Apr 23, 2021

Northwest Kidney Centers

Plancich

Northwest Kidney Centers named Danielle Plancich as vice president of information technology. Plancich brings more than 25 years of experience in project implementation and operational management in health care information technology to her role with Northwest Kidney Centers. She has worked for several health care organizations, including Catholic Health Initiatives, Franciscan Medical Group, and MultiCare. Prior to joining Northwest Kidney Centers, Plancich worked as a senior manager for Deloitte Consulting. Northwest Kidney Centers is a regional, not-for-profit, community-based provider of kidney dialysis, public health education and research into the causes and treatments of chronic kidney disease. Founded in Seattle in 1962, it was the world's first dialysis organization.

The Climate Pledge

Amazon and Global Optimism announced that more than 100 companies have now signed The Climate Pledge. Among the 52 new signatories joining The Climate Pledge include Alaska Airlines, Colgate-Palmolive, Heinken, PepsiCo, Telefónica, Visa, and Seattle-based digital freight network, Convoy. Pledge signatories in total generate more than $1.4 trillion in global annual sales and have more than 5 million employees across 25 industries in 16 countries — demonstrating the collective impact The Climate Pledge can have in addressing climate change. The Climate Pledge is a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years early and achieve net-zero carbon by 2040.

Avalara

Avalara, a provider of tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, announced it has acquired the operational assets of Davo Technologies, a company that helps emerging small businesses automate the daily and ongoing requirements for sales tax. Davo provides merchants, restaurants, and sole proprietors with an automated sales tax compliance solution that also ensures available funds for tax obligations to avoid unplanned or underfunded expenses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Davo supports more than 4,000 small businesses in the United States. Integrated within point of sale systems such as Clover, Square, and more, Davo extends Avalara's strategy of integrated sales tax compliance processes to alleviate the burden of compliance as small businesses focus on their core operations and customer service. Headquartered in Seattle, Avalara has offices across the United States and around the world in Brazil, Europe and India.

Apr 22, 2021

POSaBIT

Kirkland-based POSaBIT appointed Don Tringali to its board of directors. Tringali is the founder and chief executive officer of Augusta Advisory Group, a U.S.-based boutique financial and business consulting firm providing a full range of advisory services to public and private companies in a wide array of industries. Tringali holds a BA in Economics from UCLA and a JD degree from Harvard Law School. Along with Tringali's addition to the board, Jeff Dossett will continue working with POSaBIT but will move from a POSaBIT board member to a non-voting board advisor. POSaBIT is a financial technology company that delivers blockchain-enabled payment processing and point-of-sale systems for cash-only businesses.

Tanium

Tanium, a provider of endpoint management and security for IT environments, announced that Ash Carter has joined the company's board of directors as an independent director. Carter is the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School, and an Innovation Fellow at MIT. He served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2017. Carter also serves on the board of Delta Air Lines, GE and The MIT Corporation, and advises the MITRE Corporation and Lincoln Laboratories on technology matters. In addition, Tanium recently appointed Mark Fields, former CEO of Ford, David Rowland, executive chairman of Accenture, and Matt Thompson, former executive vice president of worldwide field operations at Adobe, to its board of directors.

Albertsons

Albertsons Companies announced its commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and will set an emissions reduction target that supports the goals of the United Nations' Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions. Albertsons will evaluate energy use and procurement, refrigerants, transportation, and its supply chain to submit an emissions reduction goal to SBTi for approval. The initiative is a partnership between CDP, UN Global Compact, WRI, and WWF that helps companies take meaningful climate action through its science-based framework. Boise-based Albertsons operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia.

City of Tacoma

Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards will address the state of the city in a four-part series, focusing on economy, neighbors, community and the path forward. The 2021 State of the City Address will be delivered using an alternate format. A new installment will air and stream on TV Tacoma each of the first four Mondays in May, and also be cross-promoted on the city's official social media channels. Mayor Woodards' remarks can be viewed on TV Tacoma or tvtacoma.com, and on Facebook Live at facebook.com/cityoftacoma. Community members are invited to tune in and join the conversation on social media using #SOTC253.

Apr 21, 2021

Amazon

Amazon announced nine new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects in the United States, Canada, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The company now has 206 renewable energy projects globally, including 71 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 135 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide. With this announcement, Amazon is now the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in Europe. These projects supply renewable energy to Amazon's corporate offices, fulfillment centers, Whole Foods Market stores, and Amazon Web Services data centers. The renewable energy from these projects also helps Amazon meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent to the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices. All of these projects put Amazon on a path to power 100% of its activities with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of the original target of 2030. Investing in renewable energy is one of the actions Amazon is taking as part of The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.

Salon Services

Fingernails2Go, a leader in creative nail art, announced its new U.S. distribution partnership with Salon Services. The new distributor, based in Seattle, has locations in nine states with a variety of physical stores. It also has a distribution network with salons all over the U.S. Fingernails2Go is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where it manufactures digital nail art printers. Customers can select a design from the nail art library or use the Fingernails2Go App on their phone to upload an image. Nail care is a multi-billion-dollar industry, with ReportLinker projecting the worldwide nail care market to top $6 billion by 2027.

Pacific Medical Centers

Pacific Medical Centers, a primary and integrated multi-specialty healthcare network across the Puget Sound region, selected Redspin to conduct a readiness assessment of their current security posture to determine how to prepare for the Department of Defense's new security framework certification for vendors, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification. The Department of Defense is aiming to reduce the estimated $600 billion in cybercrime losses impacting the nation's military supply chain every year by requiring third-party cybersecurity assessments of contractors with access to controlled unclassified information. Pacific Medical Centers holds a contract with the Department of Defense to administer the US Family Health Plan. Redspin, a division of CynergisTek, is a cybersecurity company providing security testing, assessments, validation, and consulting services to companies in highly regulated industries including government, financial, technology, and manufacturing.