Oct 20, 2022

Vacasa

Gonzalez

Vacasa announced that Rachel Gonzalez will serve as an observer on its board of directors. The company intends to seek stockholder approval to expand the size of its board and to elect Gonzalez as an independent director at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders. From 2014-2018, Gonzalez served as general counsel and then chief administrative officer of Sabre, a global travel software and technology provider, where she oversaw multiple departments including human resources, corporate communications, legal strategy, regulatory and government affairs, and compliance. Gonzalez most recently served as executive vice president and general counsel of Starbucks, where she supported the board of directors and oversaw the Law & Corporate Affairs department. She currently sits on the board of Electronic Arts Inc., serving as a member of its nominating and governance committee. Vacasa, headquartered in Portland, is a vacation rental management platform.

Standard Insurance

Standard Insurance (The Standard) and Securian Financial Group reached a definitive agreement under which The Standard will acquire Securian Financial's retirement record-keeping business. The acquisition is expected to close this year. The Standard, founded in 1906 and based in Portland, has offered retirement plans since 1982 with an emphasis on small to mid-sized plans. Securian Financial, founded in 1880 and headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, offers a similar suite of defined contribution and defined benefit products and services. The transaction, which excludes Securian Financial's pension risk transfer and institutional retirement businesses, will significantly expand the scale and competitive position of The Standard's retirement offerings in the U.S. and will accelerate its diversification and growth in the retirement record-keeping segment. Securian Financial's employees, sales team and management who supported the recordkeeping business will join The Standard following the close of the transaction. PJT Partners is acting as financial advisor and Locke Lord is acting as legal advisor to The Standard. Goldman Sachs is acting as financial advisor and Eversheds Sutherland is acting as legal advisor to Securian Financial.

Tanium

Tanium, a provider of converged endpoint management (XEM), won best-in-class for endpoint security in the CISO Choice Awards 2022, selected by a panel of CISO judges who have served at some of the world's best-known companies. The Tanium XEM platform won top honors for its capabilities that unify disparate teams and workflows across the organization while protecting every endpoint from cyber threats. Tanium's approach integrates IT, Risk and Compliance, and Security into a single platform, complementing anti-malware solutions with real-time visibility, management, and remediation capabilities to improve cyber resilience and reduce IT shelfware. Tanium has been named to the Forbes Cloud 100 list for seven consecutive years and ranks on Fortune's list of the Best Large Workplaces in Technology.

Oct 19, 2022

Habitat for Humanity

Gali

Collins

Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County hired Robert Collins as construction manager, and Heidi Gali as bookkeeper. This growth allows Habitat to build affordable homes at a faster rate, while identifying efficiencies and cost savings across its operations.

Collins comes to Habitat with more than 20 years of corporate experience in program, financial, supply chain and operational management, and held leadership roles at Microsoft, Amazon and JPMorgan Chase. Collins will be focused on managing all aspects of Habitat's construction projects. Gali joins Habitat with more than 15 years of accounting and bookkeeping experience, most recently having worked for Gooding O'Hara and Mackey. In her new role, Gali manages Habitat's accounts receivable and payable, and supports the finance director with payroll and benefits administration. Founded in 1998, Habitat EJC is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, and operates to serve the East Jefferson County, WA community. Habitat EJC built its first home in 1999 and has since completed nearly 100 home builds, renovations and repairs.

CoreStack

Bellevue-based CoreStack, a global multi-cloud governance provider, and Feuji, a global technology services company, announced the formation of a strategic partnership. Feuji will offer its OpsRight cloud managed services on CoreStack's NextGen Cloud Governance platform to actualize best practices for cloud operations, security, compliance, access, and resources by implementing a well-architected framework. This solution will help customers achieve integrated and continuous governance across FinOps, SecOps, and CloudOps. CoreStack is backed by strategic advisors, including the ex-CEO of Wipro and ex-CIO of Microsoft. The company is a Microsoft Azure Gold Partner, Amazon AWS Advanced Technology Competency Partner, Oracle Cloud Build Partner, and Google Cloud Build Partner. Feuji

is headquartered in Dallas, with operations in Costa Rica and India.

Journey Strategic Wealth

Journey Strategic Wealth, a financial advisory firm with advisors across the country, announced the addition of three advisory teams led by Mark Newfield, Laurie Adams, and Kathleen Barlow, totaling $210 million in new assets under management. Newfield and his team in Richmond, VA, join Journey after departing Bleakley Financial Group. Adams, a Seattle-based advisor, comes to Journey after spending 14 years at Eagle Strategies, a subsidiary of New York Life Insurance Company. Adams focuses on creating a supportive community, within her practice, for female wealth holders. Adams will be based in Seattle but travel across the country working with clients. As Adams integrates her practice into the firm, Journey will acquire her business. Barlow joins from Raymond James, and Journey will partially acquire her financial planning practice specializing in serving families and women.

Oct 18, 2022

Avalara

Avalara, a provider of tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, announced that its shareholders voted to approve the pending transaction with Vista Equity Partners at the company's Special Meeting of Shareholders. Approximately 80% of outstanding shares were represented at the meeting with 84% of those shares voting in favor of the proposed merger resulting in 66% of total outstanding shares in favor of the merger. Avalara will file the final vote results, as certified by the independent Inspector of Election, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the terms of the transaction, Vista will acquire all outstanding shares of Avalara common stock for $93.50 per share in cash. The transaction is expected to close on Oct. 19, subject to the satisfaction of all closing conditions. The company will continue to operate under the Avalara name and brand. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the U.S. and around the world in Brazil, Europe, and India.

Alaska Communications

Alaska Communications is collaborating with Oregon State University's College of Engineering to allow wave activity data to be collected from the ocean floor via the company's subsea fiber optic cable. This project will support continued learning about wave interaction which could potentially improve or provide warnings for coastal communities in the event of dangerous wave activity, like sneaker waves. Meagan Wengrove, Oregon State assistant professor of coastal engineering, and her team traveled to Alaska Communications' landing station in Florence, Oregon, in September to attach a DAS interrogator (distributed acoustic sensing) to the company's fiber. The instrument measures strain applied to the cable and reports data back to the research team. In addition, the team has radar on the surface of the ocean and two moorings on the ocean floor which contribute to the research. This is the first telecom cable the Oregon State team has used to aid its wave study. Alaska Communications, an affiliate of ATN International, is a provider of advanced broadband and managed IT services in Alaska. The company operates a statewide data network, as well as an undersea fiber optic system connecting Alaska to the contiguous U.S.

Sinclair Broadcast Group

Sinclair Broadcast Group named Valerie Koonce vice president/general manager of KBOI/CBS and KYUU/CW in Boise. Koonce, who most recently served as marketing sales manager for KUTV, Sinclair's Salt Lake City television station, will return to Boise, where from 2014-2018 she was the station's general sales manager. Throughout her career, Koonce has held several sales roles including director of sales at Neuhoff Communications, senior account executive at KSTU/FOX 13 in Salt Lake City and local sales manager at ABC4 and CW30 in Salt Lake City. She began her media career as a new business account executive at KUTV, then owned by Vicacom. Koonce holds a degree from the University of Utah and currently serves as president of the Magic Valley Advertising Federation in Idaho. Sinclair Broadcast Group is a diversified media company and provider of local news and sports. The company owns, operates and/or provides services to 185 television stations in 86 markets.