HONORS & AWARDS

Edward Jones, with offices in the Tri-Cities, has been named among the best places to work. The company was No. 5 on the 2018 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work. It was the 19th time Edward Jones has made the list.

The American Institute of Family Law Attorneys recognized Kennewick lawyer Mathew M. Purcell of Purcell Law as a member of Two Years 10 Best Family Law Attorneys for Client Satisfaction in Washington. 

The American Institute of Family Law Attorneys recognized Kimberly Powell, managing attorney of Ashby Law’s Walla Walla office, to the 2017 10 Best Family Law Attorneys for Client Satisfaction in Washington.

Nine Chiawana High School students have qualified for the National Speech and Debate Tournament, which will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in June. They are: Trevor Schmitt in Big Questions Debate, Monica Winn in Dramatic Interpretation, Audra Totten and Malene Garcia in Informative Speaking, Linh Truong in Lincoln Douglas Debate, Eric Harrod in Original Oratory, Isaiah Moore in Program Oral Interpretation, and Caleb Hernandez and Ford Powers in Duo Interpretation. Pasco High School’s Yerushalaim Solano also has qualified to compete at the national contest.

NEW HIRES

Al Thiemens has joined Gesa Credit Union as a commercial loan office at Gesa’s Queensgate branch in Richland. He has 17 years of experience in commercial lending.

Dr. Sofia Scholar will be providing outpatient care with Trios Medical Group — Trios Urgent Care Center at 7201 W. Grandridge Blvd., Suite 100, in Kennewick. Before joining Trios, she practiced family medicine at the Walla Walla Clinic for more than 20 years.

David Doak has joined Community First Bank’s commercial lending team as assistant vice president and commercial lender. He has more than 20 years of experience in business and mortgage lending.

Agatha Doctor has been hired by Meier Architecture Engineering as an electrical engineer. She has more than seven years of experience in the field and earned her bachelor’s of science degree in electrical engineering at Washington State University.

Ted Robbins has joined WCP Solutions in Kennewick as an account manager. He was formerly with Veritiv Corp. He brings to WCP Solutions more than 25 years of technical sales experience in lean packaging and equipment automation applications.

Dr. Thomas Halvorson, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine, has joined the PMH Medical Center Surgical Group in Prosser. With nearly two decades of orthopedic surgery experience, Halvorson joins PMH from Spokane, where he most recently worked and served as chief medical officer at the Orthopedic Specialty Institute. He served as a team physician for Eastern Washington University.

Brian Newberry has been hired as the incoming CEO of Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho to replace Pam Lund, who is retiring. Newberry was the executive director of Leadership Spokane.

A familiar face has returned to Baker Boyer. Ted Cohan was rehired as vice president and senior portfolio manager. He previously was a member of Baker Boyer’s asset management team before he left to work in the Walla Walla School District as executive director of business services. He worked in the school district for four years.

Nikkie Jones has joined Richland’s Legacy One Insurance team   as an insurance agent. She brings 11 years of insurance experience to the team.

DONATION

Wells Fargo & Co., with locations in the Tri-Cities, donated $3.3 million in 2017 to support nonprofit organizations across Washington. Washington team members volunteered 36,000 hours with their communities and personally donated $808,000.

ON THE MOVE

Pam Lund, CEO Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho, will be retiring at the end of April. She has served in the position for 11 years.