Oct 11, 2023

Orca Security

Portland-based Orca Security, a provider of agentless cloud security, appointed two new executives to its leadership team. Oded Edri joins the company as chief financial officer, effective Nov. 1, 2023. In addition, the company promoted Arie Teter to chief product officer to succeed co-founder Gil Geron in the role following his appointment to CEO earlier this year. Edri brings more than 15 years of experience in executive leadership, financial management, human resources management, and operations. Prior to joining Orca Security, he was chief accounting officer at Payoneer, a global financial technology company, where he was instrumental in leading the company through its initial public offering. Prior to Payoneer, Edri was CFO at MakerBot. His career also spans senior financial and operations leadership experience at Stratasys and PwC. Prior to his promotion to chief product officer, Teter held the role of vice president of research and development for more than three years. Prior to Orca, Teter led engineering teams at Symantec and Check Point, after starting his career at Intel and Cisco. In his new role, Arie will be responsible for defining and executing the product roadmap that is closely linked to Orca’s customer needs and strategic objectives, while fostering alignment across teams and ensuring that product development remains closely aligned with the company’s overall mission.

Architects West

Lewis

Jacob Lewis has joined the team at Architects West as an intern architect. Lewis earned both his Bachelor's and Master of Architecture degrees from Washington State University. Current projects he is working on include the Inchelium School Modernization, Atlas Housing design, Salish & Kootenai Housing Authority designs, and the Silverwood Waterpark Expansion.

Cushing Terrell

Calla

Multidisciplinary design firm, Cushing Terrell, has promoted Tom Calla to the role of healthcare design director for the firm's healthcare group. Calla joins Tim Miller and Karl DeCock on the leadership team and will partner with DeCock to set the overall strategy and direction of the group with the goals of ensuring successful business pursuits; integrated, expert project teams; and superior client service.

Calla has 30 years of experience leading healthcare projects from conceptual design to final construction. Most recently, he served as director of the firm's architecture service sector and continues to serve as quality control manager for many of Cushing Terrell's large, complex healthcare projects.

He has been part of the firm's healthcare group for more than 20 years, serving as the lead architect on projects for BVA Healthcare, Humboldt General Hospital, and Saint Alphonsus, among many others. His experience ranges from hospital replacement projects and facility master planning to clinic remodels and everything in between.

DCI Engineers

Sibley

McCoy

Collins

Matkin

Klepin

Fox

McGrath

DCI Engineers announced the promotions of the following staff to associates and associate principals.

Mary Klepin, has been promoted to associate in the San Diego office. Klepin joined DCI nearly 10 years ago in 2014, immediately after she graduated from the University of California, San Diego with her Masters in structural engineering. At DCI, she has designed high-rise structures throughout southwest California with an emphasis on concrete design.

Stephen Matkin has been promoted to associate in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho office. After joining DCI in 2013, Matkin has worked on a variety of projects in the inland Northwest, including but not limited to commercial sites, healthcare, PK-12 schools and sports stadiums.

Chelsea Collins has been promoted to associate in DCI's Wilmington office. Collins has 20 years of valuable technical experience and communication skills. She carries a B.S. from the University of Virginia and a Master's in Structural Engineering from the University of California – Berkley. Her projects range in size from repairs and designing new elements for pre-existing structures to designing multi-story residential, commercial and educational projects.

Jordyn McCoy has been promoted to associate in the Seattle office. As the corporate marketing manager, McCoy has been integral in developing DCI's qualifications branding and managing the company's social media profiles. She has also spearheaded marketing initiatives for several DCI markets and works closely with the firm's Business Development and Communications teams. Since joining the firm in 2018, she has accelerated DCI's role as a thought leader through innovative story-telling and the introduction of new technologies used by her team and throughout the company.

Melissa Sibley has been promoted to associate principal in the Houston office. Sibley manages and leads DCI's Houston office and guides her team of engineers on a range of projects, including multi-family residential, affordable housing projects, healthcare, K-12 schools, mixed-use, and high-rises in the community and across the country.

Connor McGrath has been promoted to associate principal in the Wilmington office. McGrath attended the University of Delaware where he graduated in 2012 with a degree in structural engineering. He has been with the company for 10 years and in that time has designed projects of every size, market and material.

Sam Fox has been promoted to associate principal in the Bozeman, Montana office. Fox started at DCI in 2008 as an intern. Since then she has contributed to a variety of projects, specializing in the assessment and renovation of existing and historic structures, as well as heavy timber and log design. She is part of the Yellowstone National Park team and works to help restore the park's historic structures. Fox also provides full-service project management and construction support for a diverse range of other project types, such as single-family residences, K-12 and higher education buildings and adaptive reuse projects.

Weber Thompson

Meyer

Seattle-based architecture, interior design and landscape architecture firm, Weber Thompson, has promoted landscape architecture principal Rachael Meyer to director of sustainability.

In addition to her landscape architecture projects, Meyer will oversee the firm's sustainability initiatives with a focus on health and wellness, carbon reduction and stormwater management.

Meyer joined Weber Thompson in 2016 as the firm's landscape architecture principal. She has a background in the integrated design of highly sustainable urban developments. Meyer is the designer of Phase Two and Three of the award-winning Aurora Bioswales. She is also the designer of the public open space and green infrastructure at Northlake Commons.

In addition to her project work, Meyer is an accomplished speaker and author. She is the current co-chair of AIA Seattle's Honor Award Committee, and has served on boards for NAIOPWA, the UW Landscape Professional Advisory Committee, Architects without Borders and the Washington Association of Landscape Architects Executive Board.

Oct 10, 2023

RHD Enterprises

Garman

Beason

Construction industry veteran Kris Beason is the new CEO of RHD Enterprises. Beason assumed the role from RHD founder Rozanne Garman, who remains as president. Beason has over three decades of experience in construction management, holding executive roles at large construction companies that included Skanska and Mortenson. She has delivered complex projects for Fortune 500 companies and technology start-ups.

RHD says Beason will help with its expansion into the private sector, which is seeing increasing demand for diversity in contracting. As CEO, Beason will focus on client relationships, recruiting top talent and organizational effectiveness. Garman will manage the firm's finances, processes and culture, as she's done for the last 18 years.

“When I launched RHD in 2005, my vision was to create an inclusive company, where women and people of color would find a place to grow their careers by building challenging projects,” said Garman in a news release. “Since then, we've become a magnet, attracting highly skilled people who hit a ceiling at other construction firms.”

Tumwater-based RHD is made up of 50% women and 35% people of color. It focuses its work primarily in the Puget Sound region and recently opened an office in Redmond, but its geographical reach includes projects in Arizona, Montana and California. It works for both public agencies and private companies building office interiors, ground-up industrial facilities and complex renovations. RHD also operates a metal fabrication shop.

Power Systems West

Portland-based Power Systems West, a provider of industrial equipment and solutions, has become an authorized equipment dealer for Atlas Copco Power Technique. The deal brings Atlas Copco's equipment and technology to customers across all five of Power Systems West's branches in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions. Atlas Copco's equipment includes towable Tier 4 generators, energy storage systems, pumps and portable compressors. Power Systems West will also provide aftermarket parts and service for these lines.

Harbor Freight Tools

Steven Ratzlaff of Alaska won $50,000 as one of the 25 winners of the 2023 Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence contest sponsored by Harbor Freight Tools. Ratzlaff teaches the building trades at James T. Hutchison High School in Fairbanks. His program at the school will receive $35,000 of the prize, with Ratzlaff pocketing the remainder. California-based Harbor Freight Tools awarded $1.5 million in this year's contest. There were five grand prizes of $100,000 and 20 additional prizes of $50,000. Among the 50 finalists nationwide were local teachers Matthew Duerre of Enumclaw High School and Don Willson of Battle Ground High School. Over 1,000 applications were received this year for the contest, which recognizes outstanding instruction in skilled trades in U.S. public high schools that inspires students to learn a trade.

Sila

Sila, a next-generation battery materials company, announced it has appointed Rosendo Alvarado as the company's plant manager for its first mass scale production facility in Moses Lake. Alvarado, a Moses Lake native with over 30 years of industry experience, transitions from his role as head of operations at Sila.In his new role, Alvarado will oversee all aspects of the plant functions from staffing and commissioning to orchestrating operations and engineering support. He had a 26-year stint at REC Silicon, where he managed the REC Butte facility, and has experience in commissioning new technology, and plant startup operations at the REC Moses Lake facility. The Moses Lake plant is expected to begin production in 2025. As Sila continues to grow its operations in Moses Lake, the company expects to hire 100 to 500 full-time employees and is working with local high schools, vocational training programs, and community colleges to train and recruit talent for this location. Sila was founded in 2011. Major investors include 8VC, Bessemer Venture Partners, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Coatue, In-Q-Tel, Matrix Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, and funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates.

Lattice

Lattice Semiconductor's Lattice Drive solution stack won a 2023 AutoTech Breakthrough Award. Honored in the “Automotive Infotainment Solution of the Year” category, Lattice Drive is designed to accelerate the development of advanced, flexible automotive system designs and applications. The Lattice Drive solution stack provides comprehensive application-specific solutions that combine reference platforms and designs, demos, IP building blocks, and FPGA design tools to accelerate automotive application development and time-to-market. Lattice Semiconductor is based in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Pierce County

The Pierce County Community Navigator team and the city of Lakewood are hosting a free Pierce County Thriving Together Small Business Resource event on Oct. 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the McGavick Conference Center at Clover Park Technical College, 4500 Steilacoom Blvd. S.W. This event will offer small business owners and entrepreneurs the opportunity to connect with Pierce County non-profit organizations, government agencies, and community lenders that offer small business support programs and services. Additional details are available at available at http://www.piercecountywa.gov/8165/Thriving-Together-Event