Sep 01, 2022

University of Washington

Liu

Yajuan (Susan) Liu, CPA and principal of Hongxin Wealth & Tax Planning Group, has been appointed to the University of Washington Bothell School of Business Dean's Advisory Board. The board provides strategic guidance, helps build external partnerships and deepens the school's relationship with the business community. Spanning manufacturing, retail, aerospace, accounting, design, software, services, healthcare and consulting, volunteer board members bring their experience and expertise to bear on the advice they provide the school. Liu is an internationally recognized expert in international tax planning and tax compliance services to U.S. citizens, green card holders, and Chinese investors. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Nankai University in China. Before starting Hongxin Wealth & Tax Planning Group in Bellevue in 2015, she worked for eight years at Microsoft and spent two years at Merrill Lynch as a financial advisor to high-net-worth clients. Liu is frequently invited to Beijing, Shanghai, and other major cities to lecture to local investors and companies on tax consulting and planning. She has been a featured speaker on topics of accounting, taxation, and finance at the University of Washington - Bothell, the Northeast China Association, and the Washington Association of Chinese American Physicians.

Madrona

Mehandru

Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm based in Seattle, announced that Karan Mehandru is joining the firm's investment team as a managing director. He has fifteen years of experience as a venture investor and board member for rapidly scaling private businesses, working closely with founders, their teams, and partners to build lasting companies. Mehandru will be based in Silicon Valley, opening a Madrona office in Palo Alto to expand the firm's Bay Area network and team. Immediately prior to Madrona, Mehandru led the venture capital practice at STEADFAST Capital, where he focused on AI, enterprise software, future of work, fintech, and related sectors. He led acceleration stage investments in, and partnered with, companies like Zapier, Klaviyo, Jumpcloud, Algolia, LucidChart, Sendbird, Wealthsimple and Pipefy. Before Steadfast, Mehandru spent more than a decade at Trinity Ventures investing in early and acceleration stage founders and teams. Mehandru started his venture career at Scale Venture Partners, working with mid-stage companies. The Madrona team is currently investing out of Fund 8 and Acceleration Fund 2, announced in early 2020. Fund 8 focuses primarily on Seed and Series A companies based in the Pacific Northwest. The Acceleration Fund focuses on Series B stage companies and beyond anywhere in North America.

Lane Powell

Miles

Jesse Miles has joined Lane Powell as an associate on the Commercial Litigation Team. Prior to joining Lane Powell, Miles was a law clerk for the Hon. David S. Mann of the Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I. Miles' time with the court exposed him to myriad areas of Washington law and afforded him the opportunity to work on nearly 60 opinions over two years. Before his time with the court, Miles worked as a clerk for the Department of Energy's Bonneville Power Administration, The Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resource Division, the legal clinic Western Resources Legal Center, and Occidental Petroleum. Miles is a published biologist with experience in the environmental sciences. He worked as a research fellow during his study at The University of Virginia's College at Wise, as a laboratory technician at The U.S. Geological Survey, and as a teaching and research assistant at Purdue University. Miles received his J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, his M.S. in Aquatic Ecology from Purdue University, and his B.S. in Biology from The University of Virginia's College at Wise.

Aug 31, 2022

Summit Bank

Brian Thomas, commercial banking team leader for Summit Bank, announced that Jackie Costello has been hired as vice president, business client advisor for Summit Bank's Portland/Southwest Washington market. Costello comes to Summit with over 30 years of banking experience supporting commercial and private banking clients in the Portland and Washington area, most recently as a lender for another community bank. She is also a former team lead for a regional trust bank. Costello serves on the board of Candlelighters for Children with Cancer. Costello will help manage Summit Bank's client portfolio and help grow Summit's loan and deposit portfolio. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and downtown Portland. In 2021, the bank was named the Top Small Business Administration Community Bank Lender in the State of Oregon and in 2022, has been named to Oregon Business Magazine's Top 100 Best Places to Work.

Masonry Institute

The Masonry Institute of Washington is accepting submissions for the 2023 Excellence in Masonry Design Awards, celebrating the best masonry designs in Washington State. Masonry materials include: brick, CMU, stone, tile, marble and terrazzo. These projects represent the finest standards in masonry design, innovation, structural performance, and overall masonry integration with the client and surrounding community. Keeping with tradition and celebrating over 40 years of Northwest Masonry projects, the 2023 Projects will be judged by out-of-state from the A/E/C industry and the Banquet will include a presentation and ceremony. The MIW Excellence Awards in Masonry will have an awards banquet on February 23, 2023. Architects, contractors and building owners are encouraged to submit their projects to the competition. Submission guidelines are available at masonryinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2023-Awards-Entry-Guide.pdf. For further information contact bdodge@masonryinstitute.com.

Standard Insurance

Portland-based Standard Insurance (The Standard) has promoted Nathan Whiteley to assistant vice president of short term disability, absence management and return to work services. Whiteley joined The Standard in 2005 and has been a member of The Standard's claims team for 17 years. Most recently, he was senior director of disability benefits where he led the company's Group LTD teams since 2018. Whiteley earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from Oregon State University. The Standard, in business since 1906, is a provider of financial protection products and services for employers and individuals.

Aug 30, 2022

Summit Bank

Brian Thomas, commercial banking team leader for Summit Bank, announced that Joshua Adams has been hired as senior vice president, commercial banking officer and Zach Weber has been hired as assistant vice president, senior associate business client advisor. Adams was most recently the senior vice president and commercial loan officer at Premier Community Bank and served in the same role at Heritage Bank since 2008. Weber was most recently the senior credit analyst at Heritage Bank and prior to that he was a commercial credit analyst at CU Business Group in Portland. Summit Bank has offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and Portland.

Camping World

Camping World Holdings expanded its footprint in Western Washington by signing an agreement to acquire the Clear Creek RV Center dealerships located in Silverdale and Puyallup. The acquisition is anticipated to close in September 2022. The Silverdale facility is located at 11572 Clear Creek Road NW, Silverdale and the Puyallup facility is located at 16625 Meridian E., Puyallup. Both locations will transition to the Camping World brand, increasing the total number of Camping World locations in the State of Washington to six. The SuperCenters will include a wide range of new and used RVs for sale, in addition to a full assortment of RV and outdoor products and accessories and RV service, maintenance, and repair. Camping World Holdings is headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL.

Scotsman Guide Board

Bothell-based Scotsman Guide appointed Ski Swiatkowski to the company's board of directors for a one-year term, which began on August 23, 2022. Swiatkowski is an experienced mortgage industry veteran, public speaker, performance improvement and leadership specialist, and author of the book “Create The Change You Want To See.” Swiatkowski started as a loan originator in 1984, and has previously held executive positions as the vice president of business development for Silver Hill Funding, vice president of originations portfolio marketing for Bayview Loan Servicing, and CEO of his own mortgage brokerage firm. Scotsman Guides is a provider of financial technology tools and industry news for mortgage originators.