Jan 31, 2023

BECU

BECU hired Rick Eiel as executive vice president and its first chief data and analytics officer. Eiel is responsible for developing enterprise data, analytic and insight capabilities that will inform and accelerate the credit union's business strategies, execution and performance. Eiel joins BECU with over 30 years of experience in the consumer financial service industry, including leadership roles at JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Most recently, he served as the head of product and analytics at Equifax. He earned his MBA, with concentrations in information systems and economics, from New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business. With more than 1.3 million members and $30.2 billion in assets, BECU is the largest not-for-profit credit union in Washington and one of the top four financial cooperatives in the country.

Spaceflight

European launch service company Isar Aerospace and Seattle-based Spaceflight announced they have signed a multi-launch services agreement. Under the agreement, Spaceflight secured one dedicated launch in 2026 to a sun-synchronous orbit taking off from Andoya, Norway and an option to add an additional dedicated launch to occur in 2025. Spaceflight has more than a decade of launch and in-space transportation services expertise, delivering more than 450 spacecraft across 55 launches, including both rideshare and dedicated launches. The company provides a host of launch and mission management services, from security capacity to providing comprehensive integration and logistics services. In addition, the company executed the launch of five next-gen Sherpa orbital transfer vehicles which carried more than 50 customer payloads. Isar Aerospace, based in Ottobrunn/Munich, develops and builds launch vehicles for transporting small and medium-sized satellites as well as satellite constellations into Earth's orbit. Spaceflight is a part of the Mitsui & Co. portfolio, operating as an independent, U.S.-based company.

People's Bank

PBCO Financial Corporation, the holding company of People's Bank of Commerce, announced the retirement of Ken Trautman, CEO and co-founder, effective July 1. Trautman will remain on the board of directors for the company and the bank. Trautman started the bank with co-founder Mike Sickels in 1998 in response to the numerous mergers that took place in the southern Oregon market that had notably reduced a local community banking presence. Under Trautman's leadership, the Bank has grown from seven employees in one Medford location to over 140 employees in 11 offices serving 10 communities with assets of over $800 million. The company has named Julia Beattie, who currently serves as president, to succeed Trautman as CEO. Beattie will also join the board of directors. Beattie has been with the bank since 2013 and has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. Beattie received her Business Administration degree from Baylor University and her MBA from the University of Texas. She currently serves on the board of the Community Bankers of Oregon. People's Bank of Commerce is a full-service, commercial bank headquartered in Medford, Oregon.

Jan 27, 2023

PacificSource Health Plans

Espinola

PacificSource Health Plans appointed John Espinola as the organization's new president and CEO, effective April 3, 2023. In this role, Espinola will provide leadership, strategic guidance, and direction for PacificSource's overall operations and will hold primary responsibility for profit and loss and fulfilling the organization's commitment to its mission, vision and values. Espinola comes to PacificSource with more than 20 years of leadership experience in healthcare. He most recently served in a dual role as executive vice president, chief strategy and product officer with Premera Blue Cross and as CEO of Kinwell Physician Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of Premera. Prior to his 12 years spent with Premera, he served as the national medical director for Essence Healthcare and before that as executive director and medical director of Evercare, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Espinola received his bachelor's degree from the College of the Holy Cross, his medical degree and master of public health from Tufts University School of Medicine, and his master of business administration from the University of Washington. Espinola will replace Ken Provencher, who has served as PacificSource's president and CEO for 21 years. Provencher announced his retirement in late 2022 after a total of 28 years dedicated to PacificSource. He will continue to serve as president and CEO until March 31, 2023. PacificSource Health Plans is an independent, not-for-profit community health plan serving the Northwest. Founded in 1933, PacificSource has local offices throughout Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington.

Emerald Heights

Emerald Heights, a Life Plan Community in Redmond, promoted Alexandra Clark to wellness programs manager, a new position in the company. Clark has been working with Emerald Heights for over five years and previously supervised both the trips/events department and the life enrichment activities department for independent living and the Corwin Center. In her new role, Clark will still oversee these two areas of service but she will also be overseeing the fitness program. Prior to joining Emerald Heights, Clark taught theater and Zumba classes to senior living communities. She earned her degree in theater from California State University, Northridge. The fitness department consists of three fitness specialists: current team member Talisa Wibmer and two new hires at Emerald Heights, Katharine Manter and Tanner Bostian. Manter earned her bachelor's degree in physical education with a kinesiology concentration followed by a master's degree in clinical exercise physiology. She is also a certified clinical exercise physiologist by the American College of Sports Medicine. Bostian is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in exercise science from St. John University. Bostian has a personal training certification though the National Strength and Conditioning Association and earned an aging specialist certification though the American Council on Exercise.

Strong Tower Consulting

Strong Tower Consulting, a Bellevue-based management-consulting firm, named Rebeca Dawn as vice president of organization development & change management. Dawn has more than two decades of experience designing and delivering change through strategic business and technology initiatives. Strong Tower's new Organization Development & Change Management practice leverages proprietary change management methodology for organizational transformation and infuses the human element in training programs to create stability and improve effectiveness of employee learning. Prior to joining Strong Tower's leadership team, Dawn developed and executed Prosci-based Change Management training tailored for global teams made up of thousands of client employees. Additionally, she held executive level positions with the city of Seattle's IT Department. Previously, Dawn led global project management for Goldman Sachs. Dawn is a Prosci certified Change Management Professional and is a member of the Association of Change Management Professionals and Organization Development Network.

Jan 26, 2023

LeoStella

Kienberger

LeoStella, a Tukwila-based specialized satellite design and manufacturing company, appointed Tim Kienberger to succeed Mike Hettich as CEO. Kienberger has three decades of aerospace and defense technology experience, leading market strategy, operations management, program execution and business growth in small spacecraft emerging markets at companies including Boeing and L3Harris. Hettich retired after leading the company since 2019. LeoStella is a 50-50 joint venture between Thales Alenia Space, a French-Italian aerospace company, and BlackSky, a provider of real-time geospatial intelligence.

Outbound AI

Greenhaw

Health care automation veteran Ryan Greenhaw joined Seattle-based startup Outbound AI as chief revenue officer. In his new role, Greenhaw will guide efforts to transform how the industry tackles administrative burdens, supporting the company's mission of elevating the human work experience in health care. Prior to joining Outbound AI, Greenhaw served in leadership positions at several companies in the revenue cycle management space, including WhiteSpace Health and Recondo Technology, the latter acquired by Waystar during his tenure. Outbound AI's inaugural offering, PayerVA Console, designed to perform phone-based tasks associated with claims work, is live at multiple sites throughout the country. Founded in 2021 as a spinout from Madrona Venture Labs, Outbound AI is Conversation AI built for health care.

Dorsey & Whitney

Hardesty

International law firm Dorsey & Whitney added Steve Hardesty to its Boise office as a partner in the firm's corporate and M&A practice. Hardesty is a veteran attorney in the Boise market with over 35 years of experience across a wide spectrum of corporate transactional work. He represents private equity and venture capital funds and their portfolio companies in a full range of mergers, acquisitions, financings, growth transactions, and general corporate matters. He also represents emerging growth companies and specialty finance lenders on a national basis, including corporate aircraft finance and commercial real estate finance. Hardesty joins Boise colleagues Nick Taylor, office head, and Richard Hall, leading mining partner, who established the Dorsey & Whitney Boise office earlier this month. Hardesty comes from Perkins Coie's Boise office. Dorsey has locations across the U.S., and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.

State of Washington

The state Department of Veterans Affairs appointed Dan Smith as the administrator of Washington Soldiers Home in Orting. Smith assumed responsibility of the facility last month. He is pursuing a master's degree in public health at Pennsylvania State University. Smith served as a nurse in the U.S. Army Reserve for 12 years. As a civilian, he worked in a federal VA-accredited longterm care facility for more than 20 years. Washington Soldiers Home is on 174 acres in the Puyallup Valley. Established in 1891, this was the first of four homes built for Washington state veterans.