Sep 22, 2023

Tanana Chiefs Conference

The Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) was awarded a $35 million grant to install high-speed broadband in three underserved TCC communities. The 100% fiber-based network will be installed in the villages of Venetie, Chalkyitsik and Circle. The project is part of the Alaska FiberOptic Project, which is a larger collaboration between Calista Corporation, Doyon, Limited, Gana-A ‘Yoo Limited, Tanana Chiefs Conference, and Alaska Communications to connect more than 20 communities in the Yukon and Kuskokwim regions, beginning in Fairbanks and extending to the Bering Sea Coast. The terrestrial fiber network will begin in Fort Yukon and extend to Venetie. Submarine fiber cable will be placed in the Yukon River to connect Fort Yukon and Circle. Residents and businesses will receive Gigabit speeds through a fiber-to-the-home connection. The project is the collaborative work of Tribes, Tribal nonprofit organizations, government and telecommunications entities.

Connecting all communities across the United States to high-speed internet is a central part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to rebuild the economy by rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure. Alaska Communications will build, operate, and maintain the network and service. Tanana Chiefs Conference is an Alaska Native non-profit corporation that works toward meeting the health and social service needs of the Alaska Native people living within the 235,000 square mile region in Interior Alaska. TCC was formally founded in 1962.

Sep 21, 2023

City of Tacoma

The city of Tacoma, along with others involved in the Green Tacoma Partnership, invites community members to participate in Green Tacoma Day and Tacoma's Arbor Day events 9 a.m.-noon on Oct. 14. Volunteers can plant trees, remove weeds and litter, and other activities to spruce up local green spaces. Tools, gloves and training will be provided. Events will be held at the following locations: Gog-le-hi-te Wetlands, Clover Creek Technical College, McKinley Hill, Lincoln Park, Proctor Business District, South Ash Open Space, Trafton Open Space, Titlow Park, Swan Creek, Kandle Park, Fred Meyer (at South 74th and South D streets), and Spanaway Park. More information is available at http://www.greentacomaday.org. Tacoma and Pierce County residents can also participate in the city of Tacoma's Tree Coupon Program. Coupons can be requested Oct. 1-March 15, 2024, at http://www.cityoftacoma.org/treecoupon. Green Tacoma Partnership affiliates include the Tacoma Tree Foundation, Pierce Conservation District, Communities for a Healthy Bay, city of Tacoma, Metro Parks Tacoma, and the South End Neighborhood Council.

Emerald Heights

Emerald Heights, a senior living community in Redmond, recently received an 'A-' rating from the Fitch Ratings agency to approximately $118.7 million in tax-exempt issued bonds from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. The rating reflects Emerald Heights' financial profile and the community's market position, occupancy rates, and room for growth opportunities. The rating incorporates the community's planned series 2023 debt issuance, which totals approximately $118.7 million tax-exempt series 2023A, series 2023B-1, and series 2023B-22 revenue bonds. The new debt will primarily be dedicated to refund outstanding debt. However, the additional funds will go toward the construction and completion of the new 42-unit independent living community, The Courtyard Apartments, and the 54-unit assisted living expansion on the Emerald Heights campus. Emerald Heights also plans to use the entrance fees from the independent living expansion project, Courtyard, to pay down approximately $33 million of the debt. Emerald Heights is a not-for-profit senior housing and services organization, with an on-site healthcare center providing assisted living, memory support and Medicare-certified skilled nursing care.

Alliant Insurance Services

Nicole Kunz has joined Alliant Insurance Services as vice president within its Employee Benefits Group. Based in Portland, Kunz comes to Alliant with more than a decade of combined sales and benefits experience. Prior to joining Alliant, Kunz was a principal at a large consulting firm. She earned her bachelor's degree from Portland State University. Alliant Insurance Services is a distributor of diversified insurance products and services, operating through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices.

Sep 19, 2023

Umpqua Bank

Bascomb-Green

Umpqua Bank, a subsidiary of Columbia Banking System, appointed Nicole Bascomb-Green as head of community lending. In this role, Bascomb-Green is responsible for the management of the Community Lending team, including the Umpqua Bank Charitable Foundation, and the bank's Community Reinvestment Act, to deliver products and programs that address housing affordability and access issues focused on low-to-moderate income BIPOC communities. Bascomb-Green brings more than 30 years of banking, real estate, and nonprofit experience to the role. Prior to joining Umpqua Bank, she served as community affairs manager for Washington and Idaho at U.S. Bank. She is currently president for Western Washington Realtist, the local board of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, and is assistant vice president for NAREB's Region XV. Bascomb-Green was recently named state chair for Washington state's Housing Finance Commission. She holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor's in marketing from University of Washington. Umpqua Bank has offices in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

Avanade

Seattle-based Avanade appointed Karthik Narain, Accenture's group chief executive, technology, as chair of its board of directors. Karthik succeeds Emma McGuigan, Accenture's global lead, enterprise & industry technologies, who is leaving the Avanade board after four years in the role. Narain joined Accenture in 2015. Prior to becoming group chief executive, he led Accenture Cloud First and was responsible for the company's Data and AI business and growth strategy. He oversees Accenture capabilities, acquisitions, talent, investments and ecosystem partnerships in public and hybrid cloud, data & AI and software engineering. Narain is also a member of Accenture's Global Management Committee. Avanade is a provider of digital, cloud and advisory services across the Microsoft ecosystem. ​Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was founded in 2000 by Accenture and Microsoft.

Alliant Insurance Services

Todd Wright has joined Alliant Insurance Services as vice president within its Alliant Americas division. Based in Seattle, Wright will work with a national client base, delivering property and casualty insurance and risk management strategies across a range of industries. Wright joins Alliant with more than 27 years of experience working in construction risk management, loss prevention and control and safety systems. For the past 16 years, he has been focused on the pipeline and power industries. Wright holds a Certified Safety Professional designation from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. He earned his bachelor's degree in loss control management from Central Washington University. Alliant Insurance Services distributes diversified insurance products and services through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California.

Sep 15, 2023

CalmWave

Wilson

Seattle-based CalmWave appointed Howard Wilson, CFO of PagerDuty, to the company's board of advisors. Wilson is a technology leader who has played an integral role in building and scaling PagerDuty and the company's AI-powered Operations Cloud platform. Wilson's appointment to the board marks its expansion beyond subject matter expert clinicians to include IT and operations leaders. Prior to his role as CFO, Wilson served as PagerDuty's chief commercial officer. CalmWave recently announced its “transparent AI” platform to support mission-critical decision making in the ICU. CalmWave's transparent AI ingests hospital data in real-time and provides clinicians with a holistic view of the information to make informed decisions regarding alarm management and patient care.

City of SeaTac

Guzmán

SeaTac Councilmember Iris Guzmán earned a Certificate of Municipal Leadership from the Association of Washington Cities. AWC’s Certificate of Municipal Leadership program recognizes city and town elected officials for accomplishing training in five core areas: roles, responsibilities and legal requirements; public sector resource management; community planning and development; effective local leadership; and diversity, equity and inclusion. Guzmán completed more than 30 hours of training to earn this distinction. Guzmán started her tenure as a councilmember in 2022, and is the Parks & Recreation Committee chair. She previously worked as a school social worker, and is a former board member of the group Para los Niños and founding former member of La Barra Fuerza Verde. Founded in 1933, AWC is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan corporation that represents Washington’s 281 cities and towns before the state Legislature, the state executive branch, and with regulatory agencies.

Symetra

Fortune magazine and Great Place to Work have recognized Symetra Life Insurance Co. as one of the 2023 Best Workplaces in Financial Services & Insurance. Symetra was among the top 50 organizations in the best large workplaces category. Great Place To Work surveyed companies employing 7.5 million people in the U.S. and received 1.3 million responses. Of those, over 191,000 responses were received from employees at companies who were eligible for the 2023 Best Workplaces in Financial Services & Insurance list. The survey enables employees to share confidential quantitative and qualitative feedback about their organization's culture by responding to 60 statements on a five-point scale and answering two open-ended questions. Ninety-three percent of Symetra's surveyed employees say it is a great place to work, while 96% said you are made to feel welcome when you join the company and 95% feel good about the ways the company contributes to the community. Symetra Life Insurance is a subsidiary of Symetra Financial Corp., a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue.

Worth Avenue Yachts

The Seattle office of Worth Avenue Yachts is now an authorized representative for Sanlorenzo Yachts. Additionally, the Seattle location will represent Bluegame Yachts, a brand under the Sanlorenzo umbrella. This collaboration will focus on showcasing the BG and BGX range of luxury yachts. Ray Prokorym is the managing partner of the Seattle office. Worth Avenue Yachts is a yacht brokerage firm with a global presence, specializing in the sale, purchase, charter, and charter management of luxury yachts. With a heritage dating back to 1958, Sanlorenzo Yachts delivers Italian-crafted vessels.