May 05, 2022

Independent Community Bankers of America

Wanichek

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) announced that Craig Wanichek, CEO and president of Summit Bank, Eugene, Oregon, was elected to serve on ICBA's Legislative Issues Committee. ICBA is a national voice for community banks and is committed to its 92-year mission of creating and promoting an environment where community banks flourish. In addition to helping shape and advocate ICBA's national policy positions and programs, Wanichek's duties include engaging in grassroots activities in Oregon to promote pro-community bank policies and serving as a liaison between community banks and ICBA staff and leadership in Washington, D.C. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and downtown Portland.

Rep. Adam Smith

Representative Adam Smith announced the departure of his longtime chief of staff, Shana Chandler, and other senior staff changes. Chandler worked for the people of Washington's 9th Congressional District for more than 25 years, starting her career with Rep. Smith as an executive assistant and rising to the role of chief of staff in 2007. In addition to Chandler's departure, the following staff changes will go into effect on May 6: Sarah Servin, currently deputy chief of staff and district director, will assume the role of chief of staff and Glenn Carpenter, currently deputy district director, will assume the role of district director.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo, a software, data and intelligence firm, has acquired Comparably, a recruitment marketing and employer branding platform. Comparably attracts millions of job seekers each month looking for a source of information on company cultures and employee insights. The comprehensive platform provides employers with one-of-a-kind SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) solutions to amplify and enhance their employer brand and recruitment marketing with custom content, search engine optimization, and global media recognition through Comparably's Best Places to Work Awards series, which reaches hundreds of millions of people annually. ZoomInfo plans to use Comparably's proprietary data to further build its TalentOS into a best-in-class talent platform by enriching recruiter search options and providing recruiters with access to millions of quality candidates and employer brand solutions. ZoomInfo is headquartered in Vancouver.

May 04, 2022

PACE Engineers, Inc.

Greenhaw

Vehige

PACE Engineers, Inc. announced the addition of two new hires to its engineering group: Don Vehige and Kristal Greenhaw. Vehige is a principal planner with over 20 years of experience including subdivisions, master-planned communities, and mixed-use projects of various scales and levels of complexity. These efforts include streetscapes, parks and trail systems, and customized development standards. Greenhaw is a senior project manager with 28 years of experience specializing in land development, transportation engineering, highways, telecommunications, and stormwater design.

Rice Fergus Miller

Fergus

Rice Fergus Miller announced the retirement of Dave Fergus, long-time principal and market leader for the firm's robust fire and emergency services market. Fergus will retire on June 1 2022. The Bremerton-based architecture, interiors, and planning firm has over 54 employees, over 20 of whom are working exclusively on the design and construction administration of fire stations, 9-1-1 call centers, and fleet and logistics facilities across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Fergus joined the firm in 1987, shortly after the founding by Steve Rice, who himself retired in December 2021. The two led the firm, then known as Rice Fergus Architects, until Mike Miller joined in 1990. The firm became known as Rice Fergus Miller and expanded from community projects and fire stations to include healthcare and senior living. Today, the firm works on fire services and civic projects, healthcare, hospitality, senior living, market-rate and affordable housing projects throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Additionally, Rice Fergus Miller has become known as a leader in serving Coast Salish Tribes with culturally appropriate architecture, interior design, and planning services.

One of the projects Fergus is most proud of was the design of the Kitsap 9/11 Memorial. While not only honoring the 343 FDNY firefighters who perished that day, the memorial recognizes those who survived and those who saved the life of someone else at the cost of their own. As Fergus steps away four principals will continue to lead the firm: Greg Belding, Jennifer Fleming, Dean Kelly, and Gunnar Gladics. Gladics will take the reigns of fire and emergency services market.

ScharrerAD

Brescia

ScharrerAD promoted Frank Brescia, AIA to principal. Brescia has 16 years of experience and has led many of ScharrerAD's transit and agency projects, including multiple Sound Transit early and final designs for Link Light Rail and Bus Rapid Transit stations. He is a LEED Accredited Professional and has also served NCARB on their Continuing Education Evaluation Work Group.

Weber Thompson

Schultz

Kataria

Wilson

Stout

Porter

Riibe

Castro

Weber Thompson has promoted seven staff members to new leadership positions in the firm. Brittany Porter AIA, CPHC, LEED GA and John Stout AIA, LEED AP BD+C have been promoted to senior associate. Laurie Wilson AIA, Tanya Kataria LEED AP, Erik Schultz AIA, Sam Castro RA, and Leslie Riibe have been promoted to associate.

Senior Associate Brittany Porter joined WT's Workplace Design Studio in 2018, bringing a wealth of highly sustainable experience, including managing the design and construction of one of Washington State's first multifamily Passive House buildings. She is a frequent speaker on sustainable design principles, a certified Passive House consultant, and a past Board Member for Passive House Northwest. Brittany is the Young Architects Regional Director for the AIA Northwest & Pacific Region, acting as liaison to the Committee on the Environment. Currently, she is working on Northlake Commons, a mass timber, lab-ready building pursuing LEED Gold certification.

Senior Associate John Stout is a core member of Weber Thompson's high rise design studio. He brings a passion for high rise design, advancement and technology to his skyline changing design work on projects such as Nexus, The Ivey and the Ayer. Stout serves on the board for the CTBUH and is highly active in mentoring programs at the University of Washington Department of Architecture.

Associate architect Laurie Wilson is a senior project manager in Weber Thompson's Affordable Housing Team, working to deliver mixed-use projects such as the Opportunity Center at Othello Square and the SCIDpda North Lot project on the historic Pacific Medical Center campus. Wilson is one of the first African-American women architects licensed in Washington State. She was a founder of the “Cities for All Project,” and has supported organizations including Africatown Community Land Trust, King Street Station Arts, The Black Farmer's Collective, as well as numerous planning and design boards.

Associate Tanya Kataria is a designer in WT's affordable housing team. She is a member of the Citizen's Housing Commission in the City of Edmonds, working on public policy that promote diverse, affordable housing options. More recently, she was admitted to AIA National Next To Lead program, a pilot leadership program that removes barriers to AIA Leadership positions for ethnically diverse women.

Associate Sam Castro is Weber Thompson's BIM Manager and a licensed architect. He leads the firm's Revit User Group and is engaged in local and wide-ranging BIM roundtables. He also consults on WT's IT and technology initiatives.

Associate Erik Schultz is a project architect in Weber Thompson's Workplaces Studio leading a mass timber, lab ready high rise through documentation. Outside of his projects Schultz is a member of WT's Revit group, presenting to the office, developing content, and providing overall consulting and BIM office Hours to the office. He is also a staunch advocate for Scrum and has presented to the office this alternative method for project delivery.

Associate Leslie Riibe is a senior graphic designer at Weber Thompson, a member of WT's might marketing team. She is the designer and gatekeeper of Weber Thompson's brand assets and consults with project team on building signage. Riibe has contributed to environmental graphics for a number of WT projects include Ascent, Marlowe, Watershed, and Northlake Commons. She is an active member of her Toastmasters group and frequently contributes her design talents to non-profits, including the Seattle Architecture Foundation, Passive House Northwest and the AIA Diversity Roundtable. In 2016 she added a certificate in User-Centered Design from the University of Washington to her educational experience.

Golden Hills Wind Farm

Avangrid Renewables, a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. announced that it has achieved commercial operation at its 200 Megawatt Golden Hills wind farm in Sherman County, Oregon. The facility, which provides enough clean, renewable electricity to Puget Sound Energy to power over 60,000 homes annually, began operations on April 29. The project will help PSE meet its goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while providing additional capacity to serve customers, particularly during winter periods. The project is Avangrid Renewables' seventh wind project in Sherman County, 11th in Oregon, and 14th in the Pacific Northwest. The Power Purchase Agreement for the project was signed in May 2020 as part of PSE's commitment to the environment and deep decarbonization by investing in more wind energy. The addition of the Golden Hills wind project increases PSE's owned and contracted wind fleet to over 1,150 megawatts. The project is expected to deliver over $220 million in landowner payments and local taxes over its lifetime. Avangrid Renewables acquired the Golden Hills project in September 2017 from the original developer of the project, Orion Wind Resources, a joint venture between Orion Renewable Energy Group and Eolian. Avangrid Renewables is headquartered in Portland.

Paint Recycling Program

PaintCare released the first annual report for its Washington paint recycling program. The program, which is guided by the state's paint stewardship law (SHB 1652), officially launched on April 1, 2021. In its first nine months of operation, PaintCare collected 581,363 gallons of paint, diverting most of it out of landfills and putting it to beneficial use. Now, a year into collection, PaintCare estimates that Washingtonians have dropped off approximately 842,000 gallons of unwanted paint. The paint recycling program allows people to recycle unwanted paint at a network of 210 drop-off sites across the state. PaintCare is a nonprofit organization created by the paint industry through the American Coatings Association to manage leftover paint in states that have enacted paint stewardship laws. PaintCare also offers free on-location pickup to businesses, organizations and households with 100 gallons of paint or more to recycle. The paint stewardship law includes a small fee — called the PaintCare fee — on the sale of any new paint in the state, which funds all aspects of the program including paint collection, transportation, processing and public education. Information regarding drop-off sites and the type of products accepted is available at http://www.paintcare.org/.

City of Tacoma

The Tacoma Employees' Retirement System (TERS) is seeking applications for the resident member position on the TERS Board. Applications are due May 27. This is a three-year volunteer position, with an opportunity to be reappointed, for a Tacoma resident who is not employed by the city of Tacoma. TERS Board members are responsible for maintaining the financial health of the system and high quality service to its participants. A defined benefit plan providing retirement benefits to city of Tacoma employees, TERS serves about 3,000 active members and 3,000 deferred and retired members. Retirement benefits are funded by employer and member contributions, as well as investment earnings. Application forms, submission instructions and details on the TERS plan, are available at http://www.cityoftacoma.org/retirement/.