May 05, 2021

City of Kenmore

Palaña

The city of Kenmore hired Leonora Palaña in the newly created role of human resources manager, with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. Palaña, a Kenmore resident, brings over 20 years of experience in the field of human resources, including 13 years of government agency experience working as a senior talent acquisition representative for the Port of Seattle. Prior to the Port of Seattle, Palaña was the human resources manager in New York City for W Times Square hotel and W Seattle. In addition to managing employee recruitment, training, and personnel policies, Palaña will support the city of Kenmore’s DEI initiatives, a Kenmore City Council priority for 2021-2022. Palaña will serve as the lead on community outreach, administering a DEI advisory committee, and implementing DEI policies and programs.

Russell Investments

Russell Investments announced that Kate El-Hillow has joined the firm as global chief investment officer, and Kevin Klingert has been hired as president. El-Hillow, who held several senior investment leadership roles at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, brings expertise in portfolio management, trading, and outsourced CIO and multi-asset investment solutions. Klingert comes to Russell Investments with industry experience in managing global operations and distribution. He has held leadership roles at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and BlackRock. Klingert will focus on day-to-day business execution, and work alongside Russell Investments' leadership team, overseeing the firm's sales and support functions. Both El-Hillow and Klingert will serve on Russell Investments' executive committee and report to chairman and CEO Michelle Seitz. In addition, chief operating officer Rick Smirl has accepted a position at another asset management firm, and Klingert will oversee the firm's operations functions. Pete Gunning, Russell Investments' CIO since 2018 and a 25-year veteran of the firm, will take on a new role as vice chairman and strategic relationships officer. Headquartered in Seattle, Russell Investments has offices in 19 cities around the world.

PeopleReady

Staffing company PeopleReady was named the winner of gold, silver and bronze Stevie Awards in the 19th annual American Business Awards for innovation and creativity in connecting people and work. The American Business Awards received a record number of nominations this year in a wide range of categories. PeopleReady's JobStack app was recognized for its role in helping job seekers connect to opportunities amid the pandemic and aiding businesses in navigating an unpredictable climate, winning both a gold award in the business and government services category and a bronze award for best user experience. The company's branding refresh, which focuses on its new Work Within Reach brand and commitment to providing solutions that meet candidates where they are and enable companies to connect with the quality workforce they need, was awarded a silver award for brand renovation of the year. PeopleReady specializes in quick and reliable on-demand labor and highly skilled workers, and supports a wide range of blue-collar industries.

May 04, 2021

Pilot Ventures

McLeod

Seattle-based Pilot Ventures, a real estate investment company, hired Evan McLeod. McLeod is an investment specialist whose primary focus is on the sale of multifamily properties in the Puget Sound region. Prior to joining Pilot, he spent four years at a national brokerage firm where he successfully closed over $300 million in transactions. His current client base include publicly traded institutions, private equity firms, family offices, local developers, and private investors.

Washington Trust Bank

Washington Trust Bank elected Craig Dawson and Jinyoung Englund to its board of directors. Dawson is the founder, CEO and president of Retail Lockbox, which specializes in payment processing, online payments, digital image capture and retrieval services, and financial reporting for customers. He chairs the board of directors for the Washington Roundtable, and in 2020, founded the Black Business Warehouse, a clearinghouse of information about Black-owned businesses. Additionally, Dawson is the immediate past chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco-Seattle branch, and is a member of the Seattle Advisory Board for the Consulting and Business Development Center at the University of Washington Foster School of Business. Englund serves as a digital service expert at the Defense Digital Service (DDS) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Department of Defense. Prior to her service appointment to DDS, Englund was a Fellow with the Strategic Innovation Group at Booz Allen Hamilton. She is a candidate for the Public Leadership Executive Certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education. Headquartered in Spokane, Washington Trust currently has 42 branches and offices in Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

Itron

Itron announced that GridWise Alliance (GWA) Chair, Gil Quiniones has appointed Itron CEO Tom Deitrich to join the GWA's new Grid Infrastructure Advisory Council (GIAC). The 29-member GIAC supports the Alliance's call to modernize the U.S. electric power transmission and distribution systems. GIAC and GWA will work with the Biden Administration to address areas where grid modernization benefits the economy and community. The Alliance's support includes at least $50 billion in U.S. federal spending toward grid modernization. The council includes leaders from the electric utility industry, environmental groups, labor unions and other interested parties in the public and private sectors. Deitrich joins the GIAC with more than 20 years of experience in global operations. Itron has been a member of the GWA since its founding in 2003. The GWA represents the stakeholders that design, build and operate the electric grid. Itron, headquartered in Liberty Lake, enables utilities and cities to deliver infrastructure solutions to communities in more than 100 countries.

Impinj

Impinj announced that Brian Wong will join its executive leadership team as chief product officer. Wong has over 35 years' experience in the technology sector. As CPO, Wong will continue developing Impinj's product organization. He will focus on advancing Impinj's platform and enabling the company's global partner ecosystem to develop RAIN RFID products and IoT solutions that enable and drive digital transformation at enterprises worldwide. Before joining Impinj, he served as CEO of four companies, including TriLumina, Enevate, D2Audio and Primarion. The Impinj platform uses RAIN RFID to deliver data for business and consumer applications.

Apr 30, 2021

Amazon

LinkedIn named Amazon the No. 1 company where Americans want to work in 2021, up from No. 3 in 2019. Amazon ranked first on LinkedIn's Top Companies list, an annual list that identifies the most sought-after places to work. Using data from LinkedIn's 740 million members, LinkedIn's Top Companies list is designed to help professionals identify the best companies to grow their careers. LinkedIn's methodology evaluates how companies attract and retain the best talent, including through promotions, funding opportunities for employees to learn new skills, gender diversity, and hiring people from all backgrounds and levels of education. LinkedIn also looked at how much recruiters from other companies search for employees currently working at Amazon. Amazon currently employs more than 950,000 people in the U.S. at its headquarters in the Puget Sound region and in Arlington, Virginia; the Amazon campus in Nashville, Tennessee; its 18 Tech Hubs; and the company's network of logistics, retail, and data center facilities across more than 40 states.

Ally.io

Ally.io, a technology company specializing in goal-setting and business execution software, hired three new senior leaders, Rebecca Clements, senior vice president of people and culture; Kirsten Smith, vice president of growth marketing; and Rajiv Arunkundram, vice president of product. Clements will lead the people operations team and spearhead the company's global approach to company culture and values. Before Ally.io, Clements held leadership roles at Getty Images, Varolli and most recently at Moz where she served as chief people officer. Smith joined Ally.io from Gladly, where she served as head of growth marketing. Prior to that, Smith led growth marketing for Glassdoor. Arunkundram brings more than 15 years of experience to Ally.io and leads the product team, driving the software's vision and go-to-market strategy. Prior to Ally.io, Arunkundram served as a senior product leader at Smartsheet and held senior product and marketing roles at Microsoft. Ally.io was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Seattle.

ExtraHop

Seattle-based ExtraHop, a leader in cloud-native network detection and response, announced the appointment of cybersecurity industry veteran Mark Bowling as its new vice president of security response services. Bowling's career in cybersecurity spans two decades with the FBI where he worked on major cybersecurity initiatives across different divisions. After leaving the FBI, Bowling served as the associate special agent in charge for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General. Most recently, he's served as a security consultant for numerous private sector clients across industries including finance, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and technology. Bowling also serves as a national examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and has advised member organizations of the North American Energy Reliability Corporation on cybersecurity risk management and critical infrastructure protection.

Sendle

Sendle, a 100% carbon neutral shipping service designed for small businesses, has expanded its executive team with the appointment of Dennis Oates as chief logistics officer, and Ned Sizer as chief financial officer. The expansion follows a year of record growth for Sendle, as demand for eCommerce shipping surges around the world. Oates brings with him 25 years of experience in shipping and logistics, including a 16-year tenure with FedEx, and five years with Amazon. Sizer has more than 20 years of senior financial leadership and joins the company from Turo, a car sharing marketplace. Sendle was founded in Australia in 2014 by CEO James Chin Moody, and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia and Seattle.