Mar 14, 2023

Skanska

Marsh

Curtiss

Urban

Robinson

Global construction and development firm Skanska promoted four in its Seattle office: Rob Robinson to senior vice president/account manager; Brian Urban to vice president/account manager for the Seattle region; and Dan Curtiss and Eric Marsh to vice presidents/project executives. Robinson joined Skanska 26 years ago and is a member of the senior leadership team, overseeing the K-12 market sector, many projects with the University of Washington, and work for Snoqualmie Casino. He also directs the collaborative work on projects in the Commercial Development group, including The Eight in Bellevue. His expanded role includes other higher-education projects for Washington State University and Seattle University. Urban continues to lead the K-12 market sector while expanding his role within the health care and corporate commercial sectors. He joined Skanska over 22 years ago, and was promoted to senior project manager in 2013 and project executive in 2016. Curtiss has been with Skanska for 27 years, delivering projects for large technology companies and the UW, as well as across the K-12 market. Most recently, he led a large team on the construction of a mega-project for a technology client. Marsh joined Skanska in 2013, and has helped grow business with big clients such as WSU and Seattle University. His expertise spans the life sciences, higher education, corporate commercial, high-rise, federal and aviation industries.

ProbablyMonsters

Subotnick

Poon

House

Jolley

Marko

Bellevue-based ProbablyMonsters, an independent AAA video game company, expanded its leadership team with the recent addition of five experienced industry executives. The new leaders include: Anne Marko, vice president of global marketing; Jennifer Jolley, general counsel; Brandi House, general manager; Ryh-Ming Poon, head of global communications; and Mark Subotnick, vice president of partner alliances. Marko is a former Warner Bros. Games executive with over 20 years of experience spanning marketing, publishing, sales operations and digital storefronts. She has managed franchises and partners such as Lego, DC, Mortal Kombat, and CD Projekt Red in various roles. Jolley has 25 years of experience working with technology companies and entertainment properties. Most recently, she was associate general counsel at Aristocrat Digital, where she served as the chief intellectual property advisor to the company’s digital games businesses, Big Fish Games and Product Madness. House is a veteran of Bungie, Oculus and Unity, and will oversee the incubation team at ProbablyMonsters. Poon is an industry veteran known for roles at Activision, GameFly and Jam City, and has over 25 years of experience in global communications, public relations and marketing. She was included in GameIndustry.biz’s 100 Game Changers list in 2020 for her dedication to diversity, equity and inclusion. Subotnick held key roles at Intel, Microsoft and Sega. He has worked in nearly every category of gaming and entertainment, from production to business development, QA and marketing. Founded in 2016, ProbablyMonsters has over 460 employees and continues to focus on growth, having closed a preferred Series A funding round of $250 million in January 2022.

Mar 10, 2023

Summit Bank

Craig Wanichek, president and chief executive officer of Summit Bank announced that the Oregon-based business bank acquired a new bank building in Redmond, Oregon. The building is located at 538 SW Highland Avenue in downtown Redmond. The city has a diverse economy, including industries such as technology, manufacturing, and healthcare. This acquisition is part of the bank's ongoing efforts to expand its presence in the Central Oregon Region. The new bank building is expected to open in the Fall of 2023, following a brief period of renovation and remodeling. Summit offices in Eugene, Central Oregon, and downtown Portland.

Fluke Corporation

Everett-based Fluke Corporation is celebrating its 75th anniversary. In 1948, the John Fluke Engineering Company was founded in a basement workshop in Springfield, Connecticut. A U.S. Navy World War II veteran and graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, John Fluke pioneered a highly accurate benchtop power meter which was first sold to General Electric. Today, the Fluke Corporation is a leading producer of compact, professional electronic test tools and software for measuring and condition monitoring. Fluke customers are technicians, engineers, electricians and maintenance managers who install, troubleshoot, and maintain industrial, electrical, and electronic equipment and calibration processes.

Mar 09, 2023

Alaska expands presence in Renton

[enlarge]

The Longacres Campus is what owner Unico calls its 158-acre former Boeing campus in Renton. The south building is being glamorously transformed into the Sounders FC Center, with new soccer fields and various amenities. (That should open next year.) The larger, humbler north building, closest to Interstate 405, had counted Alaska Airlines as one of its tenants, with 38,000 square feet. Now Unico says that Alaska has upped its presence to 107,000 square feet, and signed a new 20-year lease. Its broker was JLL, whose Kris Richey Curtis said in a statement, “This project could not have been a better fit for Alaska's specialized use and continued commitment to flight safety.” Alaska will use the space both for offices and flight simulation equipment. Of the entire 962,800-square-foot campus, Unico's Liz Thorson said, “While much of the Puget Sound Region's leasing activity has slowed, Renton has been a bright spot. We're seeing a lot of momentum for this state-of-the-art campus, and for the Renton market.”

New retail tenants at Kirkland Urban

[enlarge]

Google owns and occupies most of Kirkland Urban, with two office buildings completed, one nearing the finish line and a fourth on the drawing board. The north and central buildings are now home to a dozen-odd retail and commercial tenants. Now adding to their number are Citrus in June and Rare Tea. The latter's Veary Heng said in a statement, “My family loves spending time at Kirkland Urban. It's truly an all-inclusive location, and Rare Tea is thrilled to be joining such a unique mix of retailers.” Citrus in June, offering flowers and gifts, actually opened in December. It's a sister operation to Columbia City Bouquet and SLU Bouquet, also run by Emily Kopca.

Tanium

Kirkland-based Tanium, a provider of converged endpoint management (XEM), announced that it has been selected as a winner in three categories in the 2023 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards honor individuals and companies that demonstrate excellence, innovation, and leadership in information security. This year, Tanium was recognized as a gold winner for Best Cybersecurity Company and Most Innovative Cybersecurity Company in North America. The Tanium XEM platform was also selected as a silver winner for Best Endpoint Security. Tanium has been named to the Forbes Cloud 100 list for seven consecutive years and ranks on Fortune's list of the Best Large Workplaces in Technology.

Aiberry

Artificial intelligence-powered mental health screening provider Aiberry has secured $8 million in seed funding led by Confluence Capital Group (CCG) with participation from the VC fund Ascension AI. The new funds, which bring total funding to $10 million, will be used to accelerate adoption of the Aiberry platform, which uses an AI-powered therapeutic assistant to conduct a conversation to detect mental health disorders by analyzing what is being said, the speech patterns being used and even subtle changes in facial expressions. Aiberry is based on decades of research by Dr. Newton Howard, a brain and cognitive scientist and a professor at Georgetown University and Oxford University, who is also a co-founder and the chief scientist at Aiberry. Aiberry is headquartered in Seattle.