Jan 25, 2023

IonQ

IonQ announced plans to open the first known dedicated quantum computing manufacturing facility in the United States in Bothell. The new facility will house IonQ's growing R&D and manufacturing teams. With public support from U.S. Senator Patty Murray and Congresswoman Suzan DelBene, U.S. representative from Washington's 1st congressional district, the announcement is part of IonQ's broader intent to invest $1 billion through expansion in the Pacific Northwest over the next 10 years. The 65,000 square foot facility will house IonQ's second quantum data center and be the primary production engineering location for IonQ in North America. IonQ hopes to add thousands of new jobs and opportunities to the region over the coming years. IonQ Vice President of Product Engineering Dave Mehuys, who joined IonQ in March 2022 from a senior leadership role at Psiquantum, will oversee the build out of the new facility. With over two decades of experience managing systems hardware engineering, module component engineering, customer service, and manufacturing operations, Mehuys will play an integral part of IonQ's growth in the region. IonQ was founded in 2015 by Christopher Monroe and Jungsang Kim based on 25 years of research.

The Matthews Group

UBS Private Wealth Management announced that The Matthews Group, an advisor team in the firm's Bellevue branch office, has been ranked the top team in Washington on the Forbes Best-In-State Wealth Management Teams list for 2023. The team was also named to the Forbes America's Top Wealth Management Teams, Private Wealth list for 2022, as the only advisor team in Washington to be named to the list. The 19-member team, led by partners Michael Matthews, Tyler Matthews and Melanie Matthews, is responsible for managing $2 billion in investable client assets. Together, they bring a multi-disciplinary approach to delivering advice to ultra-high net worth individuals, business owners, entrepreneurs and multi-generational families. UBS has offices in more than 50 regions and locations around the world.

The Production Network

The Production Network (TPN) and Evia announced their merger as Evia joins TPN to create a production agency with more than 63 years of combined experience. The transaction is effective immediately. TPN has roots in experiential design and production along with creating interactive immersive experiences in Unreal Engine 5. Evia brings 360-digital content strategy and production expertise with a focus on the remote audience journey — from promotion and registration through the event experience and on-demand content. Together, the agency will offer digital strategies to build solutions for clients across the globe. All members of the TPN and Evia executive teams will remain in leadership positions with Allison DeLeone serving as chief executive officer and Hilary Laney as chief revenue officer. TPN, based in Seattle, was founded over 30 years ago by John Vadino. With three decades of expertise is digital media, Evia offers scalable services to support onsite, hybrid, and virtual events.

Jan 24, 2023

Wilmar

Wilmar and Rainier Partners appointed Ken Hartman as chief executive officer. Wilmar is a supplier, distributor, and category manager of tools and equipment to the automotive aftermarket and other industries. The company partnered with Rainier Partners in late 2021.

Hartman has over two decades of leadership experience in the tool and equipment industry. Prior to joining Wilmar, Hartman served as vice president & general manager of ESAB, a global producer of welding and cutting equipment and consumables. Before ESAB, Hartman was president of Mac Tools at Stanley Black & Decker, vice president of aftermarket at Thermo King, and held various leadership positions at Chief Automotive Technologies and Snap-On Tools. Wilmar was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Kent. The Cantalini family will continue to be actively involved with operations and management. Rainier Partners is a Seattle-based private equity firm with over $300 million in assets under management that invests in lower middle-market services businesses.

Pace Material Handling

Miner, the dock and door division of OnPoint Group, acquired Pace Material Handling, an independent dock and door service provider in the Pacific Northwest. Based in the Greater Seattle area, Pace Material Handling has been providing design, install and service expertise for commercial docks and doors across Washington and Oregon for more than 30 years. This acquisition expands Miner's service reach on the West Coast into the Pacific Northwest. Since 1989, Pace Material Handling has been supporting material handling systems for the warehousing and distribution industries, as well as general contractors, construction companies and property managers. OnPoint Group's portfolio of companies includes Miner, TrueSource, Concentric, and TFS, providing services in everything from forklift fleet management to forklift power, critical backup power, docks, doors and many critical facility maintenance trades. OnPoint is headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio.

Alliant Insurance Services

Alliant Insurance Services hired Aran Buchan as vice president. Based in Seattle, Buchan will design, implement, and manage insurance and risk management solutions to a client base in the Northwest region. Buchan joins Alliant with experience providing property and casualty insurance and risk management solutions to businesses across a range of industries and disciplines. Prior to joining Alliant, Buchan was a producer with a global insurance brokerage and consulting firm. He earned his bachelor's degree in public relations from Central Washington University. Alliant Insurance Services is a distributor of diversified insurance products and services that operates through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices.

Farmington State Bank

Farmington State Bank, d/b/a Moonstone Bank, announced that the bank is returning to its original mission as a community bank and is discontinuing its pursuit to develop banking services for industries such as crypto assets or hemp/cannabis. The change in strategy reflects the impact of recent events in the crypto assets industry and the resultant changing regulatory environment relating to crypto asset businesses. Farmington State Bank will cease using the Moonstone Bank name. The Farmington State Bank brand will feature prominently throughout the bank's branding. Farmington State Bank is a Washington State bank that specializes in serving the needs of the local community in and around Farmington, Washington. With roots in the community since 1887, the bank has operated out of the same building since 1911 where it operates its single branch.

Jan 20, 2023

Bluetooth Special Interest Group

Michaud

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the trade association that oversees Bluetooth technology, appointed Alain Michaud to the board of directors . Alain, a connectivity area tech lead and senior staff software engineer at Google, will begin a two-year term as an associate member director. The Bluetooth SIG Board of Directors is responsible for the governance of the organization and plays a role in driving the expansion of Bluetooth technology to address the needs of a growing number of consumer, commercial, and industrial markets. Alain oversees wireless technology development for several products at Google, and has many years of experience supporting various wireless technologies on multiple operating systems, including open-source software systems. Alain is a long-time member of the Bluetooth community and contributor to the Bluetooth specification development process, namely as a Bluetooth Architecture Review Board councilor, a role he has held for over 10 years representing two member companies. The Bluetooth SIG is headquartered in Kirkland.

Schnitzer Steel

Schnitzer Steel Industries has been named the most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights, a media and research organization focused on corporate sustainability performance. The 19th annual Global 100 List of the world's most sustainable corporations by Corporate Knights is based on a detailed assessment of 6,720 companies, each with more than $1 billion in revenue, where performance across a range of sustainability metrics is evaluated. Foundational to Schnitzer's success is the company's sustainability framework, established nearly a decade ago, which centers around people, planet, and profit. Since setting sustainability goals in 2019 in accordance with this framework, the company has met or exceeded many of its targets and established new goals. In December 2022, the Schnitzer released its fiscal 2022 Sustainability Report, Recycled Metals for a Low-Carbon Future, which highlights the company's role in the transition to a low-carbon future by supplying recycled metals that are critical to the production of more sustainable products, including those associated with global decarbonization efforts. Schnitzer Steel Industries manufactures and exports recycled metal products, and has operating facilities in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and Western Canada. Schnitzer has seven deep water export facilities located on both the East and West Coasts and in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The company began operations in 1906 in Portland.

Strong Tower Consulting

Strong Tower Consulting, a Bellevue-based management-consulting firm, named Greg Lang as vice president of consulting services. Lang has built a career in technology for the past 20 years, working for, and consulting with, leading Fortune 100 tech companies in enterprise-scale product and program management, digital transformation, strategy and change management. Lang has spent the last three years at Strong Tower as a senior strategy consultant. He holds a BA from the University of Washington, as well as professional training in Six Sigma, Scaled Agile Framework, Design Thinking, and Prosci/Change Management. He also has earned certifications in Customer Insight Leadership for New Product Development from the Kellogg School of Management and Rummler Process Methodology.

DreamBox Learning

Bellevue-based DreamBox Learning, a dual-discipline education technology provider, announced Candice Faktor is joining its board of directors. Faktor is the co-CEO and co-founder of Disco, a venture backed all-in-one learning community platform. Prior to launching Disco, Faktor helped scale Wattpad to over 80 million users before it was acquired by Naver for $660 million. She's also a venture partner at Lobby Capital and a frequent speaker on the future of learning, innovation, and thriving in uncertainty. DreamBox Learning provides schools adaptive learning solutions designed to accelerate student growth. DreamBox supports 400,000 educators and approximately 6 million students in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and throughout the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.