Oct 09, 2020

Ziply Fiber

Doherty

Kirkland-based Ziply Fiber, which acquired the Northwest territory of Frontier Communications earlier this year, has hired Mike Doherty as its new chief marketing officer. Doherty spent the last 19 years as president of advertising agency Cole & Weber.

Avalara

Avalara, a provider of tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, acquired Transaction Tax Resources (TTR) for about $377 million in cash. TTR's core business is a subscription service for tax professionals. Avalara and TTR manage two tax document management platforms, Avalara's CertCapture and TTR's Exemption Certificate Management System, and Avalara intends to combine the two offerings. TTR is headquartered in McMinnville, Oregon. Seattle-based Avalara has offices across the U.S. and in Brazil, Europe and India.

City of Tacoma

The Tacoma City Council is looking for applicants with experience in government performance and financial auditing, public administration, and government financial and fiscal practices to fill the community member position on the Audit Advisory Board. The board is comprised of each member of the Government Performance and Finance Committee (GPFC), two members of the Tacoma Public Utilities Board and one community member. The Audit Advisory Board supports the City Council's GPFC in carrying out its audit advisory, oversight and liaison functions. Applications must be submitted to the City Clerk's Office by Oct. 21. Details are at cityoftacoma.org/cbcapplication.

LeoStella

LeoStella, a specialized satellite design and manufacturing company, has been recognized by Seattle Business magazine as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2020. Employees from nominated companies anonymously responded to a comprehensive survey regarding specific categories including communication, training, rewards and recognition. The survey results were then used to establish the top companies. Based in Tukwila, LeoStella is a joint venture between Thales Alenia Space and BlackSky.

Oct 08, 2020

Comcast

Comcast announced that it is partnering with the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to launch a new program for schools throughout Washington state to connect low-income K-12 students to the internet at home, free of charge. Washington's K–12 Internet Access Program allows students and their families who previously didn't have internet access to connect to online learning from home. Internet Essentials is a Comcast program designed for low-income families and individuals to acquire access to the internet. The Comcast portion of the OSPI program will serve up to 38,000 qualifying low-income families with free internet service through the remainder of the 2020-2021 academic school year. Funding for the Washington's K–12 Internet Access Program comes from the federal CARES Act.

GOOD PLANeT

Belleuve-based GOOD PLANeT Foods, a plant-based cheese company, has expanded internationally to serve Japan and South Korea, and plans to announce service to four additional countries. Founded in 2017, the GOOD PLANeT brand offers a variety of plant-based cheese products for retail and food service applications. The plant-based food category is valued at $21.18 billion globally, according to UnivDtos Market Insights.

Traction Guest

Traction Guest announced the appointment of Roger Beharry Lall as vice president of product marketing. Beharry Lall has held leadership positions at Think Research, Adlib Software, BlackBerry and ISM-BC (an IBM Subsidiary). At Traction Guest, Beharry Lall will be responsible for product marketing, analyst relations and market research. Traction Guest offers cloud-based solutions for enterprise visitor management systems.

BECU

BECU announced Fumbi Chima as its executive vice president and chief information officer, following Tom Morgan's retirement. Chima leads the credit union's technology division, overseeing technology strategy, information security and IT operations for its nearly 2,500 employees and over 1.2 million members. Chima joins BECU with more than 25 years of experience in both the retail and financial sectors, including roles at Fox Network Group, Burberry, Walmart Asia, American Express and JP Morgan Chase. Most recently, she served as chief information officer at Adidas in Germany. Morgan retired after five years of service to BECU and 40 years in the financial services industry.

Integra Realty Resources

Bacon

Integra Realty Resources has promoted Matt Bacon to senior managing director in its Seattle office. He's been with the firm, which is based in Florida, for about 20 years. Integra's Allen Safer said in a statement, “I am confident Matt will provide excellent leadership and ensure we continue to deliver best-in-class services to our growing list of clients across Washington.” Integra provides valuation and consulting services, and appraiser Bacon has an MAI certification from the Appraisal Institute. His practice also extends to Oregon.

Gantry secures $4.7M refi for industrial park

Gantry just announced that it has secured a $4.7 million refinancing loan for the owner South Park Industrial Park, an LLC related to SeaCon Development. The 21-year loan, from Securian, features a 21-year amortization period. Gantry's Michael Wood and Colin Ceithaml arranged the deal. Wood said in a statement, “The borrower was looking to refinance out of a higher interest rate recourse loan and wanted a fully amortizing loan while keeping their cash flow the same.” The two buildings, with total 67,714 square feet, are leased to Sherwin-Williams, Johnson Controls and NRC Environmental. They're just west of state Route 99.

Davis Property & Investment

Mapes

Davis Property & Investment announced the recent hiring of Adam Mapes. The industry veteran has a background in project management, facilities management and data center management. Mapes will be a facilities manager for DPI, which owns and manages about 5 million square feet of commercial real in our state and Oregon. The firm currently has five industrial and medical buildings in various stages of development and planning, with an estimated value of nearly $111 million.

Compass buys Modus

Compass, a national residential brokerage firm that's been gradually expanding its local presence, has acquired the startup Modus. The latter platform, with a staff of about 60, facilitates the title and escrow process for homebuyers. It was founded two years ago by Alex Day, Jai Sim and Abbas Guvenili. CEO Day said in a statement, “We are incredibly excited to become part of the Compass team at this pivotal time in our industry, and look forward to joining in their mission of building the future of real estate for agents and their clients.” Terms were not announced for the deal. Compass opened a Seattle office last year. It has over 18,000 brokers associated with its platform, and says it did $100 billion in deals last year.

CBB donates $25K for wildfire relief

Coldwell Banker Bain announced a recent donation worth almost $25,000 to Northwest Response, which is coordinating relief efforts for those affected by the catastrophic — and still ongoing, — wildfires in our state and Oregon. Northwest Response is itself the brainchild of KING 5 and American Red Cross; the venture hopes to raise around $12 million for both states. CBB's Mike Grady said in a statement, “We have all been heartbroken by the devastation we've seen in many of the areas in which we operate. While so far we've been fortunate with only a handful of brokers and employees reporting displacement or other impacts, we are aware of the challenges in several of our communities and wanted to do something to help.”