Jul 16, 2024

BERK Consulting

Gifford

BERK Consulting announced that Kevin Gifford has been promoted to associate principal. Gifford joined BERK in 2013 and has 18 years of experience as a land use planner and geospatial analyst. As leader of the firm's GIS team, he oversees internal training and professional development, manages internal analytical tools and resources, and also leads spatial analysis and data visualization projects for our clients. While working at BERK, Gifford completed his Master of Information and Data Science from the University of California, Berkeley and holds a Master of Urban Planning from Texas A&M

Electronic Business Machines

Dayao

Dave Schlosser, COO of Electronic Business Machines, announced the promotion of Dino Dayao to the position of purchasing manager. Dayao has been with Electronic Business Machines since 2019 and started at a warehouse logistics position. Electronic Business Machines is a local, independent office technology and software solutions provider servicing businesses for 38 years throughout the Greater Puget Sound region.

Jul 12, 2024

King County Library System

Gallagher

The King County Library System (KCLS) named Chase Gallagher as the new communications and marketing director. Gallagher reports to KCLS Executive Director Heidi Daniel. Gallagher brings more than 15 years of strategic communications experience across the public and private sectors. He most recently served as the communications director for King County, the largest local government in Washington state, where he led communications efforts on public health, chronic homelessness and policy initiatives for King County Executive Dow Constantine.

Previous roles include working in executive communications at Alaska Airlines, as the media manager for Gov. Jay Inslee and as a communications manager at the Department of Ecology. He also works with the White House on presidential events. Gallagher holds a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Washington. Founded in 1942, the King County Library System supports the communities of King County (outside the city of Seattle), has 50 libraries and serves approximately 1.6 million people.

Orca Security

Portland-based Orca Security appointed John Tavares as senior vice president of worldwide partner and alliances sales. In this role, Tavares will be responsible for advancing Orca Security's 100% channel-led go-to-market strategy. Key priorities include evaluating partner enablement opportunities, evolving the channel program to be even more beneficial and profitable for partners, and scaling the company's market ecosystem. Tavares joins Orca Security from Zscaler where he was instrumental in revamping strategy for increased partner profitability. Prior to Zscaler, Tavares implemented a new global partner-first strategy at Commvault with a key focus on the company's SaaS transformation business, Metallic. He also played a prominent role in building Dell Technologies' partner-first IT Transformation business.

Jul 11, 2024

Night of the Stars reminder

Photo by Cleary O’Farrell [enlarge]

Washington Park

NAIOP would like to remind you that July 19 is the nomination deadline for its annual Night of the Stars awards gala. That means submitting your best work (or workers), entirely or substantially completed during this calendar year. Categories include industrial brokers, high-rise residential towers, office interiors, developer of the year, apartment buildings of all sizes and historic renovation. For the latter, one likely contestant should be Washington Park (pictured), the waterfront office renovation/addition project from Unico Properties, Pinnacle Partners, Lake Union Partners, architect BuildingWork and W.G. Clark Construction. The event itself will take place on Friday, Nov. 1, at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue. For submission guidelines and other info: naiop-wa.

CBRE

Louie

Just before the recent holiday weekend, CBRE announced its hiring of veteran multifamily broker Jordan Louie, who joins the firm as senior VP. He makes the move from JLL. CBRE's John R. Miller said in a statement, “Jordan's expertise and relationships in the mid-market sector will complement our team of multifamily experts in the Pacific Northwest, and enable clients to leverage CBRE's unparalleled global platform.”

CBRE

Huynh

CBRE announced this week that Vicki Huynh has joined its debt and structured finance group. She has two decades worth of experience in commercial mortgage banking, most recently with EverBank. She said in a statement, “CBRE is highly regarded in the commercial real estate industry, and I'm excited to join such a respected firm that offers unparalleled expertise. The incredible resources at CBRE will equip me to give my clients an edge in the market, provide deeper market insights and collaborate with a global network of amazing people.”

Colliers

Ober

Chaney

Two brokers recently moved from Kidder Matthews to Colliers, the latter firm announced this week. With a deep history in the office, Jeff Chaney and Seamus Ober will join the Bellevue office, as executive VP and senior associate, respectively. Chaney said in a statement, “We're very excited and grateful for the opportunity to join the Colliers team. We look forward to leveraging their global platform to grow our business, and to continue providing best-in-class service offerings to property occupiers, owners and investors.” Colliers' Scott Blankenship said of the new duo, “We are thrilled to welcome Jeff and Seamus to our growing team.”

Avatar announces two SoCal hires

Avatar Financial Group is based here in Seattle, and has offices in cities including Los Angeles. There, Alex Cruz and George War will join the firm, as it recently announced. Both the two industry veterans will continue their work in loan origination. Avatar president T.R. Hazelrigg IV said in a statement, “Both have leveraged their business development skills to become top producers in the commercial mortgage lending industry. With reputations for being deal closers, I'm looking forward to seeing Alex and George put their skills and resources to work.” Avatar specializes in private bridge loans, generally in the $1 million to $35 million range. Over the past two decades, it has provided or sourced over $1 billion in bridge loan funding.

Port of Everett

Liard

The Port of Everett has hired Monique Liard as its new chief administrative & financial officer. This role manages the port's $83 million operating and capital budget, while also overseeing all financial, risk management, purchasing, and information technology functions of the port. Liard will also advance port priorities across all business lines and direct staff implementation of services, policies, procedures and programs. She will also serve as the Port Commission-appointed auditor and treasurer. Liard brings 18 years of experience as a chief financial officer. Prior to joining the port, she served as the CFO for the Spokane Transit Authority. She also held the CFO role for NxEdge, Shape Technologies Group, Caterpillar's Energy Solutions Group, as well as a consulting CFO for CFO Selections. Throughout her tenure, Liard has overseen local and global teams. Liard earned her bachelor's degree in business administration with concentrations in finance and accounting from the University of Wisconsin. She is a certified public accountant in Washington state. Liard replaces the port's former CFO Eric Russell, who retired in March. Other recent Port leadership hires tied to retirements and transitions include Cassidy Follins, the port's new grants compliance manager and Barb Hackmann, the port's new human resources manager. Follins ensures the port's compliance with grant and loan requirements and reviews construction-in-progress for various projects. Before joining the port, Follins worked for the Seattle-based National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem Association for Children, and the Pacific Science Center. Hackmann develops and administers the port's human resources and employee benefits programs to recruit, hire and retain employees. She previously worked at the Seattle Mariners and the Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.

Qumulo

Seattle-based data storage company Qumulo appointed Douglas Gourlay as president and chief executive officer. Gourlay will also join Qumulo's Board of Directors. A 25-year industry veteran, Gourlay previously served as vice president and general manager of software at Arista Networks. Joining Arista in 2009, Gourlay held various executive leadership roles across product, systems engineering, marketing, and sales. Prior to Arista, he held executive leadership positions at Cisco Systems, where he developed several multi-billion-dollar product lines. Earlier in his career, Gourlay served as an infantry officer in the United States Army. Gourlay has filed or holds over 70 patents in systems and networking technologies. Gourlay replaces retiring CEO Bill Richter, who will transition to the role of board and executive advisor.