Nov 23, 2021

Vacasa

Messing

Vacasa, a vacation rental management platform headquartered in Portland, announced that Barbara Messing is expected to join the company's board as an independent director upon the successful completion of its business combination with TPG Pace Solutions, a special purpose acquisition company. Messing currently serves as the chief marketing & people experience officer at Roblox and as a board member of Overstock, where she's helped guide both tech-enabled platforms through various stages of growth. Formerly, she was SVP & chief marketing officer at Walmart U.S. and SVP & chief marketing officer at Tripadvisor. In Summer 2021, Vacasa entered into an agreement to become a publicly traded company through a business combination with TPG Pace Solutions. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

Knack

Knack, a custom gifting firm, has raised $3.5M in Series A equity investment to support the company's growth in the personal and corporate gifting space. The latest fundraising round was led by Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners. As part of the equity investment agreement, Second Avenue's partner and co-founder, Nick Hanauer will join the Knack board of directors. Founded in Seattle by Laura Jennings in 2015, Knack is a gift-giving e-commerce platform for personal, professional, and corporate gifting. For corporate customers, Knack also helps create gifts and programs that help with client appreciation and employee engagement. Each gift is delivered to the recipient's door, and includes a custom-printed card and optional video message personalized for the recipient. The Second Avenue equity investment closely follows a $6.5M senior debt package from Stonegate Capital which closed in July. Second Avenue Partners provides management, strategy, and capital for early stage companies in the Greater Puget Sound area.

Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a global organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, announced that its Security Trust Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry, a publicly accessible listing which documents the security and privacy controls provided by popular cloud computing offerings, has reached another significant milestone wherein 1,500 cloud services have been evaluated according to the principles of CSA's STAR Program and the requirements of the Cloud Control Matrix. STAR encompasses the key principles of transparency, rigorous auditing, and harmonization of standards outlined in the Cloud Controls Matrix. Publishing to the registry allows organizations to show current and potential customers their security and compliance posture, including the regulations, standards, and frameworks they adhere to. The Cloud Security Alliance has offices in Seattle, Bellingham and around the world.

GLY Construction

Tonkin

Hoffmann

In Bellevue, GLY Construction promoted Steve Hoffmann to president and Tyler Tonkin to executive vice president of operations. Hoffmann succeeds Ted Herb, who continues as CEO. Hoffmann joined GLY in 1996 as a project engineer, rising to senior project manager before becoming a shareholder in 2008, and executive vice president of operations in 2016. He is a graduate of the University of Washington, where he was captain of the football team. Tonkin graduated from Central Washington University before joining GLY in 1998. He became a shareholder in 2010. GLY also announced its executive committee includes COO Mark Kane, CFO Joe Bonacci and Executive Vice President Bill DeJarlais.

Deacon Construction

Koslowsky

Don Koslowsky is the new operations manager in Deacon Construction's Seattle office. Koslowsky has been in the construction industry for over 30 years, and is a graduate of Colorado State University. In addition to operations management, he has been a senior project manager and chief estimator, with expertise in preconstruction and project scheduling. Deacon also has offices in Portland and the California cities of Sacramento and Pleasanton.

Ascendent Demolition

Puyallup-based Ascendent Demolition hired Deanna Peters as business development officer and project manager, and Kevin Campbell as estimator and project manager. Peters began her career as a real estate agent in the early 1990s, then joined Rhine Demolition in 1993, where she stayed for 28 years. At Rhine, she was corporate safety manager, project coordinator, dispatcher, project manager and vice president. Campbell started in the demolition abatement industry in 1997 and has worked on projects in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California and Colorado. He worked his way up from laborer to field supervisor, and has been estimating demolition and abatement projects for eight years.

ABC of Western Washington

Two companies joined the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington: Intuitive Safety Solutions of Edmonds and National Traffic Safety Institute of Issaquah. Intuitive Safety Solutions is a health and safety consultant. National Traffic Safety Institute provides customizable behavior-based driver safety training.

Nov 19, 2021

Sustainable Seattle

Piro

Garcia

Sustainable Seattle (S2) named Dr. Natalie Garcia as its new co-director, joining former executive director and now co-director Em Piro at the helm of the sustainability nonprofit, now in its 30th year. Piro joined the organization in 2018, succeeding local environmentalist BJ Cummings. In her three years as executive director, Piro built upon S2's legacy of community-centered sustainability initiatives. Programmatic shifts included the introduction of Interweave, S2's community-led sustainability accelerator program. Garcia is a former organizer of Black Star Farmers, one of the first members of Interweave. Of the over $1.2 million in grant funding that S2 worked with Interweave organizers to secure for local environmental initiatives, nearly half were authored by Garcia. Garcia also helped lead COVID-19 equity forums focused on food access and vaccine education. Over the past year, Garcia has focused on food sovereignty for BIPOC communities by partnering with the Indigenous women-led Na'ah Illahee Fund (NIF), an organization dedicated to the ongoing regeneration of Indigenous communities. Sustainable Seattle has assembled community members from a range of backgrounds, experiences, and sectors to align, amplify, and activate a more sustainable Seattle.

Data I/O

Redmond-based Data I/O, a global provider of advanced security and data deployment solutions for microcontrollers, security ICs and memory devices, announced that it received a 2021 GLOBAL Technology Award in the category of Programming for its SentriX Product Creator tool suite. The award was presented during a ceremony that took place Tuesday at the Productronica trade show in Munich, Germany. The GLOBAL Technology Awards have recognized the best new innovations in the printed circuit assembly and packaging industries since 2005. SentriX secures the global electronics supply chain and protects IoT device intellectual property from point of inception to deployment in the field.

City of Tacoma

Nominations for the city of Tacoma's City of Destiny Awards, which has been honoring local volunteers for the past 36 years, are due on Feb. 7, 2022. “The City of Destiny Awards Ceremony provides a place to recognize those who create vibrancy in our community and make the City of Destiny what it is,” said city Events and Recognitions Committee Chair Jessica Johnston. The CERC spends months planning and producing the City of Destiny Awards event. The committee is comprised of volunteers. For more information, visit http://www.cityoftacoma.org/CityofDestiny.

Tarragon

Steed

Krzyzanowski

Goodgion

Comery

Carter

Tarragon has promoted Katelin Carter to director of marketing, Keith Comery to site operations manager, Jim Goodgion to director of land management, Andrew Krzyzanowski to construction manager, and Mark Steed to site operations manager.

Katelin joined Tarragon in 2020 as marketing manager. She also serves on the ULI Young Leaders Board.

Since starting at Tarragon in May of 2018, Keith is currently working on Tarragon’s latest multi-family project in Bremerton.

Jim brings over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry and manages over 30 pre-development properties for Tarragon. Andrew most recently was a key contributor to the completion of Glacier Run Apartments in Puyallup.

Mark has been with Tarragon since 2014 and has been a key contributor to several projects from ground-breaking through occupancy.

Tarragon was founded in 1995 and is recognized as one of the Puget Sound’s most active and influential real estate developers. Tarragon develops Class A industrial, retail, office, and multi-family projects throughout Washington State. Tarragon’s projects are known for their quality construction and community focus.