Jun 13, 2000

Don Willis Furniture

Seattle businessman, Paul Willis, owner of Don Willis Furniture stores, has been elected president of the National Unfinished Furniture Association, headquartered in New Jersey. His installation as president will take place at the National Unfinished Furniture Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas on June 21, 2000. Willis has served on the board of directors of the association for several years, chairing many of its committees including this year's education committee. He is the second-generation owner of Don Willis Furniture founded by his father, Don Willis, 52 years ago in his garage on Lake City Way in North Seattle.

RAS Builders

Annie Goto has joined the staff of RAS Builders as its regional marketing director for the Northwest, including the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. Most recently, Goto served on the winning proposal team of Mulvanny.G2’s Commercial Group for the Tacoma Convention Center and now will focus solely on commercial construction for RAS. Her responsibilities include client relations, business development, and strategic marketing and planning.

Lease Crutcher Lewis

Seattle contractor Lease Crutcher Lewis has promoted four employees and hired three more.

Bernie O'Donnell has been promoted to project manager from senior project engineer, Denny Raley has advanced to project manager from project engineer, Keith Slack has moved up to superintendent from assistant superintendent and Mike Levang has been promoted to superintendent of the company's Special Projects Division.

O'Donnell holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Washington. Raley is working on a tenant improvement project at the Northgate North retail complex. Slack holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from Boise State University and has over 19 years of industry experience. Levang attended Highline Community College and has industry experience.

New hires include Susan McCray, Tom Goett and Paul Padgett. They all hold the position of project engineer. McCray is working on a project at Sea-Tac Airport. Both Goett and Padgett hold construction management certificates from the University of Washington.

Unimark Construction

John Parker has been promoted to vice president of construction management and field operations at Unimark Construction Co. Parker started working at Unimark in 1973 as a carpenter and was later promoted to foreman and then general superintendent.

Shea Construction

Spokane's Shea Construction has hired Curt Hobbs as a project engineer. Hobbs holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from Central Washington University. He is currently assigned to the Broadway Court Estates project in the Spokane Valley, an independent-living retirement complex.

Icon Materials

M.A. Segale has changed its name to Icon Materials Inc. to better reflect the growth of the company, according to president Bruce Cyr. The company is one of the region's leading site development and paving materials producers. It is headquartered in Tukwila and operates facilities in that city and in Auburn.

Jun 08, 2000

The Virginia Anderson Internship

Seattle Center director Virginia Anderson’s consistent interest in maintaining affordable housing in Seattle has resulted in her name going on a University of Washington internship program. The non-profit Housing Resources Group contributed $15,000 to fund an internship for a UW student interested in pursuing a career in affordable housing and financing. HRG named it the Virginia Anderson Internship.

The UW’s new Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies will administer the internship and doesn’t necessarily have to send the intern to HRG. Anderson helped start HRG and served on its board, but isn’t on the board now. "Anderson has worked tirelessly in a volunteer role to assist HRG create thousands of units of affordable housing in downtown Seattle neighborhoods," HRG said.

Creating the internship is part of HRG celebrating its 20th anniversary. The Downtown Seattle Association created HRG in 1980 to increase the supply of affordable housing in and around downtown.

Jun 06, 2000

GLY Construction

Bellevue's GLY Construction has added five staff members to its team. The list includes: project engineer Scott Conrad, superintendents John Jensen and Dave McGovern, estimator David Best and safety administrator Susan Beck.

Conrad is providing technical reviews for Overlake Hospital's new Medical Office Tower project. He has spent the last eight years estimating and managing construction work around the Puget Sound area, and is a graduate of the Construction Management Certification Program at the University of Washington.

Jensen is supervising the Bellevue Family YMCA expansion project. He has spent the last 33 years building schools, office buildings and parking garages throughout Western Washington. Prior to his construction career, he served in the military in Vietnam.

McGovern is supervising construction of a light-industrial facility in Redmond for ADIC. He has spent the last 16 years managing and supervising construction of office space for Microsoft and other companies throughout the Puget Sound area.

Best provides estimating services to GLY project managers. He has spent the last 20 years estimating and managing both commercial and residential construction work. He holds a bachelor of architecture degree from Washington State University and is accredited with the American Society of Professional Estimators.

Beck is a member of the company's safety team and assists with jobsite subcontractor insurance. Prior to her construction career, she was a teacher and accountant.

Merit Company

Jerry Oetgen has joined Merit Company as chief estimator. Merit also has promoted Tom Motland from senior project manager to project director. Oetgen has 32 years of experience in the construction industry and specializes in commercial private sector design/build estimating. Motland has 24 years of construction management experience. Tacoma-based Merit is a general contractor.

Unimark Construction

Unimark Construction of Seattle has promoted John Wambaugh to project manager and hired Bryan McNamara as project engineer. Wambaugh has worked at Unimark for two years as a project engineer. He holds a bachelor's degree in business management from Western Washington University. McNamara's role at the company is to assist project managers with getting bids and calling subcontractors. He holds a bachelor's degree in construction management from Central Washington University. Prior to joining the company, he ran his own painting business and worked as a carpenter.

Ford Graphics

Ford Graphics has moved its downtown Fourth Avenue location to nearby Superior Reprographics, an affiliated company, at 1927 Fifth Ave. The newly renovated 18,000-square-foot building will serve as Ford's headquarters. Ford had to move out of its old location because it was in the way of a parking structure ramp for Safeco Field. Ford plans to phase out the Superior name.

Absher Construction

Absher Construction Co. of Puyallup has been named a national runner-up in the Inc./Cisco "Growing with Technology Awards." The program was designed to recognize small and medium-sized businesses that are using the Internet and technology to succeed in the new economy. In the past three years, Absher has established a comprehensive informational Web site and created a fully linked network of 85 workstations -- spread across its main-office location and more than 20 job-sites -- as well as implemented a complete project-management software system, Internet-accessible job-site video-camera capabilities and more.

Strand Hunt

Kirkland's Strand Hunt Construction has received the highest safety award offered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its performance on the C-17 Fuels Systems Maintenance Hangar, delivered at McChord Air Force Base in 1998. The project involved over 50,000 labor-hours without a single lost-time accident.

FMI Corp.

FMI Corp. has moved its Denver offices. The new address is: 55 Madison St., Suite 410, Denver, CO 80206. Phone and fax numbers are: (303) 377-4740 and (303) 377-3535. The construction consultant's other offices remain the same.