May 31, 2024

USI Insurance Services

Butler

USI Insurance Services announced it has hired Paul Butler as senior claims consultant in its Marine division.

Butler brings more than 35 years of claims experience in the marine sector, including marine investigator for a large insurance defense law firm; independent adjuster, owner and lead adjuster of an independent adjusting firm; and the regional marine claims manager for AIG and Crum & Forster.

In addition to his work experience, Butler is a past president and board member of the Puget Sound Maritime Claims Association, and a member of the Marine Insurance Association of Seattle, the Association of Marine Underwriters of San Francisco and the North Pacific Fishing Vessel Owners Association. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Society, Law & Justice from the University of Washington.

Heron's Key

Heron's Key, a resort-style continuing care retirement community located in Gig Harbor, recently appointed Denise Cooksey as the human resources director.

Cooksey comes to Heron's Key with more than two decades of human resources management experience. She most recently worked as a senior benefits account manager in Tacoma and prior to that spent 19 years leading human resources for a Tacoma senior living community.

Cooksey is certified by both the Human Resources Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management. She also holds state insurance licenses in both Washington and California.

May 29, 2024

FSi Engineers

Soleimani-vafa

FSi Engineers has hired Soheil Soleimani-vafa as a mechanical engineer. Soleimani-vafa is a graduate of the University of Tabriz and brings 14 years of experience in the field.

Parametrix

Tidwell

Dharmadhikari

Nimish Dharmadhikari has joined Parametrix as a senior engineer. He has over 10 years of experience specializing in travel demand modeling, advanced data analysis, and visualization.

Dharmadhikari comes to Parametrix from San Diego Association of Governments where he served as an associate researcher and modeler. In this role, he managed activity-based modeling (ABM) projects as well as agency-wide data analysis, access, and dissemination.

He holds a PhD in Transportation and Logistics from North Dakota State University as well as a Certificate in Project Management Essentials and a Google Project Management Certificate. Dharmadhikari is a Certified Geographic Information Systems Professional.

At Parametrix, he joins the firm's transportation division based in Portland, Oregon. He will provide travel demand modeling, data analysis and planning services to municipalities, counties, transit agencies, and state departments of transportation throughout Oregon, Washington, and California.

Charlie Tidwell has also joined Parametrix as a senior engineer and transportation project manager. He has 13 years of experience working on a wide variety of transportation improvement projects for state and local agencies in the Northwest and the Southeast, including multimodal urban arterial corridors, bus rapid transit facilities, interstates, interchanges, highways, intersections, rural roadways, bike and pedestrian facilities, and ADA accommodations.

Tidwell comes to Parametrix from HDR where he served as a transportation project manager. His recent project experience includes Sound Transit STRIDE Bus Rapid Transit, Seattle Department of Transportation RapidRide J-Line and Marion Street Pedestrian Bridge, King County Metro RapidRide I-Line, and Washington State Department of Transportation Olympic Region fish passage projects.

At Parametrix, he joins the firm's transportation division. Based in Seattle, he will support transportation projects for state and local agencies throughout the Puget Sound region.

PitchBook

Morningstar announced that Rod Diefendorf will be appointed the next leader of PitchBook as president and chief operating officer, reporting to Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor. This appointment comes after PitchBook founder John Gabbert announced his plans to depart. Diefendorf has been COO of PitchBook since 2016 and has nearly 30 years of experience driving growth and increasing shareholder value at startups and large corporations in the technology sector. Since joining PitchBook, he has played an instrumental role in driving PitchBook’s strategic roadmap and enabling PitchBook to scale its operations globally. PitchBook is a financial data and software company that collects and analyzes detailed data on the venture capital, private equity, and M&A landscape — including public and private companies, investors, funds, investments, exits and people. Founded in 2007, PitchBook operates globally, with U.S. headquarters in Seattle. In 2016, Morningstar acquired PitchBook, which now operates as an independent subsidiary. Morningstar provides independent investment insights in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

May 24, 2024

Economic Alliance Snohomish County

Economic Alliance Snohomish County announced the Snohomish County Update will take place on May 28 at the Boeing Future of Flight Aviation Center. This annual event brings together community members and local businesses for a discussion on the economic landscape and the innovations shaping our future. Presented by Boeing and the Port of Everett, this event promises insights into the opportunities and challenges facing Snohomish County.

This year, the event will feature a panel discussion with esteemed speakers including Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers; Bruno Arnal, general manager of Pathways at Amazon; and Jason Clark, vice president and general manager of the Boeing 777/777X family of airplanes. Together, they will delve into crucial topics such as economic development, environmental sustainability, workforce development, and technological innovation.

Admission starts at $25 and includes lunch. The event will start at 11 a.m. at the Boeing Future of Flight, located at 8415 Paine Field Blvd., Mukilteo. Registration at https://tinyurl.com/SnoCoUpdate2024

Icertis

Bellevue-based Icertis has appointed Anand Subbaraman as chief operating officer and Jay Lee as chief marketing officer. A 25-year software veteran, Subbaraman joins Icertis from BrowserStack, where as president he was responsible for strategy, product management, operations and marketing. He also previously held leadership roles at Finastra and Oracle. As COO, Subbaraman is responsible for product management, product engineering, and customer operations, including consulting, partner services, customer support, and customer success. Most recently, Lee served as chief marketing officer at Avalara. Prior to Avalara, Lee held leadership roles at GE Capital, American Express and PayPal. The Icertis platform provides AI-powered contract intelligence.

Seattle Credit Union

Seattle Credit Union has announced a partnership with Tacoma-based William Factory Small Business Incubator to present workshops for small business owners and entrepreneurs. By providing training, capital, networking and coaching, William Factory Small Business Incubator has helped more than 200 entrepreneurs start their businesses, leading to the creation of more than 1,000 jobs over the past 33 years in the South Sound region. The company's focus is to work with historically underserved segments of the community. The events will be held at Seattle Credit Union's new community workshop space at the Hilltop branch. Seattle Credit Union offers numerous financial education workshops throughout the year. Through its Feel Good Checking program, Seattle Credit Union donates $20 each time a Feel Good Checking account is opened to a local nonprofit that is doing good in the community. The current nonprofit partner is Tacoma Community House, a community-based service center for immigrants, refugees, and long-time South Sound residents seeking pathways to self-sufficiency. William Factory Small Business Incubator will also continue to offer workshops at the Hilltop branch. Additional information is available at seattlecu.com/empowering-entrepreneurs.