Feb 01, 2023

Washington Federal

Brent Beardall, president and CEO of Washington Federal, Inc. and Washington Federal Bank continues to make significant progress recovering from a small plane crash in early January in Provo, Utah. Beardall, who is undergoing extensive physical therapy at the Rehabilitation Hospital at the University of Utah Health, expects to be discharged from the hospital on February 10, 2023, and return to his duties at WaFd Bank full time beginning February 13, 2023. Executive vice president and chief consumer banker Cathy Cooper assumed Beardall's duties in his absence. WaFd Bank, a federally insured Washington state-chartered bank with headquarters in Seattle, has more than 200 branches in eight western states.

Know Labs

Seattle-based Know Labs, an emerging developer of non-invasive medical diagnostic technology, announced changes to its executive leadership team. Ron Erickson, founder and chairman at Know Labs, was unanimously named chief executive officer by the company's board of directors. Erickson has been with the company and its predecessors for nearly 20 years. He brings 30 years of board, business development, financial and executive leadership experience across multiple industries. Alongside Erickson, Dr. James Anderson continues as Know Labs' chief medical officer, leading all activities related to clinical development. Steve Kent continues as Know Labs' chief product officer, responsible for all initiatives related to product development. Know Labs' Finance and Intellectual Property functions continue to be led by Pete Conley, chief financial officer and SVP, intellectual property. Masanori King Takee was promoted to chief technology officer. In his new role, Takee will continue to lead the company's software engineering, artificial intelligence and machine learning activities. Takee joined Know Labs in 2018 as one of the company's first employees and brings 20 years of experience creating software for technology and healthcare startups. Jessica English joins the Know Labs team as chief marketing officer. She will lead the company's marketing and communications efforts in preparation for a commercial launch. English most recently served as vice president of marketing at NZXT, a PC gaming hardware company. Leo Trautwein, previously Know Labs' chief marketing officer, is now chief commercial officer. In his 25-year multi-disciplinary career, Trautwein served as a strategy consultant, general manager and P&L leader. Trautwein will work alongside Erickson on the day-to-day management of Know Labs to ensure the appropriate initiatives are being executed to bring its Bio-RFID technology through FDA clearance and commercialization.

CoreStack

Bellevue-based CoreStack, a global multi-cloud governance provider, announced that Raj Raghavan will be joining CoreStack's leadership team in the newly created role of chief human resources officer. Raghavan was formerly SVP & HR head at IndiGo, where he oversaw all aspects of human resources, including its learning academy, corporate social responsibility, and diverse admin functions. CoreStack was ranked as the 78th fastest-growing company in North America on the 2022 Deloitte Technology Fast 500. To meet this growth need, Raghavan will lead CoreStack's HR function globally, crafting talent acquisition strategies and continuing to promote CoreStack's culture. Raghavan also spent seven years at Amazon, where he served as HR head (Asia Pacific & Middle East) and was responsible for international consumer business and global technology development centers in the region. He also served 10 years at GE, where he was HR head for GE's global research and India Technology Centers. 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.

Jan 31, 2023

BECU

BECU hired Rick Eiel as executive vice president and its first chief data and analytics officer. Eiel is responsible for developing enterprise data, analytic and insight capabilities that will inform and accelerate the credit union's business strategies, execution and performance. Eiel joins BECU with over 30 years of experience in the consumer financial service industry, including leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Most recently, he served as the head of product and analytics at Equifax. He earned his MBA, with concentrations in information systems and economics, from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. With more than 1.3 million members and $30.2 billion in assets, BECU is the largest not-for-profit credit union in Washington and one of the top four financial cooperatives in the country.

Spaceflight

European launch service company Isar Aerospace and Seattle-based Spaceflight announced they have signed a multi-launch services agreement. Under the agreement, Spaceflight secured one dedicated launch in 2026 to a sun-synchronous orbit taking off from Andoya, Norway and an option to add an additional dedicated launch to occur in 2025. Spaceflight has more than a decade of launch and in-space transportation services expertise, delivering more than 450 spacecraft across 55 launches, including both rideshare and dedicated launches. The company provides a host of launch and mission management services, from security capacity to providing comprehensive integration and logistics services. In addition, the company executed the launch of five next-gen Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles which carried more than 50 customer payloads. Isar Aerospace, based in Ottobrunn/Munich, develops and builds launch vehicles for transporting small and medium-sized satellites as well as satellite constellations into Earth's orbit. Spaceflight is a part of the Mitsui & Co. portfolio, operating as an independent, U.S.-based company.

People's Bank

PBCO Financial Corporation, the holding company of People's Bank of Commerce, announced the retirement of Ken Trautman, CEO and co-founder, effective July 1. Trautman will remain on the board of directors for the company and the bank. Trautman started the bank with co-founder Mike Sickels in 1998 in response to the numerous mergers that took place in the southern Oregon market that had notably reduced a local community banking presence. Under Trautman's leadership, the Bank has grown from seven employees in one Medford location to over 140 employees in 11 offices serving 10 communities with assets of over $800 million. The company has named Julia Beattie, who currently serves as president, to succeed Trautman as CEO. Beattie will also join the board of directors. Beattie has been with the bank since 2013 and has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Beattie received her Business Administration degree from Baylor University and her MBA from the University of Texas. She currently serves on the board of the Community Bankers of Oregon. People's Bank of Commerce is a full-service, commercial bank headquartered in Medford, Oregon.

Jan 27, 2023

PacificSource Health Plans

Espinola

PacificSource Health Plans appointed John Espinola as the organization's new president and CEO, effective April 3, 2023. In this role, Espinola will provide leadership, strategic guidance, and direction for PacificSource's overall operations and will hold primary responsibility for profit and loss and fulfilling the organization's commitment to its mission, vision and values. Espinola comes to PacificSource with more than 20 years of leadership experience in healthcare. He most recently served in a dual role as executive vice president, chief strategy and product officer with Premera Blue Cross and as CEO of Kinwell Physician Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Premera. Prior to his 12 years spent with Premera, he served as the national medical director for Essence Healthcare and before that as executive director and medical director of Evercare, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Espinola received his bachelor's degree from the College of the Holy Cross, his medical degree and master of public health from Tufts University School of Medicine, and his master of business administration from the University of Washington. Espinola will replace Ken Provencher, who has served as PacificSource's president and CEO for 21 years. Provencher announced his retirement in late 2022 after a total of 28 years dedicated to PacificSource. He will continue to serve as president and CEO until March 31, 2023. PacificSource Health Plans is an independent, not-for-profit community health plan serving the Northwest. Founded in 1933, PacificSource has local offices throughout Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington.

Emerald Heights

Emerald Heights, a Life Plan Community in Redmond, promoted Alexandra Clark to wellness programs manager, a new position in the company. Clark has been working with Emerald Heights for over five years and previously supervised both the trips/events department and the life enrichment activities department for independent living and the Corwin Center. In her new role, Clark will still oversee these two areas of service but she will also be overseeing the fitness program. Prior to joining Emerald Heights, Clark taught theater and Zumba classes to senior living communities. She earned her degree in theater from California State University, Northridge. The fitness department consists of three fitness specialists: current team member Talisa Wibmer and two new hires at Emerald Heights, Katharine Manter and Tanner Bostian. Manter earned her bachelor's degree in physical education with a kinesiology concentration followed by a master's degree in clinical exercise physiology. She is also a certified clinical exercise physiologist by the American College of Sports Medicine. Bostian is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in exercise science from St. John University. Bostian has a personal training certification though the National Strength and Conditioning Association and earned an aging specialist certification though the American Council on Exercise.

Strong Tower Consulting

Strong Tower Consulting, a Bellevue-based management-consulting firm, named Rebeca Dawn as vice president of organization development & change management. Dawn has more than two decades of experience designing and delivering change through strategic business and technology initiatives. Strong Tower's new Organization Development & Change Management practice leverages proprietary change management methodology for organizational transformation and infuses the human element in training programs to create stability and improve effectiveness of employee learning. Prior to joining Strong Tower's leadership team, Dawn developed and executed Prosci-based Change Management training tailored for global teams made up of thousands of client employees. Additionally, she held executive level positions with the city of Seattle's IT Department. Previously, Dawn led global project management for Goldman Sachs. Dawn is a Prosci certified Change Management Professional and is a member of the Association of Change Management Professionals and Organization Development Network.