Mar 18, 2020

Coughlin Porter Lundeen

Malaspino

Seattle-based Coughlin Porter Lundeen promoted Kyle Malaspino to civil associate principal. Malaspino has 11 years of experience that includes project management, business and navigating the ins and outs of utility permitting for building projects in downtown Seattle and Bellevue. He has used that experience to support some of the firm's largest and most complex projects. In Seattle, he has supported Amazon's South Lake Union and Denny Triangle campuses, the UW Medicine South Lake Union campus and Google Lakefront Blocks.

Cary Kopczynski & Co.

Tran

Ahmadi

Shim

In Bellevue, Cary Kopczynski & Co. hired Mary Shim as a senior design engineer/project manager and Ali Ahmadi as a design engineer, and promoted Allison Tran to HR generalist. Shim has over 13 years of experience in the structural analysis and design of commercial, cultural and mixed-use buildings in the U.S. and internationally. In Seattle, she is working on BB6, a mixed-use development with two 480-foot towers atop a seven-level podium, and 9th & Howell, a 30-story hotel over a six-story podium.

Ahmadi has nine years of experience in gravity and lateral design of building structures for medical facilities, residential and office buildings and parking structures. He will assist project managers and principals with coordination and design engineering of building elements. He is working on Calle De Luna, which is three 12-story residential towers atop a shared podium in Santa Clara, California. Tran will manage human resources-related operations and continue as executive assistant to the principals and CEO, and coordinator of professional and trade association activities. CKC is a structural engineering firm with offices also in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Natural Systems Design

Winter

Dickerson-Lange

Seattle-based science and engineering firm Natural Systems Design promoted Steve Winter and Susan Dickerson-Lange to principal partners. Winter has over 20 years of experience as a hydrologist and geomorphologist concentrating on wetlands, streams and rivers in Washington, Oregon and California. He has a background in wetlands, hydrology, restoration design and project management, and project permitting experience for projects in fluvial and estuarine settings.

Dickerson-Lange is a hydrologist and geologist with over 11 years of research and applied experience in geomorphic and hydrogeologic investigations, watershed-scale hydrologic modeling and spatial data processing and analysis. She has led the development of a quantitative framework for estimating the water and sediment storage benefits of stream restoration actions, and researches forest management effects on snowpack and water supply to support regional climate change adaptation efforts.

GGLO

Greene

Bates

Gilfillan

Gabay

In Seattle, GGLO promoted Al Gabay, Jake Gilfillan, Jeffrey Bates and James Greene to associate. Gabay has 24 years of design and management experience. He specializes in hospitality and destination resort projects throughout the world, in addition to commercial, retail and residential projects. Gilfillan joined GGLO's IT department in 2018. His technical background primarily includes Windows-based servers and desktops, computer networking and phone systems. Bates works on mixed-use urban infill projects, both high-rise and mid-rise. Greene is a landscape architect who has collaborated on multidisciplinary projects in the U.S. and Asia. GGLO provides architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and planning.

Century Therapeutics

Philadelphia-based Century Therapeutics opened an innovation hub in Seattle to develop genetically engineered therapies for solid tumor cancers. The hub's goal is to overcome barriers that have limited the effectiveness of first-generation cell therapies. Dr. Hy Levitsky, Century's president of research and development, is overseeing the Seattle hub and collaborating with Dr. Luis Borges, Century's chief scientific officer at the Philadelphia headquarters. Levitsky has extensive biotech experience, previously as chief scientific officer at Juno Therapeutics in Seattle.

Amazon

Seattle-based Amazon announced four new renewable energy projects around the world that will support its commitment to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030. The projects are: a 60-megawatt solar farm in Australia expected to come online in 2021; a 122-megawatt onshore wind farm in Sweden expected to come online in 2022; a 50-megawatt solar farm in Spain expected to begin operations in 2021; and a 65-megawatt solar farm in Virginia with an undisclosed opening date. Amazon wants to be net-zero carbon by 2040.

PotlatchDeltic

Spokane-based PotlatchDeltic is transferring about $100 million in pension obligations to New York Life Insurance Co. through a group annuity contract. New York Life will assume responsibility for annuity administration and benefit payments to select retirees beginning May 1. The change isn't expected to affect pension benefits of PotlatchDeltic retirees. PotlatchDeltic is a REIT that owns timberlands in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota and Mississippi.

Mar 17, 2020

Vacasa

Dodson

Portland vacation rental management company Vacasa hired Mike Dodson as chief revenue officer. Dodson was CEO of Fishbowl, a developer of software marketing and analytics for restaurants. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at restaurant reservation service company OpenTable, where he was chief revenue officer.

Banzai

Seattle-based Banzai, a developer of cloud software for event marketing, raised $7 million in equity financing in a deal led by DNX Ventures and Vulcan Capital. Banzai will use the funds to expand staff and enhance its products. DNX is an early-stage venture capital company and Vulcan Capital is the investment arm of Seattle-based Vulcan Inc. DNX has offices in San Mateo, California, and Tokyo.

Smart Foodservice

Rosemont, Illinois-based US Foods Holding Corp. is acquiring Smart Foodservice Warehouse Stores for $970 million in cash. Portland-based Smart Foodservice operates 70 small-format cash-and-carry stores across California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Montana that serve small and mid-sized restaurants and other food businesses. Its revenues last year were about $1.1 billion, with $85 million in earnings. The deal excludes Smart & Final retail grocery stores.

OpenSesame

Portland-based e-learning company OpenSesame is offering unlimited free access to coronavirus preparedness and remote work training for any organization through May 15. The offer includes e-learning courses in multiple languages. The courses are at go.opensesame.com/free-offer.

Lease Crutcher Lewis

Howie

LaRiva

Harkness

Packey

In Seattle, general contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis hired Brian Packey as director of risk management, Lisa Harkness as development and education specialist, Alicia LaRiva as operations assistant and Deanne Howie as payroll specialist. Packey has 10 years of risk management experience and is a certified Construction Risk Insurance Specialist. Harkness has 19 years of workforce development experience. LaRiva has over a decade of administrative experience. Howie has worked in payroll and accounting for over a decade, and has additional experience in human resources.

NWCMA

Hutchinson

In Mill Creek, the Northwest Concrete Masonry Association hired Adam Hutchinson as assistant executive director. Hutchinson worked at Integrus Architecture for over 11 years as a drafter and design engineer. He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Gonzaga University and an Engineer in Training designation from the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.

Controlled Rain

Brian Cummings bought Controlled Rain, an irrigation and landscaping business based in Olympia. The new company is CR Landscaping LLC dba Controlled Rain. Other details were not available.

Elcon Corp.

Everett-based Elcon Corp. won a grant to provide fall protection safety harnesses designed for women. The grant comes from Autodesk Construction Solutions and the Associated General Contractors of America, who awarded grants to 20 other construction companies so they can buy more than 300 harnesses for women. Other Northwest firms receiving grants include Swalling General Contractors of Anchorage and two Oregon contractors, Salem-based Mid-Valley Commercial Construction and Tigard-based Snyder Roofing of Oregon. AGC is partnering with safety equipment manufacturers MSA and 3M to provide the harnesses, and all winning firms are required to train on the proper use of the harnesses.