Jan 26, 2024

Binaytara Foundation

Marquart

The Binaytara Foundation named Justin Marquart as its new chief development officer. With a background in philanthropy and development, Marquart transitions to the Binaytara Foundation from Ruffalo Noel Levitz, where he served as vice president and senior consultant. His career also includes significant roles at Sightlife and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. At Sightlife, Marquart served as vice president of philanthropy and business development. He was deputy director for individual giving at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where he was responsible for managing fundraising teams and enhancing development strategies. In his new role at the Binaytara Foundation, Marquart will be working with the founders and board of directors to augment fundraising initiatives both domestically and internationally. His primary focus will be on evaluating and enhancing current fundraising efforts, as well as formulating and implementing strategic plans to identify new revenue streams. The Binaytara Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to improving access to cancer care by developing and implementing innovative projects in underserved areas. The foundation's major projects include hematology/oncology conferences and the establishment of a 200-bed cancer hospital in Nepal.

Department of Ecology

Bowen

Washington Department of Ecology Director Laura Watson selected David Bowen as director of the agency's Central Region Office. Bowen has worked for Ecology since 2016, most recently serving as manager of the agency's nuclear waste program, which oversees cleanup at the Hanford nuclear site. His previous experience also includes private and public sector roles in forestry, planning, renewable energy and economic development. He is a former Kittitas County commissioner and lifelong central Washington resident. Ecology's Central Region Office stretches the length of Washington, encompassing Benton, Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Klickitat, Okanogan and Yakima counties. As Central Region director, Bowen will oversee the state's regional environmental projects and partnerships with stakeholders, Tribes, and local, state and federal agencies. The office focuses on critical issues affecting the health, economy and development of the region's communities and environment. These include meeting water supply needs, reducing wildfire smoke impacts and addressing legacy pesticide contamination. Ecology staff are also supporting efforts to clean up PFAS contamination at the Yakima Regional Training Center and promote ongoing habitat restoration in watersheds throughout central Washington.

Jan 25, 2024

Small Business Administration

Yarce

The U.S. Small Business Administration has named Beto Yarce as the new Regional Administrator for Region 10, serving the Pacific Northwest. Yarce will oversee the agency's programs, offices, and operations in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Originally from Mexico, Yarce moved to Seattle in 2003, where he launched a business and became involved in the local entrepreneurial and immigrant services communities. He went on to lead Ventures, a nonprofit organization working to alleviate poverty through small business ownership. Yarce has leveraged his 20 years of experience to help others realize their dreams of small business ownership as well as advancing economic equity and justice. He has served on the boards of directors and as a trustee of numerous organizations, including the Greater Seattle Business Association, Evergreen Business Capital and Cedarmere Foundation. He also served on Washington State's LGBTQ+ Commission and collaborated with the Mexican Consulate in Seattle and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs for the federal government in Mexico. In 2016, he earned the District Excellence Award from the SBA's Seattle District Office. The U.S. Small Business Administration empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow or expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations.

F5

F5 appointed Samir Sherif as senior vice president and chief information security officer. In this role, Sherif will lead F5's enterprise cybersecurity strategy and security culture, evolve F5's security capabilities and resilience, and oversee cybersecurity standards and programs for F5's products. Sherif previously served as CISO at Absolute Software and Imperva. He also had an extensive career at Citigroup, including serving as the global head of application security. Sherif takes over F5's CISO role for Gail Coury, who is retiring on March 1 after leading the company's enterprise security efforts for the past three years.

WellSaid Labs

Seattle-based WellSaid Labs appointed Brian Cook to assume the CEO role, effective later this month. Current CEO and co-founder Matthew Hocking will assume the role of executive chairman while assisting Cook in his transition. In Cook's new role, he will guide WellSaid Labs into the next growth phase focused on enterprise teams to produce at scale and build their brands with ethical and authentic voice experiences. Hocking will provide strategic direction and support both Cook and WellSaid Labs' stakeholders in driving the company forward. Michael Petrochuk is the co-founder and CTO of the company. Hocking has led WellSaid Labs' growth since its inception in 2018, acquiring over 15,000 corporate and enterprise customers across entertainment, software, manufacturing, advertising, and financial markets. Prior to joining WellSaid Labs, Cook oversaw Nintex, a workflow software company, and OBS, an IT services organization. Most recently, he founded Incredible Capital, an investment fund focused on software companies.

Jan 24, 2024

DAT Freight & Analytics

Voss

Clementz

DAT Freight & Analytics named two new leaders for its product and security organizations. Jeff Clementz, who has 25 years of experience managing networks and marketplaces, fraud, payments and e-commerce platforms, joined DAT as chief product officer and a member of the executive team. He most recently was president and chief executive officer at Shift, an e-commerce platform for the auto industry. Before Shift, he was senior vice president and general manager of Walmart's Marketplace, where he was responsible for building the retailer's foundational commerce platforms. Clementz previously held product and operations positions in leadership at PayPal and Intel. Erika Voss joined DAT as vice president of information security. Voss previously was vice president of security and engineering at Capital One, where she led all facets of security and engineering, including policies, procedures and best practices for application security, access control, authentication, third-party risk management and intrusion detection. Previously, she held information security leadership positions at Salesforce and Oracle. DAT Freight & Analytics, based in Beaverton, Oregon, operates a truckload freight marketplace, and provides market trends and data insights to shippers, transportation brokers, carriers, news organizations and industry analysts.

Alliant Insurance Services

Brooke Walton has joined Alliant Insurance Services as vice president within its Employee Benefits Group. Based in Seattle, Walton will provide employee health and benefits consulting services to a client base across the Pacific Northwest. Walton joins Alliant with a background that spans business development, HR solutions, human capital, and employee health benefits. She specializes in working directly with senior management to develop strategies and solutions that attract and retain top talent while maximizing total investment in health benefits solutions. Prior to Alliant, Walton was a business consultant with a San Francisco-based employee benefits consulting firm. Previously, she spent more than a decade advising HR and finance leaders on human capital management strategies. Walton holds bachelor's degrees in communications and psychology from the University of Washington. Alliant Insurance Services is a distributor of diversified insurance products and services, operating through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices.

Cairncross & Hempelmann

Seattle law firm Cairncross & Hempelmann named Ana-Maria Popp as the firm's new managing partner. She succeeds Matt Hanna, who served as managing partner since 2015 and has completed his term. Popp's practice focuses on construction litigation, real estate litigation including real estate finance, corporate and partnership disputes, and insurance coverage litigation for policy holders. She represents clients in complex cases through all aspects of the litigation process, from risk evaluation to case and settlement strategy, discovery and trial. Popp was the chair of the firm's Litigation Group from 2017 to 2023. Popp is a senior fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, an invitation-only, peer-selected honorary society of top trial lawyers in America. She is also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an honorary society of judges, law faculty and legal scholars who have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities. Popp was born in Romania and came to the United States in 1992. She earned her B.A. degree and J.D. from the University of Washington. Cairncross & Hempelmann provides legal counsel to clients in all aspects of real estate development, land use and zoning, business transactions, litigation, and bankruptcy and creditors' rights.