Oct 12, 2022

Architects West

Champion

Caleb Champion has been hired as an intern architect at Architects West. He brings over 10 years of leadership experience from the fabrication and construction industries to the firm. Champion earned his Associates of Applied Science Transfer Degree in Architectural Technology from Spokane Community College. He previously worked for local design and fabrication companies in Spokane.

He has a special interest in design as well as construction administration. Some of Champions current projects include schools in Wallowa, Washington and Ione, Oregon, and Mountain View Bible Church and Atlas Housing in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Seattle Design Festival

Chubb

Woland

Gatlin

Jau

Seattle Design Festival announced its incoming slate of design leaders who were elected to fill seats on its Board of Directors. These new directors will provide the strategic leadership required to advance SDF's mission “to unleash the design thinker in everyone to illuminate Seattle's challenges and ignite action.” The four incoming board members are Jenny Jau, Jeanette Gatlin, Jake Woland, and Mark Chubb.

Jenny Jau joins as director of finance. Jau has worked in product leadership roles for Redfin, Amazon, and Yahoo. She has an MBA and has been a nonprofit board member in the arts space. Jeannette Gatlin joins as director of development. Gatlin is a UX designer with Google and has also worked for Microsoft. She wants to support Google's involvement in SDF and develop the relationship. Jake Woland is the new director of m ember advancement. He has over 20 years of experience as a landscape architect and design leader. He regularly lectures at UW and is the author of a textbook on sustainable site design. He has worked across a wide variety of urban conditions and scales, including waterfronts, civic open spaces, transit facilities, streetscapes and mixed use and commercial projects. Mark Chubb joins as director of development. Chubb is the former director of technical services with Code Unlimited, LLC. He is an experienced emergency management and public safety executive with diverse professional, technical and academic experience in public, private and non-profit organizations.

Mayer/Reed

Simms

Mayer/Reed, Inc. announced the promotion of Shannon Simms, ASLA to associate principal and shareholder of the Portland-based interdisciplinary design studio. Simms is a landscape architect and leader in active transportation and urban design projects. She joins principal and owner Jeramie Shane, ASLA in leading the firm's landscape architecture and urban design group. Together with principal and owner Kathy Fry, SEGD, who heads the firm's visual communications group, the trio is forming the next chapter of Mayer/Reed's leadership.

Rice Fergus Miller

Gladics

Kelly

In celebration of the firm's 35th Anniversary Dean Kelly and Gunnar Gladics have joined Rice Fergus Miller's ownership team. Gladics brings over 20 years of experience as a regionally-recognized designer for emergency response facilities. His deep knowledge in the field is rooted in his many years as a volunteer firefighter and EMT. His focus, Gladics said, is on designing for the health of firefighters with an eye on innovating for the future. Kelly has extensive experience designing housing for specialty communities, such as regional Tribes or for seniors.

Wittman Estes

Crain

Hagen

Wittman Estes has welcomed two new employees. Emily Hagen joined the firm as an architect. Hagen is a licensed architect and has lectured nationally and internationally on innovative building technologies including advancements to the world of mass timber. Her award-winning conceptual design for a cross-laminated timber high-rise building were published in the book “Timber in the City.”

Hagen received her Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and attended the University of Oulu's Modern Nordic Architecture program. Her design experience spans a diverse scale of work including houses on Bainbridge and Camano Islands, a midcentury renovation in West Seattle, commercial projects across Seattle and San Diego, prefabricated mass timber projects across Washington state, and healthcare developments in rural Haiti and Guatemala.

Her current projects include Studio Nebraska, new mixed-use building in Georgetown with CLT construction; Hideaway, a custom home in Coeur d'Alene and Montlake Renovation, a home remodel and backyard redesign in Montlake.

Heather Crain joined the firm as an architect. Crain holds a Master of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies with a minor in Construction Management from Washington State University, where her thesis focused on design through the lens of spatial memory. She is a licensed architect in Washington State and enjoys returning to her alma mater as a guest critic or participation in Mentor Days at WSU's School of Design and Construction. She has nearly 10 years of experience leading residential and commercial projects from conception to construction.

Her current projects include, Mercer Grove, a new custom home on Mercer Island; Highland Park Improvement Club, a rebuilding of community center in West Seattle and The Overstory a new custom home on Marrowstone Island.

Alaska Communications

More than 2,300 rural Alaskans in seven communities along the Kuskokwim River will receive high-speed internet for the first time thanks to a tribal broadband grant funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The collaboration between Calista Corporation and Alaska Communications will connect one of the most underserved regions in the United States with a fiber-optic cable that will be the foundation for expanding broadband to communities in the region. The communities served include Lower Kalskag, Upper Kalskag, Tuluksak, Akiak, Akiachak, Kwethluk and Napakiak. Alaska Communications will deploy a fiber-to-the-home network in each community, offering up to Gigabit speed service. The project is part of the Alaska FiberOptic Project, a larger collaboration between Calista Corporation, Doyon, Limited, Gana-A ‘Yoo Limited, Tanana Chiefs Conference and Alaska Communications to connect up to 20 communities along the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers with fiber-optic cable. This segment is the second of three segments to get funding. Alaska Communications will begin the permit and construction process as quickly as possible. It will also offer a $75/month discount for households on qualifying Tribal lands through the Affordable Connectivity Program. Calista Corporation has over 35,000 Shareholders and is the parent company of more than 30 subsidiaries. Alaska Communications, a subsidiary of ATN International, is a provider of advanced broadband and managed IT services for businesses and consumers in Alaska.

Point B

Seattle-based Point B, a global consulting firm, announced its acquisition of Sustainable Business Consulting (SBC), a firm dedicated to providing ESG-focused solutions. This acquisition expands Point B's ESG offerings, particularly in the areas of climate action, supply chain risk, ESG reporting, regulatory compliance and integrated strategy. According to Point B's executive director of ESG Gwen Migita, the demand for thoughtful, integrated climate action and social impact and justice consulting is increasing across industries, philanthropies and institutions. Established in Seattle in 2004, SBC's staff brings more than 240 clients across 11 industries to Point B's roster, including names such as Delta Airlines, New York Life, Expedia, REI and Estee Lauder Companies. Point B's industry, capability and technology experts can be found across the United States, with international reach via its partnership with Nextcontinent.

Raisbeck Engineering

Raisbeck Engineering has been awarded a General Service Administration Multiple Award Schedule contract. The contract, which took effect September 30, 2022, is valid for five years with three five-year option periods. The GSA Schedule makes the company's products accessible through a simplified buying process to state and federal government agencies, expanding the company's footprint in the federal government marketplace. To qualify for GSA approval, the company went through an 18-month application process. Contractors selling through the GSA contract are vetted beforehand and must have a proven track record within its industry. The GSA Multiple Award Schedule also provides a competitive advantage in the government sector since terms and conditions including pricing and warranties are previously agreed upon. Founded in 1949, GSA manages more than one-fourth of the government's total procurement dollars and continuously accounts for approximately $44 billion of government spending. GSA provides a centralized delivery system of products with predetermined terms and conditions such as pricing, delivery times, and warranties and serves to leverage its buying power to obtain the best value for taxpayers. Headquartered in Seattle, Raisbeck Engineering, an Acorn Growth Aerospace and Defense company, is a provider of aircraft modifications for business and commercial aircraft.