HONORS

Dr. Saul Valencia of Tri-Cities Community Health Care has been selected by Coordinated Care as part of its Physician Summit Award Program. The program recognized those who have demonstrated exemplary performance in routine preventative and well-care services, and establishing a medical home for new enrollees. 

Valencia received a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University, a medical degree from University of Washington and completed his residency in Yakima. 

The Washington Agriculture and Forestry Leadership Program announced Leadership Class 40 members. The program helps emerging leaders in agriculture, forestry and natural resources develop the skills needed to positively impact and enrich lives and communities. Those selected from Benton and Franklin counties include Kevin Corliss, vice president of vineyards with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates in Prosser; Ben Cox, relationship manager/vice president with Washington Trust Bank in Kennewick; Rey Rojas, general manager of Empey Orchards Inc. in Mesa; and Deborah Wieseler, office manager of Flying W Farms Inc. in Mesa.

The Horse Heaven Round Up in Kennewick received the Remuda Award, recognizing it as having the best rodeo stock in the nation among the more than 620 rodeos managed by the Professional Cowboys Association.

Mission Support Alliance received two awards for outstanding performance by the Supply Chain Management Center to recognize its strategic savings performance and leveraging of purchase agreements to keep costs down for the Department of Energy. MSA had the highest total savings percent and savings growth at the group’s biannual meeting with leaders from procurement teams from DOE sites. MSA also was recognized by Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman with an honorable mention as part of the 2016 Corporations for Communities Award.

Tri-Tech Skills Center students won top awards in a regional competition of the Congressional App Challenge, which aims to increase student interest in the STEM fields. The students are enrolled in the school’s video game design program.

Seth Florman, Damon Fuller and Kyler Zimmerman won first place for “Powerhouse,” which has a user play the role of the owner of an energy company to show the challenges of the energy company. Their app will be on display at the U.S. Capitol building, on House.gov and congressionalappchallenge.us.

Evan Fetterolf and Carlos Magana earned second place for “Alone in the Forest” to teach basic survival skills. William Burton and Talia Avery earned third place for “Hive Mind,” where users take on the role as a beekeeper.

Benton Public Utility District received the Certificate of Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting award from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for its 2016 comprehensive annual financial report.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland received seven top 100 awards for innovative scientific projects from R&D Magazine: Active gunshot detector, a battery-powered device that can connect wirelessly to security systems to alert to gunshots in an indoor environment such as schools and public buildings; MARCool, a new class of solid-state cooling technology that operates on waste heat from power sources that could lead to significant energy and cost savings; Friction stir scribe, a tool that allows manufacturers to join materials with drastically different melting points without needing additional adhesives, bolts or rivets without sacrificing strength or durability; IRcell, compact technology that provides greater sensitivity and speed to detecting toxic industrial chemicals, identifying disease indicators or monitoring for possible proliferation of nuclear or chemical weapons; SerialTap, a palm-sized device that can monitor and verify activity to protect critical data from cyberattacks in older industrial control systems; SLIM, Structures for Lossless Ion Manipulations technology that can distinguish and measure different molecules in biological samples; NRAP Toolset, the first complete suite of computer software that models possible environment risks, such as fluid leakage and earthquakes, from potential carbon dioxide storage sites that is generated from burning coal, oil and natural gas.

The American Nuclear Society honored the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Radiochemical Processing Laboratory with the ANS Nuclear Historic Landmark Award. The award is given to recognize the notable research and work in the areas of reactor safety, isotope isolation to cure cancer, environmental cleanup and the advancement of nuclear nonproliferation. It was established more than 30 years ago to commemorate nuclear facilities demonstrating outstanding accomplishments.

Benton Fire District 4 received a clean audit from the Washington State Auditor’s office. It is its sixth year with no findings.

U.S. News & World Report ranked online master’s of business administration and executive MBA programs from Washington State University Carson College of Business as No. 12 out of a field of 267 online MBA programs in the nation. U.S. News & World Report also ranked the Carson College No. 8 for the best online MBA programs for veterans.

The news magazine’s rankings for online graduate MBA programs were determined by student engagement, admissions selectivity, peer reputation, faculty credentials and training and student services and technology.

BOARDS

The Washington Agriculture and Forestry Leadership Program have named the following elected to serve on its board of trustees: officers are Chris Lunde, Michael Broeckel, Hannah Poush, Marcus Miller, Emily Bautista-Herdt and Craig Crider. Re-elected trustees are Bruce Grim, Charles Laird, Dan Miller, Hannah Poush, Jason Schlagel and Kevin Paulson. Bill Eller is a newly elected trustee. The program is for emerging leaders in agriculture, forestry and natural resources.

PROMOTION

Terry Reagan has been named Bechtel’s new chief of staff for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant, commonly known as the Hanford vit plant. He joined Bechtel and the project in 2010 and has served in multiple positions. He has a bachelor’s degree in construction management from Purdue University.

Baker Boyer has announced the following promotions: John Cunnison is vice president and chief investment officer. He has been serving as senior portfolio manager since 2013 and with the bank since 2006. Russ Colombo to senior vice president. He has been with the bank since 1978. J.T. Lieuallen is now vice president and has been serving the company for 10 years. Mark Lutcher is now vice president and has worked with the company since 2008. Levi Waggoner was named assistant vice president and joined the company last year. Lora Zink is now assistant vice president and has been with Baker Boyer for 14 years. Jessica Long was named assistant vice president and has worked there since 2001. Teresa Larson was named executive vice president and started working for the company in 1982. Josh Allington is now a senior vice president and has been serving the company since 1998. 

NEW HIRES

Boy Scouts of America’s Blue Mountain Council’s new chief executive officer is Brett T. Bybee.

He will lead a staff of 12 employees and nearly 5,000 youth and 2,500 registered adult members of the local Boy Scout council throughout Benton, Franklin, Walla Walla and Columbia counties, as well as the Oregon counties of Umatilla, Gilliam, Morrow, Wheeler, Baker, Wallowa and Union.

He began his professional Scouting career more than 14 years ago as a district executive for the Grand Canyon Council in Safford, Arizona. He moved on to become district director in Yuma, Arizona, then field director with the Grand Canyon Council, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. He was promoted to the council’s director of field service.

Bybee is an Eagle Scout and he and his wife Stephanie have four children.

Joe Peterson Insurance has selected Sandey Frank as personal lines account manager for its Kennewick office and Dwayne Brown as an outside sales manager for the Eastern Washington office.

Joel McFarland joined Numerica Credit Union as a senior home loan officer. He has more than 15 years of experience as a home loan officer.

ACCREDITATION

Bailey Rivas, an associate wealth advisor at Kennewick’s Petersen Hastings, earned the Accredited Investment Fiduciary, or AIF, designation from Fi360 Inc., an organization that offers training, tools and resources to promote a culture of fiduciary responsibility and improve the decision-making process of fiduciaries. The designation signifies knowledge of fiduciary responsibility and the ability to implement policies and procedures that meet a defined standard of care.

DONATIONS

Community Action Connections received a $10,000 donation from Corwin Ford. The nonprofit plans to use the money to support low-income individuals and families with the following programs: Emergency Needs Assistance; Weatherization Assistance; Housing Rent Assistance; Home Energy Assistance; and Second Chance Center. The money also will be used for CAC’s new temporary homeless shelter in Franklin County.

CERTIFICATIONS

Rosa Mitchell of the Franklin Public Utility District passed the Washington State Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam. Mitchell is an electrical engineer and has been with the PUD since 2012.

ELECTIONS

Raman Venkata was elected as Kennewick Irrigation District Director Position 2. Venkata will serve a one-year term. David McKenzie was elected to KID Director Position 3 for a three-year term after running unopposed by statutory filing deadline.

Barry Bush was elected as president of Benton Public Utility District Commission for 2018. Jeff Hall was elected vice president and Lori Sanders was elected secretary.

GRANTS

The Benton Franklin Community Action Committee was awarded $10,000 from Agrium to pay for temporary family housing for homeless families and families at risk of homelessness.

Washington State University Tri-Cities received $140,000 from the state’s Professional Educator Standards Board. The money will go toward a project implemented two years ago to give paraprofessionals an alternative route to become certified teachers.

The program has proved especially beneficial where teacher shortages have been prevalent, such as bilingual education and special education. The board oversees the state’s teacher preparation, teacher certification and continuing.

Three Rivers Community Foundation distributed $154,455 to 40 local nonprofits at its annual grants ceremony Dec. 14 in Kennewick. The total amount requested was $352,214 from 50 grant applicants. Recipients were: Academy of Children’s Theatre, Blue Mountain Wildlife, Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, Camerata Musica, Catholic Family & Child Service, Cavalcade of Authors, Center for Sharing, Children’s Developmental Center, Columbia Elementary School PTO, Columbia Industries, Community Action Connections, Community Unitarian Universalist Church, Domestic Violence Services, Downtown Pasco Development, Edith Bishel Center, Elijah Family Homes, Family Learning Center, Grace Clinic, Hands In for Hands On, Junior Achievement, KC Help, Lourdes, Master Gardener Foundation, McBones, Mid-Columbia Ballet, Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, Munden’s Rising Son Adventures, Perfect Image Leadership Foundation, Rascal Rodeo, Rebuilding Mid-Columbia, Safe Harbor/My Friends’ Place, Senior Life Resources NW, Skyline Adventures, Tender Care Village, The ARC of Tri-Cities, The Chaplaincy, Therapeutic Riding of Tri-Cities (TROT), Tri-Cities Dream Center, Tri-Cities Sleep in Heavenly Peace and YMCA.

Kennewick High School’s International Baccalaureate Program received a $150,000 state grant. A portion of the money will be used to buy computers for classrooms, provide teacher training and strengthen course offerings in sciences and visual performing arts. The remaining money will pay for student outreach, tutoring and other academic support at Chinook, Highlands, Horse Heaven Hills and Park middle schools to help prepare the younger students for the program when they reach high school.

Kennewick High is one of 35 high schools in the state to offer the program, which is an academically rigorous college prep program that awards certificates and diplomas. About 500 students, or 30 percent of the student body, are enrolled in the two-year program that focuses on classical liberal arts and sciences.

Columbia Basin College bought 125 new laptop computers thanks to recent grants. The State Board for Community and Technical College and the Gates Foundation awarded CBC $100,000 and Mission Support Alliance donated an additional $33,000.

The computers will be used in the Columbia Basin Access Center for the Integrated Digital English Acceleration learning modules to teach English in tandem with college and career skills. The aim is to move students through language classes more quickly to better prepare them for careers in STEM- related fields. The laptops and modules are currently being used by 241 students.