NEW HIRES

• Two men with a combined 40 years of experience in the transit field after working for transit agencies on the east and west coasts have joined Ben Franklin Transit’s executive team.
Michael Brown recently was named director of transit operations and Marcus McCready is director of safety and training.

Brown has more than 25 years of experience, ranging from school bus and fixed route transit operations to shuttle services in both the public and private sectors. He started his career as a bus operator and worked his way into leadership with agencies in California, Arizona and Georgia before coming to the Tri-Cities.  

McCready hails from Baltimore and started driving commercial vehicles during college. He has worked for transit agencies in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and California. He most recently worked as the director of safety and training for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.

• Paradise Bottled Water in Kennewick has appointed Mike Milliner as new general manager. Milliner brings extensive expertise from his previous roles, including his tenure as director of operations for the Pacific Division at Professional Transportation Inc. and as an operations manager in the U.S. Navy.

• Providence Medical Group Walla Walla has announced the addition of two new physicians and three new advanced practice providers:

Dr. Moustapha Dimachk, a general surgeon, has joined Providence Medical Group General Surgery. He completed his residency at University of Florida Health Jacksonville College of Medicine and a hepato-biliary fellowship at Miami Cancer Institute, Baptist Health. Dimachk most recently practiced as a general and trauma surgeon at Sangre de Cristo Surgical Associates in Colorado.

Dr. Nicole Patching, a family medicine physician, has joined Providence Medical Group Family Medicine. She completed her residency at Hennepin Healthcare. She most recently practiced at Good Shepherd in Hermiston, Oregon. 

Laura Hollister-Meadows, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, has joined Providence Medical Group Neurosurgery. She completed her doctor of nursing practice degree through Duke University and most recently worked at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in the Tri-Cities.

Carolyn Korfiatis, an advanced registered nurse practitioner, has joined the radiation oncology team at the Providence St. Mary Regional Cancer Center. She completed her doctor of nursing practice degree through Columbia School of Nursing and worked at Walla Walla Clinic before joining Providence.

• Thomas Shaver, a physician assistant, has joined Providence Medical Group Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He completed his master’s in physician assistant studies through Idaho State University and most recently worked at Walla Walla Clinic.

AWARDS

• Pablo Lopez, a registered nurse, has earned the Lourdes Heath DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses. He was nominated by two separate families who took notice of Lopez’s above and beyond nursing. “Pablo is an advocate for patients and staff,” said Kena Chase, Lourdes chief nursing officer. “He is an exemplary nurse who demonstrates compassion to all.”

• Rep. Dan Newhouse announced Jeffery Noah from Kennewick High School as the winner of the 2024 Congressional App Challenge on Dec. 16. The challenge asked middle and high school students to design a concept for an app. Noah conceptualized an app which would empower the agricultural industry to share issues affecting their crops and our food supply. Called Canari, his concept would use a database to store user reports and display the most relevant and severe threats to users depending on their location. The platform is designed to be a free resource for anyone from hobbyist gardeners to industrial farmers.

• The city of West Richland has earned the Best City Paving Project in Eastern Washington Award from the Washington chapter of American Public Works Association. This award was presented to the city for its Bombing Range-Keene Road modification project. “This job kind of bucks the ‘traffic circle’ trend because it fully removed a 20-year-old roundabout that had become functionally obsolete and replaced it with a traditional signalized intersection,” the association said. Total Site Services was the general contractor. Inland Asphalt of Richland was the paver.

• David Fassler, IT customer support, senior specialist with information technology at Washington State University Tri-Cities, received 2024 Crimson Spirit recognition. He is a professional who performs his job at an exceptionally high level of skill. He also is responsible for the creation of the ceremonial mace, used for commencement ceremonies. Fassler’s nominators noted he had taken home, repaired, refinished, painted and applied WSU branding to a worn-out podium in the Consolidated Information Center building. “Like the mace, it is beautiful, it is one-of-a-kind, and it is David’s way of demonstrating Cougar Pride. His actions speak volumes, his actions are inspiring, and his actions are the epitome of Crimson Spirit,” the nomination said.

PROMOTIONS

• Peter Castiglia is the new CEO of INTERA Inc., which has an office in Richland, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Marsh Lavenue, who is retiring at the end of 2024 after 16 years of leadership as CEO and board chair. Castiglia has 25 years of experience in the environmental and water resource consulting industry and has been a part of INTERA since 2007, most recently serving as president of its mining and environmental line of business. INTERA is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It was named a 2024 Best Places to Work winner by the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business in November.

• Bonnie Walter is Northwest CPA Group PLLC’s newest partner, effective Jan. 1. She first joined the team in 2018. Prior to joining the Northwest CPA Group, Walter spent nine years working at a regional firm in the Seattle area after graduating from the University of Washington.

• AHBL has announced two promotions at its Tri-Cities office. Professional Land Surveyor.

Tyler Duncan has been promoted to associate principal in AHBL’s Survey Department. He started work at AHBL 18 years ago and is currently the company’s Tri-Cities survey project manager. Duncan has a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University and has produced maps for hundreds of projects throughout the Pacific Northwest. He also has been key in growing AHBL’s Tri-Cities office and mentoring survey staff. Duncan is responsible for in-house production of survey maps and exhibits, topographic surveys, performing boundary calculations, writing legal descriptions and leading on-call survey projects.

Nicole Stickney has been promoted to associate principal within AHBL’s Planning Department in the Tri-Cities office. She has 16 years’ experience in land use planning. Stickney has contributed to a variety of planning and economic development projects for both public and private-sector clients across the state. She also has a proven track record of successfully navigating Washington’s Growth Management Act and Shoreline Management Act, ensuring compliance and strategic planning outcomes. She also has trained planners, local officials, and the public on planning-related topics as a guest speaker at the state Department of Commerce’s “Short Course on Local Planning.” She’s been with AHBL for nine years.

• Blaine Wren has been promoted to vice president of finance and accounting at Gesa Credit Union. He joined Gesa in 2013 and has held roles including financial analyst and finance manager. Wren will help drive Gesa’s financial strategy, oversee the finance and accounting teams, and support the organization’s goal of reaching $10 billion in assets.

• Eric MacMillan is the new leader for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fish and Aquatic Conservation Program in the Pacific Region, which includes Washington and Oregon. He will oversee the cooperative management of 12 national fish hatcheries, four Fish and Wildlife conservation offices, Abernathy Fish Technology Center, the Pacific Region Fish Health Center, and the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan program office. For the past six years, MacMillan has worked for the program headquarters in Falls Church, Virgnia, first as the national aquatic habitat coordinator, and then as manager for the branch of Aquatic Habitat Conservation. He grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho, earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Willamette University in Oregon, and then a master’s degree in fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University.

BOARDS & COMMITTEES

• Noel Schulz of Washington State University Tri-Cities was elected to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Board of Directors. Previously, Schulz served as a volunteer leader for 12 years on the IEEE Power & Engineering Society (PES) Governing Board, including two years as PES president. Additionally, Schulz brings expertise in coordinating global efforts and humanitarian work. She was the U.S. administrative lead for the U.S. Department of Energy-funded U.S.-India Collaborative for Smart Distribution Systems with Storage.

• Sen. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick, has been elevated to ranking member on the Senate Environmental, Energy and Technology Committee for the 2025 legislative session. He will continue on the Senate Ways and Means Committee and is joining the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee as well as the powerful Rules Committee.

• Columbia Riverkeeper welcomes four new members to its board of directors:

Ana Molina is the advocacy and systems director at the Oregon Just Transition Alliance, based in Portland. She previously served as the field manager at Columbia Riverkeeper, championing environmental and climate justice by prioritizing the voices of those most affected.

Jessica L. Black is a professor of environmental science and studies and the director of the Center for Indigenous Health, Culture & the Environment at Heritage University, located on the ancestral lands of the Yakama Nation in Toppenish.

Elaine Harvey, Wanuxni’ is a Yakama tribal citizen who works for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission as the Watershed Department manager. She has nearly 22 years of experience working as a fish biologist, hydro systems oversight coordinator, environmental coordinator and now watershed department manager.

Vawter “Buck” Parker has spent almost his entire career in environmental protection, including 37 years with Earthjustice and 10 as its CEO. He was instrumental in opening Earthjustice offices around the country and establishing its international program.