Oct 20, 2021

Rolluda Architects

Lentner

Goins

Rolluda Architects hired Tony Goins and Jessica Lentner as project architects. Goins was born and raised in Japan. He earned both a bachelor of arts in architectural design and a master of architecture from the University of Washington. He is a licensed architect in Washington state and is a Certified Passive House Consultant. He is currently working on projects for King County Solid Waste and Waste Treatment. Lentner has rejoined Rolluda Architects after three years practicing on the East Coast. Lentner was born and raised in Massachusetts. She earned a bachelor of arts in art history from Vassar College and a master's in architecture from Virginia Tech. She is a licensed architect who has worked on projects in Washington state and Florida, focusing on municipal, community, and educational projects. She recently earned her WELL AP certification, dedicated to design focused on sustainability and user wellness. She is currently working on projects for King County Solid Waste.

Säzän Group

Childs

Swanson

Fallisgaard

Säzän Group promoted Niels Fallisgaard, EDAC, PMP, FAS Level II; Lee Swanson, PE, RCDD; and Thomas Childs, to associate principal within the company's management team. Each has made significant contributions to work procurement and mentoring staff. Fallisgaard has significant experience in the electrical engineering field, serving as project manager and designer on various project types with a focus on local health care projects. He has a long history of supporting private and community facilities, including several with the Department of Social and Health Services. Swanson has more than 20 years of diverse project management, electrical engineering, and predesign studies experience. He specializes in electrical design of health care facilities and has expertise in low- and medium-voltage power design and selective coordination, fault current, and arc flash studies. Childs has more than 25 years of electrical engineering design, lighting and lighting controls design, and project management experience over a wide variety of civic, sports arenas, higher education, commercial, industrial, and health care projects. His expertise includes new construction project definitions and basis of designs for new developments, feasibility studies and remodel designs for existing facilities, and design-build trade partnerships for new construction and remodel projects.

Schreiber Starling Whitehead

Schreiber

Founding principal at Schreiber Starling Whitehead, Keith Schreiber, is retiring on Nov. 1. Schreiber's decision to retire comes after a 44-year professional career and 34 years since he and Phil Lane founded the firm in November of 1987. Schreiber Starling Whitehead Architects is a team of 18 architects committed to creating public architecture that reflects their clients' visions, respects the fabric of place, and celebrates the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Firm leadership will continue with principals Stephen Starling, Ross Whitehead and Mary Jo Lux. “It has been my great honor and privilege to work together with such a group of talented and dedicated architects. I am so very proud of the organization we are today and the impact we have had, working with and for clients who care passionately about creating and improving the public architecture that serves our communities. I could not be more excited about the future of this great organization,” said Schreiber.

Shannon & Wilson

Troost

Shannon & Wilson, a geotechnical and environmental consulting firm, announced that Kathy Goetz Troost, LG, Ph.D., has rejoined the company's Seattle office as a senior consultant. Goetz Troost has a doctorate in geology and 42 years of experience conducting in-depth applied geologic studies in Quaternary stratigraphy and applied geological research, engineering geologic consulting, and serving as a liaison between consultants, research scientists, and decision makers. Goetz Troost is an associate teaching professor with the University of Washington Department of Earth and Space Science focusing in the Applied Geosciences Masters program. She is the former director of GeoMapNW, a group that produced highly detailed geological maps and hazard maps that help city planners, builders and homeowners better understand the geology of a particular area. She works closely with numerous agencies, including the United States Geologic Survey, Washington Department of Natural Resources, city of Seattle and King County. She is considered an expert in the geology of the Puget Lowlands and Washington, having published many geological maps and papers about Quaternary geology and geological hazards, including the “Geology of Seattle and the Seattle Area.”

Fashwire

Seattle-based Fashwire, the parent company of web-based platforms FashWire and GlossWire, won first place in the category of Women in Business at the International Trade Council's Annual Go Global Awards ceremony. Founded in 2018 by Kimberly Carney, FashWire's global platform, a two-sided marketplace, provides over 400 fashion designers from more than 35 countries insight into consumer shopping patterns through trending data and real-time actionable insights in the ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories space. Fashwire expanded into the beauty industry with the launch of GlossWire in February, which connects brands and consumers through the same data-driven platform. The International Trade Council's Go Global Awards celebrate organizations that drive the global economy through their innovations, technologies and strategies.

CaliBurger

CaliBurger, a Cali Group portfolio company, announced that it will open its first restaurant since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 in the greater Seattle area, the third in the Seattle market. The restaurant will be at 18336 Aurora Ave. N. in Shoreline and will feature Flippy, an autonomous robot system taking over the work of an entire fry station. While the Shoreline store will use Flippy to initially cook french fries, Flippy can also cook chicken breasts and tenders, onion rings and sweet potato waffle fries. The system's image recognition technology allows for real-time quality control to prevent any food quality errors during the cooking process. Developed by Miso Robotics, the technology that brings Flippy to life has been in development for almost five years and represents over a quarter million labor hours of engineering time devoted to building the base software, intelligence and platforms. The new CaliBurger restaurant will also have PopID's latest face-based ordering and payment system.

Hexion

Ohio-based Hexion recently expanded its Portland manufacturing site to support its ArmorBuilt Wildfire Shield product. The addition recently came online after an earlier expansion in the first quarter of the year. ArmorBuilt Wildfire Shield offers a durable, fire mitigation safeguard for securing critical infrastructure. ArmorBuilt has also passed an industry approved wildfire simulation burn test for fire resistance. With its insulating and self-healing properties, ArmorBuilt provides a burn-prevention material for a variety of industries that are potentially affected by fires, including wildfires.

Oct 19, 2021

ABC of Western Washington

Kirkland-based Wood Solutions joined the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington. The company focuses on exterior remediations and renovations, including siding replacement, decks and balconies, stairs, landings, windows and doors. It is led by David Molina and Jeff Hughes, each with over 15 years of building remediation experience.

SMART Heroes

Two members of the first class of SMART Heroes are set to graduate in November and January. The SMART Heroes program provides a bridge for those leaving the military to a civilian career in sheet metal, welding and HVAC. Joshua Buckley will graduate in November and Richard Quintana in January, both earning five-year apprenticeships in four years. Buckley works in architectural sheet metal often used on building exteriors and interiors. Quintana plans to work in HVAC service. The program was created by the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) workers; the International Training Institute, SMART's education arm; and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association, the contractors' side of the unionized sheet metal industry. Using curriculum developed by the International Training Institute, the organizations then collaborated with Sheet Metal Workers Local 66, its joint apprenticeship and training committee, SMACNA Western Washington and Helmets to Hardhats.

Thermatech Northwest

Azusa, California-based Alliance Environmental Group acquired Lakewood-based Thermatech Northwest, which provides hazardous waste removal and demolition services in western Washington. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Alliance is an environmental remediation and indoor air quality services contractor operating in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Hayden Homes

Redmond, Oregon-based Hayden Homes bought the home lot supply of Ryn Built Homes of Spokane Valley. The single-family lots are in multiple projects throughout the Tri-Cities and Spokane markets. Ryn Built Homes used to be Viking Builders. It said it will continue to build apartments and some smaller single-family homes, as well as continue with land development.

Low Income Investment Fund

The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) named Emma Chavez as its new market director of the western region. Based in the Los Angeles office, Chavez is responsible for lending activities in California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado. Her work includes developing, managing and supporting local funder relationships. Chavez has 20 years of experience in affordable housing finance and development. Prior to this new role, she was vice president of community development lending at Boston Private Bank. Early in her career, she was a loan officer for LIIF and has also served as a lender at the California Community Reinvestment Corporation and the Chicago Community Loan Fund. LIIF invests in projects that have high social value but lack access to traditional financial institutions. Since 1984, LIIF has deployed more than $2.9 billion to serve more than 2 million people in communities across the country from its five offices.

Amazon

Amazon announced that 150,000 seasonal jobs are now available across the United States. Amazon jobs in the U.S., including seasonal roles, have an average starting pay of $18 per hour. Jobs in Amazon's operations network include stowing, picking, packing, shipping and more. New hires will be trained and all facilities follow strict COVID-19 health and safety protocols. Jobs are available in hundreds of cities and towns across America. Washington and Oregon are among the states with the greatest number of seasonal roles available. Interested candidates can get more details at http://www.amazon.com/apply.

Spice AI

Spice AI, a startup enabling developers to integrate AI into their applications, announced funding of $1 million from leading AI-focused venture and angel investors. Founded by Luke Kim and Phillip LeBlanc, Spice AI takes a developer-first approach to building intelligent apps. Spice AI's first release and namesake, Spice.ai, is an open-source project that enables developers to access machine learning tools in minutes instead of months. Spice AI is backed and advised by a number of tech leaders, including Nat Friedman (CEO of GitHub) and Mark Russinovich (CTO of Microsoft Azure), together with institutional investors Madrona Venture Group, Picus Capital, TA Ventures, Elysium Venture Capital, Cardinia Ventures and Founder's Co-op. Spice AI will use the funding to build its core team in the Pacific Northwest and is currently hiring full-time software and machine-learning engineers.