Feb 14, 2024

Bellevue Arts Museum

Casprowiak Scher

Bellevue Arts Museum's Board of Trustees has appointed Kate Casprowiak Scher as executive director of the museum. With a background in art history, Casprowiak Scher has held various academic positions, including faculty roles at Portland State University, Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, and Bellevue College, where she earned tenure and served for 11 years. She also chaired the Art Department at Bellevue College for two years. In addition to her academic career, she has curated several exhibitions, managed a private art collection and founded an art appraisal business. For the last four months, Casprowiak Scher has been serving as the interim executive director at BAM. The mission of Bellevue Arts Museum is to engage people in the power of art, craft and design. This year the museum will celebrate the 78th anniversary of its Arts Fair.

Expedia Group

Expedia Group announced the appointment of Ariane Gorin as CEO, effective May 13. Gorin will succeed Peter Kern, who has served as the company's CEO since 2020. After completing his contract as CEO, Kern will continue to serve as the company's vice chairman and member of the board of directors, working closely with Gorin to ensure a smooth transition. Gorin has also been elected to serve on the board of directors. Gorin has held various executive roles at Expedia Group since 2013, most recently as president of Expedia for Business, where she led the company's global supply partner group, advertising business, and B2B partner network. Expedia Group powers travel through its global platform. Expedia Group's three flagship consumer brands are Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo.

Oregon Wind Farm

Avangrid Inc., a sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, announced the signing of a new power purchase agreement with Amazon to source renewable energy from an Avangrid wind farm located in Gilliam County, Oregon. Amazon Wind Farm Oregon – Leaning Juniper IIA is a repowering project that will significantly extend the life of the existing wind farm and make it work more efficiently. Consisting of 40 turbines, the wind farm will produce enough energy to power 22,800 homes every year. During construction, the project will support about 200 jobs. Additionally, Avangrid has executed contracts to recycle all turbine blades that will be decommissioned with this project, which is estimated to divert more than 1,000 tons of mass from landfill. Through the Avangrid Community Sponsorship Program, the wind farm has contributed to local libraries, preschools, and firefighters. Repowering the project through Amazon's investment ensures this work can continue. Avangrid is headquartered in Orange, Connecticut, and has operations in 24 U.S. states.

Feb 13, 2024

Exxel Pacific

Marshall

Exxel Pacific has promoted Donna Marshall to chief financial officer. Over the past 12 years, Marshall has worked very closely with Exxel's prior CFO, developing her corporate finance oversight capabilities. In addition to day-to-day financial oversight, she represents Exxel's financial relationships with its ESOP, banking, bonding and accounting partners.

King County Superior Court

Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Angela J. Kaake to the King County Superior Court. She will replace Judge Chad Allred, who retired from the bench effective January 15, 2024. For over 22 years, Kaake has served as a prosecuting attorney at the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office (KCPAO). She has significant misdemeanor and felony trial experience and specialized in domestic violence and sexual assault cases for much of her career. As part of the leadership team in the KCPAO's Domestic Violence Unit, she participates in discussions and consultations regarding Project Safety, their program to provide civil legal aid to crime victims. Over the last five years, Kaake has held a trial supervisory position, during which time she supervised, mentored, advised and developed over 35 attorneys. Kaake also assisted in starting a partnership between the KCPAO and the YWCA to provide services to victims of gender-based violence who have been arrested or charged as defendants. This partnership resulted in the creation of Survivors FIRST (Facilitating Interventions and Resources for Survivors of Trauma), a program that focuses on women of color who have been arrested or charged and diverts them from the criminal justice system. It is the first program of its kind in the nation and receives federal and state funding. Kaake earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and her law degree from Seattle University School of Law.

Silver Creek Capital

Seattle-based Silver Creek Capital Management, an alternative investment boutique focused on developing investment solutions for investors globally, announced that David Matter has joined the firm as co-chief investment officer. Matter was most recently a managing director and co-chief investment officer of BlackRock Alternative Advisors, BlackRock's Hedge Fund Solutions business. In this role, Matter will partner with Eric Dillon, Silver Creek's chief executive officer and co-chief investment officer, to lead the firm's investment activities. At BlackRock, Matter also chaired the BAA Investment Committee and was a member of the BAA Management Committee and the Co-Investment Portfolio Management Group. He joined BlackRock in 2007 upon its acquisition of the core asset management business of Seattle-based Quellos Group, where he was a principal and a member of the Investment Committee. Matter began his career at Capital Group and later moved to Bankers Trust. He holds an MBA and MAIS from the University of Washington and a BS from the University of Pennsylvania.

Feb 09, 2024

King County Superior Court

Gov. Jay Inslee announced the appointment of Nicholas B. Straley to the King County Superior Court. He will replace Judge Mary Roberts, who retired from the bench on January 31, 2024. For over 26 years, Straley has been employed by Columbia Legal Services (CLS), a statewide nonprofit law firm that provides civil legal services to people living on low incomes in the state. He currently serves as CLS's litigation director. He has practiced in a wide range of subject matters throughout his career, including representing tenants and other people in housing-related matters, consumers in disputes with creditors, workers in disputes with employers and regulators, and incarcerated persons in matters related to their confinement. He has litigated both in state and federal courts, including significant complex civil and class action litigation. Earlier in his career, he served as a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Since 2021 Straley has served on the YouthCare Board of Directors, an organization that works to end youth homelessness. Since 2019, he has served on the JustLead Washington Board of Directors. He also served as an alternate member of the Washington State Criminal Sentencing Task Force between 2019 and 2023. Straley earned his bachelor's degree from Oberlin College in Ohio. He earned his law degree from Cornell Law School.

The Peep Show

Seattle-based smart birdhouse maker The Peep Show will appear on an upcoming episode of The Shark Tank, ABC-TV's national TV show focused on helping budding entrepreneurs. The patent-pending smart home camera birdhouse—designed to stream nesting activity directly to users phones while simultaneously providing baby birds the best chance at life—will appear on February 16, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. on the reality TV show. The Peep Show includes a camera mount created to accommodate off-the-shelf wireless cameras with at least six months of battery life. The Peep Show is made of regionally-sourced wood panels and bio-plastic, and housed in recyclable packaging. The Peep show was founded by Steve Gray, with inspiration from father, Chuck. The product won the international Red Dot Award for Excellence in Product Design in 2023. The Peep Show seeks to elevate birdwatching to an accessible, fun and environmentally supportive activity for all ages.

NW Natural Water

NW Natural Water Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northwest Natural Holding Company, has expanded further in two states with the acquisitions of Hiland Water Corporation's water utility business in Newberg, Oregon and Truxton Canyon Water Company and Cerbat Water Company near Kingman, Arizona. In addition, NW Natural Water increased its ownership interest in Avion Water in January 2024 and currently owns approximately 45% of Avion, which serves over 15,000 customers in central Oregon. With these transactions, NW Natural Water serves nearly 175,000 people through approximately 70,000 connections across five states.

Northwest Natural Holding Company is headquartered in Portland, and has been doing business for more than 165 years in the Pacific Northwest. It owns NW Natural Gas Company, NW Natural Water Company, and NW Natural Renewables Holdings.