NEW HIRES

Lucas Organizational

Performance Training Team of Richland has hired two

new trainers, Seth Gulley and Dan Gilliam. Gulley works with Mission

Support Alliance providing instructional design support for its respiratory

training program. He has experience in operational excellence, leadership and

training program development, process safety management, human performance

improvement, apparent cause, organizational effectiveness and emergency

management. Gilliam also works with MSA as a fire system maintenance field

worker mentor. He has several years of supervisory experience at multiple U.S.

Department of Energy sites and a management background in weapons component

production, deactivation and demolition of Category 2 nuclear facilities,

packaging and shipping of nuclear waste for final storage, soil remediation

activities and conduct of operations mentoring.

Incyte Pathologists of Richland has hired two new pathologists. They are: Dr.

Nerissa A. Ladd, board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology. She

graduated from the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine. She

completed her residency at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and a

surgical pathology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr.

David D. Fink, board certified in anatomic and clinical pathology. He

graduated from Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences and completed

his residency at Texas A&M- Baylor Scott and White Medical Center. Fink

then completed a surgical pathology fellowship at University of Arkansas for

Medical Sciences.

Priscely Gutierrez has been hired at Tippett Co. in Pasco. Gutierrez joins

the commercial real estate team, which specializes in landlord-tenant representation,

commercial real estate sales and acquisitions, and investment analysis. A

lifelong Tri-City resident, she brings eight years of real estate experience

and is bilingual.

Sean

Haselrig has joined Baker Boyer Bank as an investment advisor

representative for the Tri-City team, and Becky Kettner joined the Walla

Walla team as investment advisor representative. Haselrig brings more than 20

years of experience in the financial services industry to his role. Kettner

joined Baker Boyer in 2017 as a trust advisor, bringing with her nearly two

decades of business management and marketing experience.

HONORS & AWARDS

IHOP franchisee Susan Mendenhall has been named the IHOP Global 2018 Franchisee of the Year. After being selected as the IHOP Northwest Franchisee of the Year earlier this year by her peers and IHOP support staff, she was in the running with six other franchisees from different regions.She was recognized for her outstanding servant style leadership, role in implementing new restaurant technology and initiatives, member of Franchisee Leadership Committee, chairperson of Technology Advisory Committee, always exceeding restaurant cleanliness and operations guidelines during the IHOP Global Franchisee Conference in Las Vegas in October. Her “constant smile and always helpful nature” also contributed to her selection. Mendenhall is the second woman franchisee to be acknowledged with this award and the first to win this award from the Northwest region. She has been the Franchisee of Record for the Pasco and Kennewick IHOPs for 10 years. She has been operating these restaurants since 2001 and became the owner in 2010. Susan, her husband Russ and their three children have lived in Kennewick since 1994.

The 2019 Chefs on Parade winners were Andrew Chilton and Tanner Guy of Doggie Style Gourmet. Second place went to Chris Nokes of Hot Mess Burgers & Fries. There was a tie for third place between Paulina and Guadalupe Perez of Hot Tamales and Ron Swanby of Swampy’s BBQ Sauce & Eatery. The People’s Favorite Chefs on Parade award went to were Megan and Jason Savely of Frost Me Sweet Bakery & Bistro.

The winners of the 2019 Parade of Homes were Gale-Rew Construction in category 1; Don Pratt Construction in category 2; Pahlisch Homes in category 3; and Gretl Crawford Homes in category 4. The Parade of Homes and Chefs on Parade event is organized by the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities.

The Kennewick School

District’s Community Partner of the Year is Hispanic Academic Achievers

Program. The nonprofit HAAP  provides

scholarships to Hispanic students throughout the Tri-Cities. HAAP has helped

150 students from the Kennewick School District with higher education costs

through scholarships since it started in 1989. Those scholarships have totaled

more than $300,000. The group also has given thousands more in scholarships to

students in other Tri-City area districts.

Marian Evenson, a principal in the firm MMEC Architecture & Interiors, which

has offices in the Tri-Cities and Spokane, was recognized by the International Interior

Design Association Northern Pacific Chapter for her contributions to

professional interior design. She is the 2019 IN Awards professional honoree.

For the 10th time,

financial services firm Edward Jones, which has several offices in the

Tri-Cities, was ranked highest in employee advisor satisfaction among financial

investment firms by J.D. Power.

The nonprofit Project

Timothy was recently selected as a winner of the 2019 Bayer Grain for Good

Sweepstakes. The organization was nominated by farmer Gene Warren of

Dayton. Warren was one of 10 entrants chosen to direct a donation to the

organization of his choice. Project Timothy will receive $5,000. The

organization, established in 1990, serves the communities of Dayton, Starbuck

and Waitsburg by offering financial assistance for emergency housing, food,

rent assistance, utilities, transportation and prescriptions for families in

need.

Shawn Flinders was the grand prize winner of the 2019 Rotary Mid-Columbia Duck

Race. He won a 2020 Toyota Corolla XLE donated by Toyota of Tri-Cities.

This is the 15th year Toyota of Tri-Cities has donated a new Toyota vehicle to

the duck race. More than 33,000 tickets were sold for the duck races this year.

Proceeds from the event fund nonprofits, student scholarships and humanitarian

efforts.

Franklin County PUD’s Debbie

Bone-Harris received the Lacy Peoples Award for her lifetime commitment to

the public power industry, communication and public involvement. The Northwest

Public Power Association’s 2019 Northwest Communications & Energy

Innovations Conference Planning Committee selected Bone-Harris, a public

affairs manager, based on

her accomplishments of at least 10 years of marketing and communication

experience; at least 20 years of service to the industry; and promotion of

public power through efforts such as community service. Bone-Harris, who retires from the PUD at the end of November, has

more than 35 years in the utility industry.

The

U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is the

recipient of two R&D 100 awards and one gold medal. The innovations awards

program honors achievements in research and development for the past 56 years,

honoring pioneers in science and technology from industry, the federal

government and academia. This year’s awards bring PNNL’s total to 111 since the

awards’ inception. This is the first year that medalists have been included in

the cohort of winners. Medalists are those technologies that demonstrated

exceptional impact in one of four special recognition categories: Corporate

Social Responsibility; Green Tech; Market Disruptor—Services; and Market

Disruptor—Products. PNNL

was honored for its work with Xenon International, a fully-automated radioxenon

monitoring system developed with Teledyne Brown Engineering, that drastically

improves existing national and international radioxenon monitoring capabilities

by doubling the sensitivity of today’s systems; and MLSTONES, which stands for

Machine Learning String Tools for Operational and Network Security, a malware

detection tool identifying never-before-seen malware. The gold medal for market disruptor (services) was awarded to PNNL

for its work with VaporID, a vapor-sampling device developed by PNNL that

enables the detection of narcotics and explosives down to the

parts-per-quadrillion level in ambient air. 

The

American Institute of Family Law Attorneys has recognized Washington’s family

law attorney Katherine Sierra-Kelly as 2019’s “10 best family law

attorneys for client satisfaction.” Sierra-Kelley works at Gravis Law

in Richland.

The city

of Hermiston received the Urban Renewal Project of the Year award for its

recruitment and development of the Holiday Inn Express and support of

additional downtown business expansion. The award, announced Oct. 28 by the

Oregon Economic Development Association, highlights the first major project

undertaken by the Hermiston Urban Renewal Agency. The 96-room Holiday Inn

Express opened in January 2017 and has been a catalyst for downtown development

since, encouraging local businesses to open and expand in the immediate area.

The state Employment Security Department recognized a Hanford contractor with a Hire-A-Vet award for its efforts to employ military veterans in 2019. Washington River Protection Solutions, a hazardous waste management company, employs 2,100 employees in the state, of which 303 are veterans. Whenever the company has a job opening, WRPS contacts WorkSource to check for potential veteran candidates. The company also regularly participates in veteran résumé workshops, mock interview panels and veteran internship recruitment events. Employment Security created the award to call attention to the state’s unemployed veterans and to recognize companies with a good track record of hiring, retaining and celebrating veterans in their workforce. One business winner was selected from each of the 12 workforce development areas in the state. WorkSource places about 10,000 veterans into jobs each year. There are 514,000 veterans living in the state.

GRANTS

Three

Rivers Community Foundation

distributed $391,000 in social determinants of health grants to six local

nonprofits from funds provided by the Greater Columbia Accountable Community of

Health: Catholic Charities, Communities in Schools, Community Action

Connections, Grace Clinic, The Chaplaincy and Tri-Cities Residential Services.

Brett

Lott Homes of the

Tri-Cities donated the proceeds from the sale of its Parade of Homes Charity

House to two local nonprofits. Elijah Family Homes and KCHelps each received

$25,391.

STCU recently awarded a $3,000 grant to the Academy

of Children’s Theatre in support of its education programs. The money will

support ACT’s after-school, weekend and summer session classes. In recognition

of the funding, STCU will be named as the 2020 education sponsor at ACT.

BOARDS

The Kennewick

Kiwanis Club recently held its annual installation of officers for the

2019-20 year. Officers are Rick McKinnon, president; Vickie Bergum,

president elect; Micki McKinnon, vice president; Maureen Bell,

secretary; Penny Gardner, treasurer; and Cory Manley, past

president.

Board

directors are Gerry Berges, Amy Coffman, Stan Case, Dave

Eakin, Patti Gunn, Pat Johnstone-Jones, Art King and Benita

Nyberg.

Rick Peenstra, a retired community banker with 40 years’ experience

in helping small businesses, will serve as a the local SCORE chapter

chairman for the next two years. Peenstra replaced Paul Casey, who led the

chapter for two years. SCORE is a resource partner of the Small Business

Administration, providing free business counseling.

PROMOTIONS

Amy

Spurlock, formerly a

physician liaison for Northwest Cancer Clinic, a 21st Century Oncology

affiliate with offices in Kennewick and Hermiston, has been promoted to market

success manager. Spurlock will manage additional markets in Central California.

She will oversee four radiation treatment centers: Northwest Cancer Clinic in

Washington and Oregon; 21st Century Oncology clinics in Modesto and Lodi,

California; and St. Theresa’s Comprehensive Cancer Care in Stockton,

California.

CERTIFICATIONS

Diahann

Howard, interim

executive director for the Port of Benton, recently earned a professional port

management certification from the American Association of Port Authorities.

Maria Alleman has become a certified meeting professional through the

Events Industry Council’s certified meeting professional program, which

launched in 1985. She is Visit Tri-Cities’ convention sales manager. The

qualifications for certification are based on professional experience,

education and exam.

RETIREMENT

Terry Walsh, who has been with the city of Kennewick for more than 28

years and has served in her current role as executive director of employee and

community services for the last 10 years, will retire on Dec. 31. As a member

of the senior leadership team, she leads the efforts of human resources, parks and

recreation and economic development. Walsh has been engaged in many areas of

the community, including serving on the Historic Downtown Kennewick

Association, leading the Kennewick’s Art Commission, and serving as the city’s

executive ambassador for Junior Achievement. Earlier this year, Walsh received

the Athena leadership award from the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce in

recognition of her professional excellence, community service and for actively

assisting women in their attainment of leadership skills.

The city will not fill the executive director position after

Walsh’s retirement and instead will be realigning several areas of

responsibility to include moving economic development to the Community Planning

Department.

APPOINTMENT

The

Downtown Pasco Development Authority has

appointed Gustavo Gutierrez Gomez as its new executive director.

Gutierrez Gomez bested a field of nearly 20 candidates, following a national

recruitment process. He brings a diverse background in community engagement and

economic development, including with the city of Woodburn, Oregon, and

volunteer work as a member of the Woodburn School District Board of Directors,

and host of a Spanish language radio show, “Charla Informativa” on Radio Poder

98.3. Gutierrez Gomez studied business and marketing at Tecnologico de Colima

(Colima Technical Institute); and graduated from Oregon State University, with

a bachelor of science in business administration.