Nov 19, 2025

Best Practice Architecture

Smith

Seattle-based Best Practice Architecture has announced the promotion of Sarah Smith to partner. Smith joined Best Practice in 2018 after working at firms in Los Angeles and New York, where she focused on large-scale commercial and institutional projects. She looks forward to the smaller scale and people-centered work at Best Practice.

Her design approach centers on principles reflected in Lil Shingle, a Best Practice Architecture project designed for her mother following her retirement in 2025.

“Though I enjoy heroic architecture and bold interventions, the most fulfilling work begins and ends with listening,” Smith said. “The result is often more thoughtful, more complete, and more unexpected.”

Nov 18, 2025

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories

Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) ranks 13th on List of Largest Employee-Owned Companies in America according to the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO). The NCEO, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing employee ownership, publishes The Employee Ownership 100, an annual ranking of the 100 largest majority employee-owned companies in the United States. The list highlights companies that are at least 50% employee-owned, with most, including SEL, being 100% owned. “We are proud to be recognized among the largest employee-owned companies in the country,” said Executive Vice President Joey Nestegard. “At SEL, employee ownership isn't just a structure — it's part of our culture that empowers our people to think and act like owners, focusing on long-term decision-making in the best interest of customers, employees, supplier partners and the communities where we do business.” The SEL employee stock ownership plan was established in 1994, and the company became 100% employee-owned in 2009. Today, the company employs more than 7,400 people at over 100 locations across the U.S. and around the world, including its five U.S. manufacturing centers in Washington, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina. SEL invents, designs and builds digital products and systems that protect power grids around the world. SEL is headquartered in Pullman, and has manufactured products in the United States since 1984.

Nov 12, 2025

Berger Partnership

Bell

Berger Partnership has hired landscape designer Ari Bell, whose background spans ecoacoustics, amusement park landscapes, Arctic permafrost preservation, and the relationship between performance and place. Bell has a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Vassar College and a master's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Virginia.

Hensel Phelps

Waldo

Coyne

Moore

Poppelreiter

Perry

Ryan Perry, Associate DBIA, with experience working on aviation and data center projects, and Brady Poppelreiter and Brian Cordell with aviation-type projects, are now project superintendents at Hensel Phelps.

Caleb Moore now works as a senior safety manager supporting and overseeing project teams and safety initiatives. He brings knowledge of safety and health technical requirements, and considerations and protective measures for accident-free work sites. He will also participate in pre-job planning conferences to help establish safety plans for new contracts. Moore is currently working on the ARS-WSU Bioscience Research Building and the P-290 Earth Covered Magazines project.

Jennifer Coyne now leads the Project Development Team and supports procurement and marketing efforts, actively gathering intelligence on potential opportunities and cultivating client relationships. Coyne helps shape strategic plans to secure new work in targeted and emerging markets, aligning business development with the company's long-term growth strategies.

Hensel Phelps also welcomes Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) manager Christian Waldo to the team. Waldo coordinates various design disciplines utilizing BIM technology and works closely with design teams and trade partners to facilitate constructability reviews and develop efficient solutions for building system coordination.