Dec 07, 2023

Home First

Pray

Justus

After nearly 15 years and close to 1,500 new homes built, affordable housing advocate and developer Rob Justus is stepping away from Home First, the affordable housing company he co-founded in 2009 with retired Portland General Electric executive Dave Carboneau. His last day with the company will be Dec. 31, 2023. A 1987 graduate of the University of Portland, Justus got his first experience working with Portland's homeless population as a volunteer in the St. Francis Dining Hall in Southeast Portland. In 1992, he started a service organization called JOIN. To date, Home First and its development partners have built 1,425 units of affordable housing with a development cost of more than $381 million. Most units are in the Portland metro region, but Home First has also developed affordable housing in places like St. Helens, Hines, Ontario, Salem, Tillamook and Vancouver, Washington. At present, Home First has another 530 units of affordable housing under construction and 359 more in the pipeline. Justus will continue to serve as a member of Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek's Housing Production Advisory Council. Ben Pray, a co-owner of the company who joined in 2015, will assume leadership. Home First partners with public and private investors to help make sure affordable housing is available and accessible across the Northwest.

Ben B. Cheney Foundation

Henry Cheney

Brad Cheney

Tucci

The Ben B. Cheney Foundation has appointed Erika Tucci as executive director. She will succeed Brad Cheney, who is retiring from the role at the end of December after spending more than 20 years leading the foundation. Cheney will remain as the foundation board chair. The Ben B. Cheney Foundation makes grants in Washington, Oregon and Northern California communities where the family's lumber mills operated. Since 1975, the foundation has awarded more than 6,000 grants to over 1,500 organizations. Tucci has served as senior program officer for the foundation since 2019, and she will be the first female to lead the nonprofit. She is active on several nonprofit boards and committees, including chairing the governor's Serve Washington Commission. During the pandemic, Tucci's ties to the nonprofit sector led her to initiate the Pierce County Daily Report. The effort provided coordinated human services information to policymakers, nonprofit leaders and funders making critical intervention decisions. Tucci previously led community affairs at Tacoma Public Utilities, where she instituted a leadership program encouraging volunteerism and service. Cheney, the son of the foundation's founder, will continue to provide leadership on the foundation board and on other local boards and committees, including the Boys & Girls Club of South Puget Sound and the Baseball Club of Tacoma. The board now includes three third-generation family members, and Cheney's son Henry Cheney will join the board in December. Henry Cheney played and coached baseball for the University of Portland while getting his undergraduate degree and then a master's in nonprofit management. He is the assistant athletic director at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma.

Dec 06, 2023

Thurston Chamber Foundation

Slaughter

The Thurston Chamber Foundation has named Schelli Slaughter as its new director. In the role, Slaughter will expand the foundation's impact and community engagement within Thurston County. Slaughter previously served as the director of the Family Support Center of South Sound for 13 years. Before that, she worked as the Thurston County public health director. For the last two years, Slaughter has contributed to health initiatives at Providence-Swedish and Choice Regional Health Network. Slaughter has a master's degree in health administration from the University of Washington and a bachelor's degree from the Evergreen State College.

Origami Solar

Origami Solar, a developer of sustainable and domestically produced steel solar module frames, appointed Lauren Busby Ahsler as vice president of engineering. Busby Ahsler brings over 15 years of experience leading mechanical and structural engineering teams and developing solar products. In her new role, she will head Origami Solar's engineering and testing team, driving innovations in extending the structural performance of Origami's steel module frame technology to support future market needs. Previously, Busby Ahsler served as director of structural engineering at Valmont Solar. She has a track record of building high-performing engineering teams, developing design and testing methodologies for novel product types, optimizing product designs for extreme environmental demands, and delivering differentiated solar products to the global solar market. In 2022, Origami Solar was awarded the grand prize in the U.S. Department of Energy's American-Made Solar Prize competition. The company is based in Bend, Oregon.

Idaho National Laboratories

The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, along with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), was chosen by the DOE for a demonstration project to validate a long-duration energy storage system developed by battery manufacturer CMBlu Energy. The collaborative project aims to improve microgrids in cold climates and make fast charging of electric vehicles more affordable in underserved communities. Over the course of the project, Argonne and INL will deploy and evaluate CMBlu Energy's Organic SolidFlow battery technology. The materials used in the construction of these batteries are non-metallic and abundant, with a goal to build resilient and domestic supply chains. The batteries are targeted for community, industrial and utility-scale applications of medium and long duration. The project also seeks to make fast charging of electric vehicles more affordable in rural and underserved communities by reducing charging facility installation and operational costs. The project will span two regions. In the Midwest, Argonne researchers plan to demonstrate the effectiveness of CMBlu's Organic SolidFlow batteries at the lab's Smart Energy Plaza. At the INL Battery Test Center in Idaho, researchers will conduct performance tests, including assessing how well the Organic SolidFlow batteries perform at different temperatures. This testing is crucial to ensure the technology's reliability in diverse environments. The INL center serves as the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) primary center for battery life and performance testing.

Dec 05, 2023

Okanogan Superior Court

Burke

Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed Kathryn I. Burke to the Okanogan County Superior Court. She will replace Judge Henry A. Rawson, who will retire from the bench December 31, 2023. Currently, Burke serves as the elected prosecuting attorney for Ferry County, a position she has held since 2015. In this role, Burke also acts as civil counsel to other elected officials, providing advice and representation on civil legal issues that impact the county. During her career, she has served the public as both a criminal prosecuting attorney as well as a criminal defense attorney. She has been recognized for her outstanding service to victims of crime, and was a founding member of the Ferry County Therapeutic Court. In addition, Burke has experience handling juvenile and family law matters, including dependencies, at-risk youth, paternity, and child support issues. Burke was born and raised in Okanogan County, and began her legal career there serving as a public defender. As a current member of the Washington State Bar Association's Small Town and Rural Practice Committee, she works collaboratively with others to strengthen and support the practice of law in Washington's rural communities. Burke earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Washington. She earned her law degree from Seattle University School of Law.

Lyceus Group

Seattle-based Lyceus Group, a communications agency specializing in the financial services industry, has been recognized as the Best PR & Communications Firm at the 2023 Institutional Asset Manager Awards. This recognition highlights Lyceus Group's work in helping clients share their stories and enhance their branding efforts. The Institutional Asset Manager Awards celebrate excellence and industry leadership among asset management firms and service providers across various categories. The service provider categories encompass all major areas of the wider asset management industry. Founded in 2016, Lyceus Group represents a diverse range of clients in the financial services and technology sectors, including mutual funds, ETFs, private equity firms, hedge funds, startups, cryptocurrency funds, private credit funds, and fund service providers.

Valant

Resurgens Technology Partners, a software-focused private equity firm, announced its investment in Seattle-based Valant. Valant provides technology to connect behavioral health patients and providers, delivering solutions with a cloud-based EHR and practice management platform. Resurgens invested in Valant alongside the firm's operating partner, Trey Carter. Carter joined Resurgens in February 2023 to support investments in the behavioral health technology space following a 28-year career in the industry. As part of Resurgens' investment, Carter will join the board and partner with the Valant management team to accelerate the company's growth. Valant software supports the clinical, administrative, and financial functions of a behavioral health practice, serving practitioners, patients, and practice owners. The Resurgens investment will expand the ways in which Valant serves its customers and accelerate its new client acquisition. Valant is Resurgens' seventh platform investment in the firm's $500 million second fund and represents a continuation of the firm's strategy to invest in the growth of vertical software companies that are leaders in their market segments. Resurgens is headquartered in Atlanta.