Oct 01, 2026

Flyhomes

Tieu

Nirmal

Moynihan

Flyhomes has announced three new senior hires.

Tyler Moynihan joins Flyhomes as vice president of Business Development, bringing more than 20 years of experience driving growth and building strategic partnerships across real estate and technology. Most recently, Moynihan held a leadership role at Opendoor, following 12 years at Zillow, where he served as vice president of Partnerships & Corporate Development. During his tenure, he helped lead some of Zillow's largest acquisitions, including the $500 million acquisition of ShowingTime, and spearheaded the strategic partnership between Zillow and Opendoor.

At Flyhomes, Moynihan will focus on expanding strategic distribution partnerships with mortgage lenders, homebuilders, brokerages, and technology platforms to bring innovative home financing solutions to more consumers. He holds a BS and MBA from Georgetown University and is an adjunct professor at the University of Washington, where he teaches courses in negotiation and leadership.

Nihit Nirmal is a fintech product leader and AI founder with nearly two decades of fintech product experience. His career follows the rise of Asian fintech. He built payments products at PayU (backed by Prosus), moved into digital lending as SVP of Product and Growth at Lendingkart (backed by Fullerton Financial), and went on to lead product as group chief product officer at Funding Societies (backed by SoftBank Vision Fund and Peak XV), one of Southeast Asia's largest SME lenders. He joins Flyhomes as VP Product to help bring AI speed to home lending.

Wendy Tieu is director of Partner Enablement at Flyhomes, bringing a decade of experience across sales, strategy, enablement and operations. She began her technology career at Flyhomes, growing alongside the business and taking on roles that gave her a broad understanding of how sales teams, operational processes and customer needs connect.

Over the past two years, Tieu has helped scale revenue operations at startups in SaaS and e-commerce, with a particular focus on building and supporting sales teams. She returns to Flyhomes with that experience to drive partner and sales enablement as the company expands its Buy Before You Sell platform. Her focus is on making it simpler for Flyhomes' extensive loan officer network to understand its products, explain their value to clients and move transactions forward.

Based in Bellevue, Flyhomes is a real estate and financial technology company established in 2016.

Sep 30, 2026

Parametrix

Vinish

Kirk Vinish has joined Parametrix as a senior business advisor with the firm's advisory practice, serving tribal clients supporting collaborative infrastructure and transportation projects, as well as government affairs.

Vinish has over 35 years of experience in planning and infrastructure leadership across tribal governments, municipalities, higher education and the private sector. He joins Parametrix from the University of Washington, where he served as assistant director of the Northwest Tribal Technical Assistance Program Center, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium and the Workforce Development Institute.

In those roles, he supported the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and portions of Alaska and Utah. In addition, he worked to advance transportation research, technology transfer, workforce development, and technical assistance initiatives serving state departments of transportation, local governments, and transportation agencies throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Prior to joining UW, he served as the Lummi Nation planning and public works director.

FSi Engineers

Luzius

Connell

Giamalis

Larson

FSi Engineers has hired Tyler Larson as an electrical designer. Larson is a graduate of Washington State University and brings 11 years of experience in the field. His projects include WSU's Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, and energy upgrades for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's CapWay building in Olympia.

The firm has also hired David Giamalis as director of electrical engineering. Giamalis brings 17 years of experience and is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Giamalis has worked extensively with Lake Washington and Mukilteo School Districts, WSU, Meta, and Google. Giamalis is leading electrical engineering for construction administration for a new weld shop at Washington State Ferries' Eagle Harbor maintenance facility, and Seattle South Transfer Station Phase II.

FSi Engineers has hired David Connell as a mechanical engineer. Connell is a graduate of Gonzaga University and brings five years of experience in the field. Connell is working on projects with the Port of Seattle, city of Bellevue, and Community Transit.

The firm has also hired Dan Luzius as principal engineering leader. Luzius brings 25 years of experience and is a graduate of Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Luzius has worked extensively with Meta, Google, the state of Washington, and regional school districts. His current projects include the new parks operations facility for the city of Bellevue, and modernization of the Kent civic campus.

McGee Air Services

Reed

McGee Air Services has elected Ben Reed as president, effective Oct. 1, after he served in the role on an interim basis for the past six months.

Reed, a 17-year Alaska Air Group veteran, oversees more than 3,200 employees at the Alaska Airlines subsidiary, which provides ground services at six airports. He is responsible for the company's strategy, growth and financial performance.

Reed was one of McGee's founding leaders, helping launch the company in 2016. He has twice served as managing director of safety and compliance and has also led McGee's Seattle station as managing director of operations. He was named interim president in March. Before joining McGee, Reed held several leadership positions at Alaska Airlines in auditing, airport quality assurance, aviation security, regulatory compliance and station operations support.

“McGee is an important part of how we deliver on Alaska Accelerate safely, reliably and with care for our guests and employees every day,” said Jason Berry, Alaska Airlines chief operating officer and chair of the McGee board. “Ben brings deep operational experience, strong relationships across Alaska Air Group and a clear commitment to McGee's people, making him the right leader for this next chapter.”

Sep 29, 2026

Star Surveying

Star Surveying Inc., a provider of land surveying, mapping, and land planning services in the Pacific Northwest, has officially expanded its operations by opening a third location in Freeland.

Locatec at 1638 E. Main St., Suite 200B, the new branch positions the company to better support subdivisions, boundary surveys, and construction builds across the Whidbey Island region with increased efficiency.

The Freeland office joins Star Surveying's existing locations in Anacortes and Friday Harbor, strengthening the company's coverage across Skagit, Island, and San Juan counties. The firm is led by owner Robert M. Anderson, a professional land surveyor licensed since 1981.

Sep 24, 2026

First Interstate Bank

Rafuse

First Interstate Bank announced that Greg Rafuse has joined the organization as commercial market president. In this role, Rafuse will focus on expanding commercial banking relationships, supporting local businesses, and helping drive First Interstate's continued growth across Western Washington.

Rafuse brings more than 20 years of banking experience to First Interstate, with a career focused on commercial lending, relationship management, business development, and market leadership.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Rafuse studied Business at Bellevue College and is a graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. He has extensive expertise in commercial credit and risk analysis and is committed to bridging the gap between bank credit administration and commercial client needs, always keeping client success at the center of his work.

First Interstate is a community bank headquartered in Billings, Montana, delivering banking and wealth management services across Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.

Sep 23, 2026

FSi Engineers

Luzius

Connell

Giamalis

Larson

FSi Engineers has hired Tyler Larson as an electrical designer. Larson is a graduate of Washington State University and brings 11 years of experience in the field. His projects include WSU's Tree Fruit Research Facility in Wenatchee, and energy upgrades for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's CapWay Building in Olympia.

The firm has also hired David Giamalis as director of electrical engineering. Giamalis brings 17 years of experience and is a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Giamalis has worked extensively with Lake Washington and Mukilteo School Districts, Washington State University, Meta and Google. Giamalis is currently leading electrical engineering for construction administration for a new weld shop at Washington State Ferries' Eagle Harbor Maintenance Facility, and Seattle South Transfer Station Phase 2.

David Connell joins the firm as a mechanical engineer. Connell is a graduate of Gonzaga University and brings five years of experience in the field. Connell is working on projects with the Port of Seattle, city of Bellevue, and Community Transit.

The firm has also hired Dan Luzius as principal engineering leader. Luzius brings 25 years of experience and is a graduate of Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Luzius has worked extensively with Meta, Google, the state of Washington, and regional school districts. His current projects include the new Parks Operations Facility for the city of Bellevue, and modernization of the Kent Civic Campus.

Starbucks

Starbucks is building a global technology hub in Chennai, in southern India, according to a letter sent earlier this year to employees from Starbucks technology chief Anand Varadarajan, and shared Monday on the company blog.

“This is an important milestone in how we continue to build a more flexible and globally connected Technology organization,” Varadarajan said in the letter. “Our teams already work closely with technology vendors in India and other countries. Establishing a Starbucks Technology hub in India gives us the opportunity to build a more partner-centric organization which will be created by bringing capability inside Starbucks over time and creating stronger connections to the work, priorities and culture of our business,” he said in the letter.

Varadarajan said Chennai was selected because of its access to and retention of strong talent retention, its ability to support the company's long-term business needs, and alignment with the ways Starbucks teams work across Seattle, Nashville, London and Hong Kong.

The hub is expected to be operational in fiscal year 2027, and could employ as many as 800 tech workers. Chennai, once known as Madras, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu on the Bay of Bengal.