HONORS & AWARDS

Shae Frichette, co-owner of Frichette Winery in Benton City, is among eight female winemakers to be honored in the International Women in Wine Celebration Dinner and Cruise. Frichette’s rosé of merlot, Sashay, will be among the winemakers’ wines that will be featured in a multi-course dinner during the cruise.

Michelle Clary, a financial advisor with Piton Wealth in Kennewick, received the Voice in Philanthropy Award from InFaith Community Foundation for being among the company’s financial representatives with the highest dollar amount given to charity via their clients.

Kennewick criminal attorney Keith Hilde has been named one of Two Years American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys 10 Best Criminal Law Attorneys for Client Satisfaction in Washington for two years.

Anneliese Johnson, financial advisor with Waddell & Reed in Kennewick, has been selected to attend the 2018 Waddell & Reed Circle of Champions conference for the top advisor affiliations with the company. Johnson joined Waddell & Reed in 2006.

Kennewick attorney John Raekes has been named as a 2018 American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys 10 Best Personal Injury Attorneys for Client Satisfaction in Washington.

New Traditions Homes, with an office in Pasco, received the 2018 Energy Star Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award. The U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency recognized the company in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The award is given to those who show leadership and commitment to energy efficiency and the Energy Star program.

Matthew Riesenweber of Cornerstone Wealth Strategies in Kennewick has been named the 26th best financial advisor in Washington and among the top 1,200 financial advisors in the U.S. by Barron’s. Riesenweber has been providing financial services in the Tri-Cities since 2003.

John and Priscilla Cadwell of Cadwell Laboratories were given the Boy Scouts of America North Star Award. The award recognizes the couple’s more than 40 years of making significant contributions to youth in the community. They moved their medical equipment company to Kennewick from Seattle in 1979. While their five children were young, they were involved in Boy Scouts, the Richland Parent-Teacher Organization, the Mid-Columbia Science Fair and Christ the King’s Sausage Fest, among many others.

Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland earned the highest grade possible for quality and safety by the Leapfrog Group, which recently announced spring 2018 scores. The bi-annual grading assigns “A,” “B,” “C,” “D” and “F” letter grades to general acute-care hospitals in the U.S. Kadlec is one of 11 hospitals in the state of Washington to earn an A grade. Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla also earned an A. Trios Southridge Hospital and Trios Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Kennewick received a C.

Shelley Kennedy, a Richland  Edward Jones financial advisor, qualified for Edward Jones’ Financial Advisor Leaders Conference, which recognizes financial advisors who are among the leaders in the firm. The conference also provided additional training to help serve more individual investors in advisors’ communities. She was among 800 financial advisors who qualified out of the firm’s 16,000 financial advisors in the U.S. and Canada. The conference was May 9-11 in St. Louis.

Farmers Exchange of Kennewick has earned the President’s Elite award from Toro. This annual award is presented to qualified Toro dealers in recognition of exceptional sales of residential lawn and landscape contractor equipment.

NEW HIRES

Joe Jisa will be the new principal at Pasco’s Livingston Elementary, replacing Scott Raab who announced earlier this year that he would be leaving Livingston. Jisa has been the principal at Jason Lee Elementary in Richland since 2010. Before that, Jisa served as the principal at Christ the King School in Richland for three years. He also served as the dean of students at Jason Lee Elementary from 2004-07.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has named Paul Tiranno market development manager for its Northwest community market. In this newly created role, he will help execute the firm’s growth initiative in Washington – including in the Mid-Columbia. He has more than 20 years of financial services experience.

Liz Schweighardt has been hired as the new administrative assistant for United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties. She has a bachelor’s in education from Eastern Washington University.

Derek Robinson is the newest vice president and consultant for Community First Bank’s mortgage team. He has more than 18 years in the business and is a Kennewick native.

Tom Fisher joined Community First Bank as senior vice president and chief lending officer in March. He has more than 23 years of experience in the banking and finance industry.

DONATIONS

The Benton Franklin Fair & Rodeo made a donation of $5,175 to cancer prevention efforts in the community as part of its Tough Enough To Wear Pink program.  The money will be shared among area hospital foundations to assist those in need in the battle against breast cancer.  During the past 11 years, the fair has donated more than $158,000 to local programs to help uninsured women. Those dollars have enabled more than 1,500 people to receive free mammograms and cancer screenings, follow-up care and other forms of assistance.

GRANT

A $150,000 grant awarded to Park Middle School in Kennewick will go toward improving math achievement at the school and better preparing students for the rigors of college. The school will use the three-year grant from College Spark Washington to pay for teacher training on state math standards and assistance developing lesson plans and interventions for students.

SCHOLARSHIP

The Hispanic Academic Achievers Program awarded $80,000 in scholarships this year, up from last year’s $60,000. Twenty-six scholarships were awarded April 27 during the ceremony. HAAP awards certificates to Hispanic students in grades 4 through 12 who maintain a 3.0 grade-point average. This year’s keynote speaker was Johnny Samaniego, a member of the 1987 track team depicted in the 2015 movie, “McFarland USA” with Kevin Costner.

PROMOTIONS

Franklin PUD power director, Holly Dohrman, has been promoted to assistant general manager. She has been with the PUD since 2015 and has more than 15 years in the electric utility industry. She has an associate’s in engineering and a bachelor’s in social science.

Northwest CPA Group PLLC, a certified public accounting firm in Richland, announced that Donald Persinger has been admitted as a partner of the firm. He practices in the tax services area and manages the technology needs of Northwest CPA Group PLLC. He also provides services related to financial statements, internal controls, business valuations and business consulting. His particular areas of expertise relate to agriculture, construction, professional services, trusts and estates. 

Alison Gebers has been promoted from manager to principal within Northwest CPA. She manages the audit and accounting services.  She also provides tax services, internal control analysis, and specializes in assisting nonprofit organizations. She has been with the firm since 2004. 

Jake Stueckle will be the new principal at Pasco High School, replacing Raul Sital who is moving into a new role as the executive director of student achievement with the Pasco School District. Stueckle is an assistant principal at Pasco High, a position he has held for the past two years. He has spent the past 14 years working at PHS, serving as the dean of students for three years after starting his career as a special education teacher.

Vikki Fogelson will be the new principal at McLoughlin Middle School, replacing Dominique Dennis who has taken a new position with the Federal Way School District. Fogelson has 19 years of experience in education, serving most recently as an assistant principal in the Spokane School District. She has also served as a middle school special education and general education, reading, language arts, math, and history teacher for schools in Kennewick, Spokane, and the Saddleback Valley Unified school district in California.

Dunham Cellars in Walla Walla has promoted Robert Campisi to head winemaker. He joined the winery in 2008 and has played a key role in winemaking and will help usher in the development of a new series of wines from Dunham’s recently planted Kenny Hill estate vineyard.

BOARDS

Sally Kim is the newest member to be elected to The Children’s Reading Foundation’s board of directors. Kim is the marketing director at Callisto Media and lives in San Francisco. She has a long career in publishing including marketing positions with Chronicle Books, Penguin Young Readers Group and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She is a member of the committee for the Great Group Read list and volunteers for the Women’s National Book Association.

Dr. Rusty Morris has joined the Benton County Law & Justice Council as the new chairwoman. The retired forensic pathologist has been a citizen member of the council for nine years. Morris also was instrumental in starting the Benton County Public Safety Tax proposal. She moved to the Tri-Cities in 2001. She has a bachelor’s in biology, a master’s in business, a doctor of medicine in pathology and a doctor of philosophy in forensic science.

Energy Northwest’s 27-member board of directors elected five inside directors and one outside director to each serve four-year terms on the public power agency’s 11-member executive board. The executive board sets the policies that govern the operations of the organization. All terms begin in June.

Among its members, the board of directors elected the following utility commissioners to serve as inside directors: Terry Brewer, Grant County Public Utility District 2; Arie Callaghan, Grays Harbor County PUD 1; Linda Gott, Mason County PUD 3; Jack Janda, Mason County PUD 1; and Will Purser, Clallam County PUD.

Selected from outside its membership, the Board of Directors re-elected William “Skip” Orser, a former chief operating officer with the Tennessee Valley Authority and a 30-year nuclear industry veteran, to serve as one of three outside directors.

The board of directors has sole authority to authorize and terminate Energy Northwest projects.

The executive board members includes five elected from the board of directors, three appointed by the board of directors from outside of Energy Northwest, and the remaining three appointed by the governor of Washington.

GRADUATIONS

Washington State University Tri-Cities in Richland conferred 403 degrees during its May 5 commencement ceremony. Vicky Gordon, owner of Gordon Estate Winery, presented the keynote address. Six students were selected to carry gonfalons, which are colorful banners that represent the colleges, based on their academic excellence. Those students include: Conner Eck, Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences; Dana Parmenter, Arts and Sciences; Mikayla Blosser, Business; Becky Rausch, Education; David Garcia, Engineering and Architecture; Haneen Al-wazani, Nursing.