Apr 12, 2022

King County Sheriff

Moorman

Kimble

Cole-Tindall

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the names of three candidates who will move forward in the final phase of recruitment for the new King County Sheriff. A total of 12 candidates submitted applications to the nationwide search that began in November. The three finalists are: Patti Cole-Tindall, interim sheriff, King County Sheriff's Office; Charles Kimble, chief of police, Killeen Police Department (Texas); and Reginald Moorman, major, Atlanta Police Department. In the final phase of the selection process, the candidates will meet with members of the Public Safety Advisory Committee, King County employees, labor representatives and contract city representatives, and engage with the community in a separate series of public forums prior to a final interview with Constantine. Forums will take place virtually, with the first on April 18 (6–8 p.m.) and the second on April 21 (9–11 a.m.). More information on the forums is at publicinput.com/KCSheriffSelection. The King County Sheriff's Office is transitioning to an appointed, rather than elected sheriff. Constantine will make the final selection and transmit the nomination in early May to the King County Council. The council will then begin its confirmation process, with the new sheriff expected to be on board this summer.

Imperative

Seattle-based Imperative, an enterprise peer coaching platform, announced J.R. Jesson has joined as chief technology officer. Jesson has led engineering and product for six start-ups, including two he founded. Most recently, as an affiliate of the Feld Group Institute, Jesson helped clients such as Southwest Airlines and American Century Investments build leadership capacity for business and technical agility. Imperative combines AI technology and behavioral science to manage, scale, and measure peer coaching programs that address the needs for social connection and learning. Since its launch in 2020, companies like Microsoft, Hasbro, Accolade, GSK, Boston Scientific, Airbnb and Zillow have adopted the platform. Imperative is a B Corporation founded by workplace entrepreneur Aaron Hurst and funded by Voyager Capital.

Apr 08, 2022

Symetra

Leonhard

Brock

Sharon Brock and Denise Leonhard joined the board of directors at Bellevue-based Symetra. Brock retired as executive vice president and co-chief financial officer of Tokio Marine, where she was responsible for leading financial operations and strategy. Previously, Brock served 18 years with AIG American General, most recently as tax director. Brock is a CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Leonhard is chief commercial officer of Venmo, a mobile payment service owned by PayPal, with responsibility for driving growth and profitability. Leonhard was previously head of global credit expansion, business development and strategy at PayPal. Previously, she was vice president of business development and strategy at American Express and a management consultant at Oliver Wyman. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers.

Summit Bank

Walker

Craig Wanichek, president and CEO of Summit Bank, announced the hiring of Aaron Walker as chief credit officer. Walker has nearly 30 years of experience in banking, with a balance of senior management positions in commercial real estate and commercial and industrial lending. Most recently, Walker was the manager of commercial real estate lending for Columbia Bank. Before that, he managed C&I teams throughout Oregon for Umpqua Bank. Currently, Walker serves as president of Cascade Capital Funding, a certified development company authorized by the Small Business Administration to serve Oregon's small business community. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, central Oregon and downtown Portland.

Apr 07, 2022

Amazon

Amazon announced agreements with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) to provide heavy-lift launch services for Project Kuiper, Amazon's initiative to increase global broadband access using a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). The contracts total up to 83 launches over a five-year period, providing capacity for Amazon to deploy the majority of its 3,236-satellite constellation. It is one of the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history. Project Kuiper aims to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband to a wide range of customers, including individual households, schools, hospitals, businesses, government agencies, disaster relief operations, mobile operators, and other organizations working in places without reliable internet connectivity. Amazon is designing and developing the entire system in-house, combining a constellation of advanced LEO satellites with small, affordable customer terminals and a secure ground-based communications network. Amazon has secured 18 Ariane 6 rockets from European spaceline, Arianespace, as part of this initial agreement. Amazon has signed an agreement with Blue Origin to secure 12 launches using New Glenn, with options for up to 15 additional launches. Amazon's agreement with ULA covers 38 launches on Vulcan Centaur, ULA's newest heavy-lift launch vehicle. The agreement is in addition to Project Kuiper's existing deal to secure nine Atlas V vehicles from ULA. There are now more than 1,000 people at Amazon working on Project Kuiper.

POSaBIT

Seattle-base POSaBIT Systems, a leading provider of payments infrastructure in the cannabis industry, has brought its point of sale system to New Mexico, coinciding with the start of recreational cannabis sales in the state on April 1. POSaBIT expects to go live in roughly 20 New Mexico dispensaries during the first two months of recreational sales. POSaBIT is a financial technology company that delivers payment processing and point-of-sale systems for cash-only businesses. POSaBIT specializes in resolving pain points for complex, high-risk, emerging industries like cannabis, and providing a safer and transparent environment for merchants while creating a better overall experience for the consumer.

Walmart

Walmart is giving Washington entrepreneurs the chance to land their products on its shelves and online store. Just a few days remain to apply before the Friday, April 8 deadline. Walmart's annual Open Call is part of the company's commitment to spend an additional $350 billion on products made, grown or assembled in the U.S. It's estimated that this investment will support more than 750,000 new American jobs. Selected participants will have the opportunity to showcase their products during a 30-minute, one-on-one pitch. Participants could secure deals ranging from supplying local stores to supplying hundreds of Walmart locations and showcasing products on Walmart.com. To learn more about Open Call, see “Walmart's 9th Annual Open Call Application Period” on the Walmart website.

Apr 06, 2022

Republic Services

Seattle native Ron Paduano recently celebrated his 60th year with Republic Services, a leader in the environmental services industry. Paduano began his career in 1962. His role as lead heavy equipment operator has helped Republic's Black River C&D recycling center divert 70% of material from the landfill and convert it into recyclable material. Paduano is Republic Services' longest serving employee. The company is working to help Seattle achieve 2050 carbon neutrality as the city's growth over the last decade has increased demand for expanded and sustainable local services, including recycling and waste diversion.

JND Legal Administration

JND Legal Administration (JND), a leader in legal administration services, has again been named the nation's No. 1 Class Action Claims Administrator by The National Law Journal (NLJ) in its 11th annual “Best Of” supplement. Having placed in this award category three times in the last four years, JND has the additional honor of being listed in the NLJ Best of 2022 Hall of Fame. JND was founded by Jennifer Keough, Neil Zola and David Isaac in 2016. The company now has more than 300 employees across four offices, including its 35,000-square-foot headquarters and operations center in Seattle. The company serves plaintiff and defendant law firms, global corporations and U.S. government entities and has offices in Washington, California, Minnesota and New York. JND is the settlement administrator for the $2.67 billion Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Settlement and the Equifax Data Breach Settlement, the largest data breach settlement in history, among hundreds of other recent matters. This is the fifth time in seven years that JND has been recognized as Best Class Action Claims Administrator in the U.S. by NLJ.

NuScale Power

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has joined Japan NuScale Innovation (JNI) in making a strategic investment of $110 million in NuScale through a purchase of equity from Fluor Corp., who remains the majority owner in NuScale. This investment in NuScale represents an expansion in U.S.-Japanese cooperation to progress the deployment of advanced nuclear energy technology. In 2021, NuScale secured significant investments from Japanese companies, JGC Corporation and IHI Corp., signaling Japanese and global growing interest in NuScale as a climate solution. The investment will solidify JNI's position as the second largest investor in NuScale Power. JBIC is a policy-based financial institution of the government of Japan that conducts lending, investment and guarantee operations while complementing private sector financial institutions, and the organization has a priority to invest in businesses that will protect the global environment. NuScale is headquartered in Portland and has offices in Richland; Corvallis, Oregon.; Rockville, Maryland; Charlotte, North Carolina; and London.