Mar 07, 2024

Emerald Communities

Okezie

Emerald Communities, a not-for-profit senior housing organization serving Emerald Heights in Redmond and Heron's Key in Gig Harbor, appointed Uche Okezie as its newest board member. In her role on the board, Okezie will serve Emerald Communities, Emerald Heights and Heron's Key for a three-year term. She will also attend seven board of directors' meetings annually, serve on one or more board committees and task forces, and collaborate for the good of the three organizations. Okezie has nearly two decades of project and relationship management experience in multifamily housing, government and not-for-profit organizations. She has worked in the not-for-profit sector both as an employee and as a board member. Okezie earned a master's degree in urban planning from the University of Washington and a bachelor's degree in urban planning from the University of New Orleans. She also has earned certifications in life coaching, coach training alliance, and construction management.

Muckleshoot Casino Resort

Perkins

Muckleshoot Casino Resort, a casino, hotel, and resort destination in Auburn, appointed Tim Perkins as chief executive officer. Muckleshoot Casino Resort recently opened a hotel tower with over 400 guestrooms, an expanded casino floor, and rooftop steakhouse, Smoke & Cedar. The resort will soon open an indoor pool and spa. Prior to joining the Muckleshoot team, he served as vice president and chief operating officer at Laguna Development Corporation. Additionally, he was the general manager at Route 66 Casino Hotel and executive director of operations at Gila River Casino. Prior to his career in the private sector, Perkins served in the United States Air Force for over two decades. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe is composed of descendants of the Native people who inhabited the Duwamish and Upper Puyallup watersheds of central Puget Sound.

Wellpoint Washington

Bogard

Wellpoint Washington, a coordinator of Medicaid managed healthcare benefits in Washington and wholly owned subsidiary of Elevance Health, named Lisa Bogard as the health plan's new president. In her new role, Bogard assumes responsibility for all aspects of Wellpoint's health plan operations in Washington. She will also lead efforts to strengthen relationships in the community with state leaders, providers, and other key stakeholders. Bogard has more than 25 years of healthcare experience and executive leadership, including 17 years with Elevance Health. Most recently, Bogard was Medicaid Plan president for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Nevada. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Southern New Hampshire University.

Totem Lake confidential!

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Perhaps because of its freeway-side location, The Village at Totem Lake doesn't quite get the same appreciation as Bellevue Square or University Village. But NAIOP Washington State wants you to celebrate the 26-acre mixed-use development via a tour scheduled for April 4. It's worth remembering that, when CenterCal Properties began planning a complete makeover of the old Totem Lake Mall (circa 2015), the notion of adding many apartments over new retail was entirely unproven on the car-centric Eastside. Today, it looks like a very smart and successful bet. Stops on the tour will include some of the retail (including Barnes & Noble, Serious Pie, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Nordstrom Rack, the Cinemark cinemas, etc.) and the three apartment buildings with their 852 units. Representatives from CenterCal, Pacific Coast Capital, Trinsic Residential Group and Fairfield Residential should be on hand. Details and registration: naiopwa.org.

Marcus & Millichap

Jackson

Marcus & Millichap recently announced the hiring of Tiana Jackson, who'll become a director of capital markets. She makes the move from Luther Burbank Savings, where she specialized in real estate lending. In her new post, she'll be working with Ray Allen and John Manning. The latter said in a statement, “She is widely recognized for her strong relationships with a variety of lenders and creative financing solutions, which will help ensure our clients are always getting the most competitive terms available in the market. She will be tremendous addition to the team.”

Yes, even more pickleball

Casey and John Hylton

The sport was invented locally, on Bainbridge Island in 1965, but it wasn't until the pandemic that pickleball really took off. There are currently about a half dozen pickleball plans and proposals in the greater Seattle-Bellevue area. Adding to the pickle pile-up is Pickleball Kingdom, founded in Arizona by Ace Rodrigues. The company has been adding locations on a franchise basis, and recently announced plans to expand in our state via a partnership with local entrepreneurs John Hylton and Casey Hylton. Two new clubs are planned, but locations aren't specified — meaning two possible lease deals are in the works, with new construction to follow. John Hylton said in a statement, “The dedicated indoor clubs we will build will be a true gathering space for our communities to play, to have fun and to compete! We want Washington to be on the forefront of pickleball! After all, the sport was born here.” Pickleball Kingdom now has about 13 locations ranging from Texas to Georgia to New Jersey.

Mar 06, 2024

Dorsey & Whitney

Watkins

Elijah Watkins has joined Dorsey & Whitney as a partner in the Commercial Litigation group in Boise. Watkins concentrates his practice on complex business litigation in both state and federal courts. He represents companies in consumer and unlawful trade practices actions, intellectual property disputes, products liability matters, commercial contract disputes, and real property issues. Watkins was previously a partner at Stoel Rives. He received his J.D. from the University of Illinois School of Law and his B.S. from Brigham Young University-Idaho. His arrival continues the growth of Dorsey's Boise office since it opened in 2023, bringing the attorney count in this office up to nine. This includes the growth of its Intellectual Property group with partners Dana Herberholz and Jordan Stott. Dorsey has locations across the United States and in Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

Ogden Murphy Wallace

Ogden Murphy Wallace's Seattle offices are set to move to the Columbia Center in downtown Seattle on March 25, 2024. The firm's new address will be 701 Fifth Ave., Suite 5600, Seattle, WA 98104-7045. The firm's contact information, including phone numbers and email addresses, will remain unchanged. The new space is designed to support hybrid work models, blending the advantages of face-to-face interaction with the flexibility of remote work. Ogden Murphy will occupy the 56th floor and a portion of the 58th floor of the Columbia Center, accommodating approximately 90 attorneys and staff. Contributors to the new offices include: contractor, JE Cumming; design by Burgess Design; furniture by Catalyst Workplace Activation; and The Urban Renaissance Group. Ogden Murphy has been providing services for over 100 years and is a multi-specialty firm providing legal services to businesses, municipal entities, and individuals in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The firm also has offices in Bellevue and Wenatchee.

Syncro

Syncro, a B2B SaaS company serving the managed services provider software market, appointed Dee Zepf as chief product officer. In this position, Zepf will spearhead Syncro's product strategy and development initiatives. With over 20 years as a technology executive, Zepf has experience in product management, specifically within the MSP market. Prior to joining Syncro, Zepf served as vice president of product and partner success at Continuum, vice president of product at Sense, and senior vice president of product at Hydrow. Earlier in her career, Zepf served as senior director of product management at Care.com, IBM, and Bowstreet where she led product management for high growth product lines. Michael George was recently announced as Syncro's CEO. Syncro is headquartered in Seattle.

Magnusson Klemencic Associates

Rogers

Peyroux

Aswegan

Berahman

Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA) has promoted four employees to senior principal and principal positions.

Farshad Berahman, the firm's international projects market leader, is now a senior principal and joins MKA's Board of Directors.

Berahman has 25 years of design and structural engineering experience. His work includes complex projects in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, addressing extreme wind and seismic activity in tall towers.

Highlights of his project experience include the Marina One Office Towers in Singapore; NEMA, a residential super-high-rise tower in Chicago, Illinois; the Makkah Jabal Al Kaaba Hotel in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; and Observatory Phase 1, a 2.6-million-square-foot development featuring three residential towers in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Kevin Aswegan has been promoted to principal. Aswegan is a co-author of the book Design and Performance of Tall Buildings for Wind and an industry expert on topics related to performance-based design. His current efforts include the ATX Tower (321 West Sixth St.) in Austin, Texas, for which he is the structural engineering project manager. The design implements the world's first use of the Performance-Based Wind Design methodology.

Juliette Peyroux has also been promoted to principal. Peyroux is a project manager within MKA's Aviation Group and is a seismic design specialist. Her current efforts include being the structural engineering project manager for San Diego's new 30-gate Terminal 1 expansion.

Greg Rogers is another new principal. Rogers is a design specialist managing MKA's Life Science / R&D engineering work. His recent projects include the Gateway of Pacific development in San Francisco. He focuses on vibration control, analysis, and real-world behavior and has applied this knowledge to enhance MKA's Life Science facilities nationwide.

Milbrandt

Mauldin

Milbrandt Architects' Heather Mauldin has passed her final Architect Registration Examination and is now a licensed architect in the state of Washington.

A graduate of Harvard College in 2014, Mauldin further honed her skills by completing two years of a Master of Architecture program at Cornell College of Architecture. She joined Milbrandt Architects in June 2018.

Mauldin specializes in the design of multi-unit residential developments.

Runberg Architecture Group

Parke

Yu

Burgdorf

Seattle-based Runberg Architecture Group celebrated its 25th anniversary year with the promotions of three staff members. Charla Burgdorf has been promoted to associate, Jessica Yu advanced to senior associate, and Ana Parke has joined the leadership team as a new principal.

Burgdorf joined Runberg in 2021 after working as a project architect on educational, historic preservation, and multifamily housing projects throughout the Puget Sound region. Since joining the firm, Burgdord has led the design and project management of an affordable housing project in Angle Lake for Mercy Housing and acted as senior project architect on Candela Apartments, a 400+ unit mixed-use transit-oriented development in Mountlake Terrace.

Yu began working at Runberg in 2011 as a student intern and is now a project manager. Over the last several years Yu has spent much of her time working on master development projects on the eastside of Lake Washington. Yu currently leads the 12th Ave. Place project for Gables Residential, a 275-unit transit-orientated project near Sound Transit's Spring District Station that anticipates starting construction later this year. She is an alumnus of the ULI Center for Leadership, holds a certificate in Commercial Real Estate, and is a frequent guest reviewer at the University of Washington's College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

Parke has 17 years of experience, 14 of those years being at Runberg Architecture Group, first as an intern while studying at the University of Washington in 2008, then again as a fulltime employee back in 2012. Parke has focused on mixed-use and multi-family housing design for over a decade. Currently, she serves as the senior project architect for Grand Street Commons, a 771-unit mixed-use/mixed-income community in Rainier Valley, leading project administration during its final construction year. Parke has also contributed to several other large mixed-use buildings in central Seattle, including Jackson Apartments at 23rd and Jackson and both Batik and Cypress in Yesler Terrace. Parke has led training for AIA Seattle's Code Committee, and she currently participates on the city of Bellevue's Development Committee to help with permit review and entitlement processes.