Dec 14, 2023

Woodland Park Zoo

Zhang

Woodland Park Zoo named Linda Zhang as its new chief financial officer. Zhang most recently was CFO for Seattle Indian Health Board. Her first day at the zoo will be Dec. 29. Zhang has leadership experience from diverse sectors, including nonprofit, health care, global manufacturing, investment consulting, architecture-engineering-construction and private equity. Previously, she was CFO of HRC Fertility Management, global manufacturer Fushi Copperweld and Chicago-based investment consulting firm Marco Consulting Group. In her new role, Zhang will oversee the business and finance strategy and operations at the zoo. She holds an MBA in finance from Penn State University, and a bachelor's degree in engineering and architecture from Tongji University.

Department of Commerce

Williams

Anderson

Washington Department of Commerce welcomed back two former agency executives to lead industry sector economic development: Julie Anderson rejoined the department in November as agricultural innovation sector lead; and Dr. Joseph Williams came back on board this month as information and communications technology (ICT) sector lead. Both are based in the department's Office of Economic Development and Competitiveness in Seattle. Anderson returns after stints with the city of Tacoma and Pierce County, where she was the elected county auditor for 13 years. Prior to that, she served Commerce (then the Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development) as a senior policy advisor focused on Washington's green economy job initiative, industry cluster development, and Innovation Partnership Zones. She also served on the Community Economic Revitalization Board, providing low-interest loans and grants for public infrastructure to promote private business growth. Williams will again lead ICT sector development at Commerce after serving as the Seattle director of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory from 2019 to 2022. He held the ICT sector lead role from 2016 to 2019, during which time the state experienced unprecedented economic growth in its tech sector. Williams most recently was the global lead partner for the cybersecurity practice at Infosys Consulting. During his previous tenure at Commerce, he was appointed as an assembly program fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, where he worked with others on developing an AI ethics framework. A former executive at Microsoft and Sun Microsystems, Williams also served as the dean of the School of Business, Government, and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. Williams will lead Commerce's work with the industry, stakeholders and partners to deepen Washington's status as a world leader in quantum computing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. His immediate focus includes helping the state secure federal funding made possible by the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act.

Dec 13, 2023

BECU

BECU named Drew Wolff executive vice president and chief financial officer. In his role, Wolff is responsible for ensuring all aspects of BECU's financial strategy, management and performance support the credit union's near- and long-term strategic objectives. Prior to joining the executive team, Wolff was BECU's audit committee chairperson and was CFO at Trupanion, a pet insurance provider in Seattle. He was also previously CFO of Starbucks' International and Channel Development divisions, and held senior roles at Barclays and Washington Mutual. Wolff also served as an officer on several nuclear submarines with the U.S. Navy. He replaces Melba Bartels as CFO, who joined BECU in 2017 and recently announced her decision to retire on April 1. She will support Wolff's transition in an advisory role. Wolff has participated on the boards of the Center for Sustainable Energy, Bainbridge Community Foundation and L.A.C.E.S. Wolff holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the U.S. Naval Academy. BECU operates 60 financial centers.

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo, a platform for businesses to find, acquire and grow customers, is ranked No. 8 on the Fortune Future 50 for 2023 — a list that recognizes the long-term revenue growth prospects of the world's largest public companies. Since 2017, Fortune has teamed up with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to produce the Future 50, an index of companies that are built to deliver robust growth, along with outsized returns for shareholders in the long term. To identify the Future 50, the BCG Henderson Institute think tank examined over 1,700 publicly traded companies and used a “vitality” index to determine the rankings. This index is based on a top-down, market-based assessment of a company's growth potential, and a bottom-up analysis of its capacity to deliver against this potential, based on financial and non-financial metrics such as long-term strategic orientation, technology and investments, people and structure. ZoomInfo is part of a tech industry cohort that accounts for 28 of the 50 spots on this year's list, with BCG's analysis citing the strong overall long-term growth potential of the sector. ZoomInfo is headquartered in Vancouver, Clark County.

Dec 12, 2023

The Standard

Fung

Rivera

Portland-based Standard Insurance Co. (The Standard) announced that Angelo Rivera has been promoted to second vice president of specialty market sales and partnerships in Employee Benefits. In his new role, Rivera will oversee voluntary product and absence management practice leaders, technology solutions consultants, national account practice leaders and strategic partner consultants. Rivera has been with The Standard for more than 15 years. For the past eight years, he has served as employee benefits manager of the Denver office. Rivera earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and management from Northeastern University in Boston. The Standard also announced that Tony Fung has been promoted to second vice president of IDI underwriting and GSI. Fung will lead the fully underwritten and Guaranteed Standard Issue Individual Disability Insurance underwriting teams in addition to leading GSI operations. Fung joined The Standard in 2016 as director and chief underwriter for GSI. For the past four years, he has served as senior director of GSI operations and underwriting. Prior to joining The Standard, Fung worked as an underwriting manager at Kaiser Permanente and a financial consultant at Mercer. In business since 1906, The Standard provides financial protection products and services for employers and individuals.

Port of Bremerton

Each year, the Washington Public Ports Association selects one port to honor as the Washington Port of the Year. This award is given to the port that shows the greatest success in the industry as a way to motivate new innovation. The Port of Bremerton was this year's recipient. The Port of Bremerton operates four facilities: Bremerton National Airport, Bremerton Marina, Port Orchard Marina, and Olympic View Industrial Park. During the past year, the port received $15.7 million in funding for the Port Orchard Marina breakwater, hosted U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for a press conference, added an electric charging conduit at Bremerton National Airport, and started community initiatives. The Port of Bremerton is the largest port in Kitsap County, and according to a recent study, has created almost $1.2 billion in economic impact and provides approximately 2,615 jobs. The port has also donated an average of 6,700 pounds of nonperishable items each year to local food banks, started an Earth Day initiative in partnership with the Great Peninsula Conservancy, helped fund over 55 events each year, and helped in the creation of Seabeck's pickleball courts. Jim Rothlin is the port CEO.

Seattle Preschool Program

For the sixth year, the Seattle Preschool Program (SPP) has received national recognition for high-quality preschool programming. The award was presented by CityHealth and the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University for Seattle's publicly funded preschools, which include SPP, Seattle's Pathway program, and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program. Seattle was one of 22 cities, out of 75 rated by CityHealth, to receive a gold medal award. The honors stem from an annual report released by NIEER that rates how 75 of the largest U.S. cities are leading on policies that address health and well-being, including 10 standards for high-quality, accessible pre-K. Between 2018 and 2021, SPP received silver medal awards. With ongoing improvements to the program, including new dual-language classrooms, SPP received its first gold medal award in 2022. SPP currently serves almost 2,000 children. It is funded by the 2018 Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy and is an integral component in the city's strategy to eliminate race-based opportunity gaps in educational outcomes.

Dec 08, 2023

Spectrum Effect

Mangat

Kirkland-based Spectrum Effect announced that Boulder Ventures has invested in the company, and that Kishen Mangat has been appointed to its board. Mangat is general partner at Boulder Ventures, where he leads the firm's enterprise 5G investment strategy. Mangat previously served as Cisco Systems' vice president/general manager for mobility, and co-founded multiple startups, including BroadHop. Charles Immendorf is Spectrum Effect's CEO. Spectrum Effect created Spectrum-NET, which analyzes and mitigates radio frequency interference using machine learning.

Northwest Seaport Alliance

Bellerud

The Northwest Seaport Alliance named Jeff Bellerud chief operating officer. In this role, Bellerud will oversee marine operations including rail, road, terminals, breakbulk operations and management of the waterway. With strategic level experience in terminal operations and Class 1 railroads, Bellerud's career spans the West Coast from Los Angeles to Vancouver, B.C. Most recently, he was director of intermodal and port operations at CN Rail, where he led port operations, including 14 marine terminals across seven port authorities in North America. Bellerud holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Nevada Las Vegas and an MBA from the University of Northern British Columbia. The Northwest Seaport Alliance is a marine cargo operating partnership of the ports of Seattle and Tacoma.

AM 770 KTTH

Benson

Seattle's AM 770 KTTH is adding FOX News Radio's “The Guy Benson Show” from noon to 3 p.m. as part of a revamped lineup starting Jan. 1. Benson is the political editor of Townhall.com and a FOX News contributor. He joined the network in 2013, providing political commentary across FOX News Channel and FOX Business Network's daytime and primetime programming. Benson has served as a media fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and a visiting fellow at Harvard University's Institute of Politics. As part of the lineup shuffle, KTTH also is adding FOX News Radio's “FOX Across America with Jimmy Failla” to weekday overnights from midnight to 3 a.m. The radio station is operated by Bonneville International Corp., an integrated media and marketing company headquartered in Salt Lake City. Founded in 1964, Bonneville operates radio and TV stations, local websites, podcasts and other digital distribution assets in six western U.S. markets.