Dec 20, 2023

PACE Engineers

Welly

ACE Engineers has announced a promotion within the company. Paula Welly is now PACE's business development manager. Her 10 years in the AEC industry have helped her navigate PACE through various business development and marketing projects.

In her new role, Welly will work with PACE's disciplines to develop business development and marketing strategies.

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates

Simon

Kovach

Crase

Wong

Becker

Stanton

Skondre

Stutts

Buhl

Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE) Seattle is recognizing several staff members.

Maggie Becker recently transferred to Seattle from the firm's Austin office. She is involved with investigation, assessment, and rehabilitation of various new and existing structures. Prior to joining WJE, she was a graduate research assistant at the University of Texas at Austin. Her work involved a collaboration between the university and WJE, investigating the bond strength of unreinforced concrete-to-concrete interfaces. She studied various substrate surface roughnesses representative of new precast members and partial depth repair applications.

Rebecca Wong has been recognized for her achievements in historic preservation as a conservator and architectural historian, and is now an American Institute for Conservation Professional Associate and Association for Preservation Technology International Recognized Professional.

Wong is an architectural historian in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Qualifications Standards and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Regis University and a master's in historic preservation from Savannah College of Art & Design. She has been with WJE since 2013.

Wong helps contractors, building owners, and architects preserve and repair existing structures, with an emphasis on materials science, both historic and contemporary. Wong is currently leading WJE's efforts for the Tacoma Municipal Complex exterior refurbishment project for the city of Tacoma.

John Crase and Jonathan Kovach have been promoted to associate principal. Crase has broad-based experience in the construction industry, working on projects involving timber, steel, and concrete on a variety of industrial, commercial, and transportation structures. He focuses on the investigation, evaluation, and repair of structures, and provides clients with practical solutions that balance economics, serviceability, and life cycle. As manager of WJE's Seattle office, he supports a diverse group of engineering, architecture, preservation, and geotechnical professionals.

Kovach is a professional engineer and building enclosure consultant experienced in building enclosure condition assessments, design peer reviews, building enclosure commissioning, field testing, investigations of new and existing structures, repair design, and construction phase services for various building types. Since joining WJE in 2003, he has provided professional services for numerous projects involving a variety of building enclosure systems including brick masonry, stone, terra-cotta, wood, windows, curtain wall, storefronts, skylights, metal wall panels, roofing, and waterproofing.

WJE is also extending its gratitude to the following employees for their industry leadership this year: John Crase, SMPS DEI Committee director; Becky Wong, APT Northwest director; Anita Simon, SeaBEC board member; Jamie Buhl, SMPS DEI Committee member; and ACE Mentors Zachary Stutts and Becky Skondre. The company is also congratulating Andrew Stanton on his election to the board of the IIBEC Puget Sound chapter.

Know Labs

Seattle-based Know Labs, a developer of non-invasive medical diagnostic technology, appointed four new members to its medical and scientific advisory board: Jeff Hitchcock, Karmeen Kulkarni, Dr. Meng Tan and Dr. Satish Garg. They bring extensive experience in clinical diabetes management, including the advancement of new technologies and innovation in medical diagnostics. The board provides guidance to the executive team and board of directors as the company moves from the laboratory to clinical testing and FDA clearance of its non-invasive continuous glucose monitor. Hitchcock is the founder, president and CEO of Children with Diabetes (CWD), an honorary member of the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes, and a recipient of the T1D Exchange 2021 Outstanding Parent Advisor Award. Hitchcock founded CWD in 1995 in response to his then 7-year-old daughter's T1D diagnosis in 1989. CWD provides families and caregivers with guidance through science-based content and practical suggestions from pediatric endocrinologists, certified diabetes educators, nurses, nutritionists, researchers, advocates and fellow parents. Kulkarni is a certified diabetes care and education specialist, board-certified advanced diabetes manager and registered dietitian. Recognized for her clinical expertise and contributions to nutrition and diabetes management, Kulkarni has received numerous national awards from the American Dietetic Association, American Diabetes Association and Abbott Diabetes Care. Tan is currently professor emeritus of internal medicine for the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University of Michigan. Tan graduated with his M.D. from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, and completed his post-doctoral training in diabetes at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard University, and in lipoprotein metabolism at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco. Garg is a professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Adult Clinic of the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Garg has published over 350 original manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, and has been part of several studies that have brought technological breakthroughs to diabetes care.

Protect AI

Protect AI, an artificial intelligence and machine learning security company, has been named to the inaugural edition of the Fortune Cyber 60 List, which recognizes the top 60 cybersecurity companies in the world. Protect AI was selected for helping organizations see, know and manage security risk in ML systems and AI applications, so they can defend against unique AI security vulnerabilities, data breaches and emerging threats. Founded by AI leaders from Amazon and Oracle, Protect AI is funded by Acrew Capital, boldstart ventures, Evolution Equity Partners, Knollwood Capital, Pelion Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. The company is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Dallas and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Dec 19, 2023

Snom Americas

Snom Americas, a provider of professional and enterprise VoIP solutions, appointed Vincent Gianfrancesco as its new channel account manager for cloud service providers/MSPs. Snom says Gianfrancesco is a seasoned channel management and business development professional, with experience in sales pipeline management, account management and technology product marketing. His experience spans various roles, most recently as the alliance partner manager for service providers and strategic partners with Everbridge. He previously served as the strategic alliances manager at Fusion Connect and business development manager at Telin Systems. In his new role, Gianfrancesco will be responsible for developing and nurturing channel partnerships, driving sales strategies, and contributing to the company's overall growth in the Americas. Snom provides telecommunication products, which are sold through a network of partners and are backed by North American-based training and support. Snom Americas is headquartered in Tigard, Oregon. Parent company VTech is headquartered in Hong Kong.

Adams County Superior Court

Gov. Jay Inslee appointed K. Peter Palubicki to the Adams County Superior Court. He will replace judge Steve Dixon, who will retire from the bench after Dec. 31. Currently, Palubicki serves as the chief deputy prosecuting attorney for the Adams County Prosecutor's Office, a position he has held since 2017. As chief deputy prosecuting attorney, Palubicki prosecutes the most serious felonies in Adams County. Throughout his career, Palubicki has served communities throughout Washington as a deputy prosecuting attorney, including Stevens and San Juan counties. As the founder of Adams County Law Day in 2018, Palubicki continued his ongoing efforts to encourage young students to take an interest in law and become more informed about their constitutional rights. The program is now an annual multi-day event. Palubicki earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Washington, and his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law.

Idacorp

Idacorp and Idaho Power named Amy Shaw vice president of finance, compliance and risk, effective Jan. 1. Shaw currently serves as the director of investor relations, compliance and risk for Idacorp and Idaho Power. Shaw has been with Idaho Power for 20 years, with much of that time spent in leadership. Her previous roles included senior management positions in compliance, risk and security after starting with the company as an accountant. Shaw holds a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Idaho, and completed the University of Idaho's Energy Executive Course in 2016. Idacorp, Boise-based and formed in 1998, is a holding company comprised of Idaho Power, a regulated electric utility; Idacorp Financial, a holder of affordable housing projects and other real estate investments; and Ida-West Energy, an operator of small hydroelectric generation projects. Idaho Power, also headquartered in Boise, has been a locally operated energy company since 1916.

Schuchart

Rechnitz

General contractor Schuchart appointed Michael Rechnitz as chief operating officer. Rechnitz has extensive expertise in construction management and fostering high-performing teams, with over 20 years in the industry. He has spearheaded many local projects, such as the new Forensic Hospital at Western State Hospital, the UW Medical Center Behavioral Health Teaching Facility, and The Spark digital classroom building at Washington State University. Rechnitz comes from Clark Construction Group. In his new role at Seattle-based Schuchart, he is focusing on enhancing operational efficiency, driving market expansion and nurturing staff development.

Skanska

Chen

General contractor Skanska promoted Seattle-based Mark Chen to national carbon manager, the first role of its kind for the company. During his nearly five years with the company, Chen has advanced Skanska's sustainable construction practices and has worked on a range of projects with high sustainability goals. He has held multiple roles across the sustainability sector including sustainability engineer, senior sustainability engineer and sustainability manager. In these roles, he advanced Skanska's embodied carbon, water and waste reduction efforts, and oversaw green building certification project delivery. In his new role, he will drive carbon reduction solutions across Skanska's offices and jobsites nationally to help the company meet its goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.

Mortenson

Jenkins

In Kirkland, Mortenson promoted Nate Jenkins to director of business development. Jenkins joined the firm in 2005 and has served in a variety of roles since then. The company says his background covers a multitude of market sectors, and he is an established thought leader within hospitality and full volumetric and modular construction. In his new role, Jenkins will continue to maintain and strengthen business relationships, as well as his involvement with outside organizations including NAIOP, where he has been on the community enhancement committee since 2012.

Swinerton Inc.

Swinerton Inc. CEO Eric Foster plans to retire Jan. 11 after over 42 years with the general contractor. Foster joined Swinerton Builders, a subsidiary, in 1982 as a project engineer and worked in various roles before becoming CEO. He helped the company expand with several new brands, including Timberlab, SAK Builders, MDBuilders and Swinerton Energy. He also developed building maintenance provider Facility Solutions and pre-designed parking solutions provider Perq within Swinerton Builders. David Callis will take over as CEO. Callis has been in the construction industry for 30 years, joining Swinerton Builders in 2001 as a senior project manager and rising to executive vice president. He helped expand the company's public-private partnership capabilities. Concord, California-based Swinerton has a local office in Bellevue.

Rider Levett Bucknall

Julian Anderson is retiring at the start of the new year from construction consultant Rider Levett Bucknall. Anderson, the company's North America president based in Phoenix, has written articles in the past for the DJC. He worked for RLB in Australia for 16 years prior to serving in his current role for 32 additional years, playing an integral part in the company's growth. Anderson will be replaced by Paul Brussow, who joined RLB's Sydney office in 1995 as a quantity surveyor and moved to the U.S. two years later. Over that span, Brussow has advised on over $10 billion worth of projects, developing and executing custom construction management programs. Brussow will continue to work from the company's Phoenix headquarters. RLB is also known for its biannual crane count. It operates a local office in Seattle, which currently operates the most tower cranes in the country.