearly 40 years of experience leading tech companies, with stints as CEO and board chair of Sierra Wireless, board chair of Neurio Technology and board chair of Social Venture Partners Vancouver. Traction Guest operates a cloud-based visitor management service.

Pend Oreille Insurance

Newport Beach, California-based Alliant Insurance Services acquired Pend Oreille Insurance of Ponderay, Idaho. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alliant will retain the Pend Oreille Insurance team, including co-owners Stefanie Nostdahl and Jodie Corless. Pend Oreille Insurance is an independent agency.

Lattice Semiconductor

Hillsboro, Oregon-based chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor will repurchase up to $40 million of its outstanding common stock over the next 12 months. Stock may be bought through the open market and in privately negotiated transactions. The company could suspend or discontinue the program at any time.

Take a tour of Rainier Square

If you're a member of the ULI's Young Leadership Group, circle the date in your calendars. March 26 will offer a members-only peek inside Wright Runstad's 59-story Rainier Square mixed-use tower, which is nearing completion downtown. (The main tower crane just came down; and a new tower crane is going up at the smaller companion office building site on the same block.) The event begins with lunch at 11:15 a.m., and attendees are encouraged to bring their own protective gear (boots, vests, hard hats and the like). Details and registration: northwest.uli.org.

Realogics turns 10

Jones

Realogics Sotheby's International Realty can now count 10 candles on the cake. Dean Jones said his brokerage just celebrated its 10th anniversary. “Looking back, our story is one of vision, passion and momentum — evolving from a start-up of just a few change agents willing to challenge the industry status-quo, to becoming one of the most-respected real estate brands in the region,” he said. The firm now counts about 277 licensed brokers and 55 employees. The firm grossed more than $1.65 billion in sales last year. Jones said the firm is now advising more than $1.5 billion in new condominium developments now in planning. It has offices in downtown Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Kirkland, Madison Park and downtown Bellevue.

Engel & Volkers opens in Federal Way

Record

International luxury brokerage Engel & Volkers announced a recent expansion to Federal Way. Mackenzie Record and her Record Real Estate are partnering with E&V, which mainly sells high-end residential properties — plus assets like yachts and planes. E&V now boasts about 20 agents in the Puget Sound region. Its Anthony Hitt said in a statement, “The Pacific Northwest is a key market in our expansion plans across the Americas, and we're thrilled to open another shop in Washington.” Record added, “The brand provides a distinctly different and fresh approach to real estate, where luxury isn't defined by price point, but rather by a level of service.” The firm is based in Hamburg, Germany.

(Editor's note: Errors in the story have been corrected. Other existing Engel & Volkers franchises in the Seattle area have different ownership and are not affiliated with the Federal Way shop.)