Nov 17, 2021

Museum of Northwest Art

Catalani

The Museum of Northwest Art's (MoNA) Board of Trustees announced the selection of Stefano Catalani as MoNA's new Executive Director. With the addition of Stefano Catalani, MoNA gains an Executive Director with 15 years of experience in leadership and operations, most recently with Gage Academy of Art. At Gage, Catalani led the organization to new levels of success and guided it through the pandemic. MoNA's current Executive Director Joanna Sikes will continue her role through the end of 2021. The Board of Trustees announced that Ms. Sikes will begin a new role as MoNA's Director of Development.

The Museum of Northwest Art, in La Conner, collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits art created in the Pacific Northwest, supports artists, and strives to integrate art into the lives of all people.

NAC Architecture

Duffey

Rani Duffey has joined NAC Architecture as Marketing Coordinator. Duffey's education includes a Bachelor of Arts in marketing with a minor in data analytics from Eastern Washington University, and an Associate of Arts in communications from Spokane Community College. Her duties include preparation of proposals, statements of qualifications, interview presentation materials, award submittals, and other marketing collateral. Duffey was previously a Marketing Specialist with PowerHandling, Inc. in Spokane.

Shannon & Wilson

Romocki

Shannon & Wilson, Inc., a geotechnical and environmental consulting firm, announced the addition of Robert Romocki, PE. Romocki is a senior dam safety engineer in the firm's Seattle office with more than 40 years of professional experience. An active member of the United States Society of Dams (USSD) and the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO), Romocki's background includes dam safety program management, conducting risk assessments, performing technical reviews, implementing instrumentation and data collection programs, developing risk reduction plans, compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requirements, and serving as a project engineer for site investigations, field engineering, detailed design, and construction oversight of high hazard dams and other water resource related projects.

He was most recently the Chief Dam Safety Engineer for Puget Sound Energy's Dam Safety Program where he led a staff of seven technical engineers and project managers in directing dam safety projects at the Baker River and Snoqualmie Falls hydro-electric dams. He was previously the Dam Safety Program Manager for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District overseeing high hazard dams such as Howard Hansen Dam, Mud Mountain Dam, Chief Joseph Dam, Albeni Falls Dam, and Hiram Chittenden Locks and Dam, after spending nearly 30 years at the National Resources (formerly Soil) Conservation Service. Romocki's role with Shannon & Wilson will be as a Senior Consultant for dam and water resource projects.

StrongBox Data Solutions

Hall

Portland-based StrongBox Data Solutions, a provider of autonomous large-scale data management and archive solutions, announced the appointment of Andrew Hall as chief executive officer to lead the growth and transition of the company as it expands the market presence of StrongLink, the company's flagship product. StrongLink delivers automation and performance to simplify data management, offering both IT managers and channel partners a vendor-neutral solution to data and multi-vendor storage resource management with scalability to accommodate environments of any size. As a senior advisor within PartnerOne Capital, a private equity firm managing a growing portfolio of enterprise software companies, Hall is in a position to bring the resources of the larger company to StrongBox Data. He has 30 years of leadership experience, most recently serving as managing director of Insider Technologies (Manchester, UK), a company developing and supporting monitoring, tracking, and alerting products for central banks and government agencies. Prior to Insider Technologies, Hall was president of ETI-NET (Montreal Canada), which specialized in deploying business continuity solutions into major data centers globally.

Smartsheet

Bellevue-based Smartsheet, an enterprise platform for dynamic work, announced a partnership with Special Olympics to empower its teams and athletes to manage projects, automate workflows and collaborate more easily. The new partnership expands on their existing relationship and will provide Special Olympics with additional Smartsheet capabilities and support to realize the full impact that seamless collaboration can have across its whole organization. Special Olympics provides year-round sports, health, education and community building to 5.7 million people with intellectual disabilities in 200 countries. Today, more than 80 percent of Special Olympic teams use Smartsheet to manage their work and plan events. In addition to the partnership, Smartsheet will provide employee volunteer opportunities at regional Special Olympics community events around the globe. Most recently, Smartsheet, the Seattle Kraken, and Special Olympics Washington (SOWA) held an employee volunteer event on Smartsheet's rink at the Kraken Community Iceplex for SOWA athletes to learn about the game of hockey. Smartsheet employees also recently volunteered with Special Olympics Massachusetts and Denver; future events are scheduled in London and Edinburgh, where Smartsheet offices are located.

Milne Fruit Products

Michael Sorenson has been promoted to CEO & president of Prosser-based Milne Fruit Products. Sorenson will report to Court Wyckoff, executive chairman of the board. Sorenson joined Milne in 2005 with the acquisition of Milne by the Wyckoff Family. Sorenson has led Milne since his promotion to president and general manager in 2010. During the past decade Milne has expanded their production capacity, product offerings and global sales reach. Since 1956, Milne has been an industry leader in the production of fruit and vegetable juices, concentrates, and purees. Today, Milne is a global supplier to the industrial food, beverage, and health and wellness markets. Milne continues to be a growth-focused fruit and vegetable solutions partner with its full line of not-from concentrate and concentrated juice and puree offerings.

HomeStreet Bank

HomeStreet Bank announced a grant in support of Seattle area police officers, HomeStreet Bank will match up to $150,000 in donations to the Seattle Police Foundation. The funds will be used to support officer wellness and morale programs in the months to come.

In addition to the $150,000 donation, HomeStreet Bank plans to sponsor National Night Out events in communities it serves. National Night Out is a community building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships which culminates on the first Tuesday in August every year. HomeStreet is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Seattle, serving consumers and businesses in the Western United States and Hawaii through its various operating subsidiaries.

Nov 16, 2021

Museum of Northwest Art

Catalani

The Museum of Northwest Art's Board of Trustees announced the selection of Stefano Catalani as MoNA's new executive director. MoNA's current executive director Joanna Sikes will continue her role through the end of 2021. Sikes will begin a new role as MoNA's director of development. She joined MoNA in April of 2018 as interim director. With the addition of Catalani, MoNA gains an executive director with 15 years of experience in leadership and operations, most recently with Gage Academy of Art. His art career straddles gallery, museum, and educational branches. Catalani will join the museum beginning January 1st, 2022. The Museum of Northwest Art, located in La Conner, collects, preserves, interprets and exhibits art created in the Pacific Northwest, supports artists, and strives to integrate art into the lives of all people.

Standard Insurance

Brandl

Portland-based Standard Insurance (The Standard) announced that Margaret Brandl has been named assistant vice president and actuary, Actuarial Governance and Risk Management. Brandl has an extensive background in corporate risk management and actuarial systems and controls. Most recently she was vice president and managing actuary for the life and annuity business at Genworth Financial. Previously, she held a succession of roles with Manulife Financial in Canada. She led transformation of actuarial processes, models and tools in both companies. In her new role, Brandl will have responsibility for actuarial governance and risk management including the implementation of effective and agile actuarial and risk governance at all levels of the organization. Standard Insurance also announced that Kevin Erdahl has been promoted to assistant vice president of Employee Benefits Underwriting. Erdahl will assume full leadership of and responsibility for underwriting of the company's employee benefit products, including medical underwriting functions. Erdahl started at The Standard in 1994 as an associate underwriter in Employee Benefits. During his career Erdahl has held multiple leadership roles, most recently, he was second vice president of risk management for Employee Benefits Underwriting with responsibility for the western and central region underwriting teams and is serving as the business owner for medical underwriting systems.

Rafn Co.

Morran

Bellevue-based Rafn Co. promoted Todd Morran to senior superintendent. Morran started at Rafn in the mid-1990s, left for a few years, and then returned in 2016. He also is the company's safety committee chair and has been integral in Rafn's efforts to navigate COVID-19 compliance requirements. Morran is currently working on a renovation of the Cherry Street Garage building in Seattle.

ABC of Western Washington

The Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington signed up four new members: Homestreet Electric of Tacoma, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter of Tacoma, National Glass Industries of Woodinville and DRSi of Bellevue. Homestreet is a family-owned commercial and residential electrical services company. Mercedes-Benz sells and services Sprinter vans. National Glass distributes flat glass and supplies fabricated glass such as tempered and insulated glass and custom fabricated edge work. DRSi is a full-service commercial digital printer.

Sellen Construction

Seattle-based Sellen Construction signed an enterprise agreement with Versatile, a tech company that optimizes the construction process through its CraneView platform, which uses an internet of things device mounted to the crane hook to collect and analyze data on each pick while delivering insights that improve budgets, schedules and crane utilization. Sellen began using CraneView in January 2020 on a 211,000-square-foot office project in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. Sellen now plans to use CraneView on its other projects. Versatile is based in Los Altos, California.

Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Vancouver, B.C.-based equipment auctioneer Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers completed its $175 million acquisition of SmartEquip, which provides real-time service and diagnostic support for companies' equipment fleets, as well as electronic procurement of parts from original equipment manufacturers and dealers. SmartEquip is based in Norwalk, Connecticut.