Mayor of Portland Appoints Otak Principal for Planning Commission

Don Hanson, an Otak principal and manager of its development services group, was selected for his broad range of experience and qualifications.

The City of Portland has selected Don Hanson, a principal with design and engineering firm Otak Inc., to join the nine-member Portland Planning Commission. Hanson, who manages Otak's development services market segment, has 27 years of development planning experience in the Northwest and is an expert in land-use approval and entitlement.

Don Hanson

Hanson's experience working with the City of Portland spans three decades, from his role in the 1980s as land use chairman for the Mt. Tabor Neighborhood Association to an advisory committee that recently rewrote the city's Title 34 Land Development Code. He has also served on the stormwater advisory committee for the Bureau of Environmental Services and the development review advisory committee for the city.

Hanson's professional work has included residential, multi-use and commercial developments, as well as public parks, open space and streetscape improvements. In his role with the planning commission, he will advise the city council on proposals that directly affect its goals and policies or have an impact on the type, density and location of any element in the city's comprehensive plan. The commission may also review and comment on city policies and their implementation in relation to land-use issues. Planning commissioners serve without compensation for terms of four years and elect their own officers annually.

Edwin G. O'Kelly, the West Region president of Portland's Kinetics and former president of Fullman Company (acquired by Kinetics in 1998), recently announced his retirement from the mechanical contracting industry. O'Kelly's mechanical contracting roots are deeply entrenched in the Pacific Northwest, having managed northwest operations during the past 20 years for University Mechanical, Fullman Company, and Kinetics.

As West Region president of Kinetics, O'Kelly was been responsible for operations not only in the Pacific Northwest, but throughout the Western United States (including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado), the Asia/Pacific Rim region (including Australia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan), and Latin America. In his stead, Kurt Gilson, the president of Kinetics, will assume responsibility of all West Region operations.

The Pacific Northwest Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (Tigard, Ore.) recently awarded Bill Bachofner the Kathleen Eldridge Award - the association's highest individual honor - at ABC's annual leadership banquet held Jan. 24 at Portland's Embassy Suites Hotel.

Bachofner, with Portland's Bachofner Electric Inc., has served in a number of leadership positions for the chapter, including chapter president in 1991. He was recently elected to the position of chairman of the board of directors for 2004.

The Kathleen Eldridge Award is named for one of ABC's early founders and longtime supporters. Kathleen Eldridge has the unique distinction of having served as both a chapter president and a chapter executive director, and she remains active in a variety of chapter activities.

The award honors individual dedication, support and commitment to the chapter. Nominees for the award are voted on by the entire chapter.

Quadrant Homes of Bellevue, Wash., recently announced the promotions of Erin Fowler to director of marketing, Vaughn Wihongi to director of sales, Brent Howard to sales manager, Lindsay Waymire to New Home Showroom manager and BreAnn Kraetsch to senior sales and escrow assistant.

Aileen Wolfer has joined The Construction Industry Training Council of Washington (Bellevue, Wash.) as director of continuing education, and Julie Haverluck was hired as apprenticeship program administrative assistant.

Wolfer will manage the continuing education courses, including online courses, and will oversee the development of new classes and new instructors. In addition, she is responsible for garnering class certification for online classes in all states that require continuing education hours to maintain licenses.

Haverluck is responsible for dispatching apprentices to employers, tracking apprentice training hours and corresponding wage increases, to ensure compliance with Department of Labor and Industries training requirements.

Electrical engineering and technology consulting firm Sparling recently announced that it has promoted Michael Newbury to principal, and Chris Peterson and Karl Pihl have been promoted to associates at the firm's Seattle headquarters.

In his new position, Newbury will lead one of Sparling's eight design studios, focusing on the healthcare and hospitality markets on a regional and national scale.

Peterson will continue to do groundbreaking work in the design and project management of electrical systems for large-scale retail developments and other major mixed-use commercial projects.

Pihl has been a driving force in the electrical engineering design and construction for many of Sparling's high-profile performing arts projects, including Marion Oliver McCaw Hall in Seattle; McIntyre Hall Performing Arts & Conference Center in Mt. Vernon, Wash.; and the Edmonds Performing Arts Center in Edmonds, Wash.

NBBJ (Seattle) partners have announced this year's promotions. Bill Sanford was made firm partner. In addition, the architecture firm promoted one new principal, 10 senior associates, and 12 associates.

Sanford strengthens NBBJ's partnership team with expertise in strategic real estate planning, financial and life cycle cost analysis, economic forecasting and operational planning for large, complex public and private enterprises.

New principal Jeanne Iannucci joined NBBJ in 1998. Often working with large and diverse client groups, Iannucci strives to include the client as a participant and bring everyone together to achieve the team's goals.

The firm's new senior associates are Jim Brennan, Debbie Castle, Phil Duff, Tim Jones, Glen Kawaguchi, Angela O'Brien-Ruff, Bill Parker, Jacqueline Pulley, Bobby Pressley, and Kim Selby.

New associates are Merrill Aldrich, Lydia de Sa e Silva, Scott Francis, Anita Hornby, Steve Joo, Candy Levesque, Judy Medema, Pat Murphy, Eric Phillips, Erin Shaw, Matthew Somerton, and Sherine Tully.

Jessica Whitten, business manager for Schlecht Construction of Vancouver, Wash.,has been elected to the post of president-elect for the Lower Columbia Contractors Association (LCCA).

Whitten has been a longtime active member of LCCA, serving in a number of committee and chapter leadership roles. Her selection as president-elect moves her up the leadership ranks in line to stand for election as president next year.

LCCA is a trade association representing the interests of construction professionals located in Cowlitz County and surrounding areas. LCCA is affiliated with the Building Industry Association of Washington and the National Association of Homebuilders.

MulvannyG2 Architecture's Portland, Ore., office has announced the recent hires of Don Logue as senior project manager and Suenn Ho as senior designer.

Logue has more than 20 years of architectural experience. Prior to joining MulvannyG2, he was the manager of architecture-new stores for Hollywood Entertainment Corporation, responsible for architectural aspects of new store rollout. It is this background that makes Logue ideally-suited to manage the firm's ongoing work

Ho's work as a designer/public outreach coordinator for the Portland Development Commission's $4.5 million plan to redo the center of Old Town/Chinatown along 3rd and 4th Avenue, fits seamlessly with MulvannyG2's professional strengths as a firm with an international reputation for understanding cultural sensitivities with regard to design and planning.

TraneOregon recently announced that Tom Semmes and Pete Kramer are now LEED accredited professionals. They are recognized by LEED as individuals who support and encourage LEED Green Building application and certification process.

Semmes, an account executive, has been with TraneOregon for 24 years. His primary focus is to support mechanical engineers, mechanical contractors, and owners in the design and installation of new HVAC equipment.

Kramer, a building automations systems sales engineer, has been with TraneOregon for two years. He provides support to TraneOregon's new equipment external sales teams in identifying, developing and closing building automation system control solutions.

Stephen Holt has joined Lorig Associates of Seattle as the project manager for the Salishan project in Tacoma, Wash. Salishan is a 188-acre community that is being redeveloped in conjunction with Tacoma Housing Authority.

Holt brings 30 years of experience in housing and public administration to his position.

In his position with Lorig, Holt will coordinate work at Salishan that includes razing 855 World War II-vintage rental units on the city's east side and building a mixed-use community of approximately 970 rental and 300 for-sale homes and a new neighborhood center, as well as parks and an outdoor civic space. Work is scheduled to this summer with the first homes available for lease in 2005. Subsequent phases of the project will continue through 2010.

Sherwood, Ore. general contractor Colamette Construction Company Inc., has announced the addition of Chuck Larsen as a project manager.

Larsen brings to Colamette more than 24 years of construction experience in a diverse variety of public and private projects, with the past 18 years in the Portland-Metro area.

As a project manager for Colamette, his responsibilities will include overall administration of projects, including cost estimating, scheduling and sub-contractor coordination. His current projects include Ocean Beach Hospital addition and remodel in Ilwaco, Wash. and Verizon Wireless Switch Expansion in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mark Krigbaum, Susan Murphy and John Saywers have been promoted to vice presidents of CLC Associates, a Spokane, Wash. engineering, architectural, planning, landscape architectural and surveying firm. As vice presidents of the firm, the team will assume joint management of CLC Associates' northwest operations, a role that was previously filled by Todd Whipple. Whipple has since been promoted to director of national client relations for CLC.

Sheri Goong has joined Seattle's Lorig Management Services as the human resources and benefits administrator. Goong's responsibilities include providing benefits administration, coordinating and tracking property management staff training and assisting in the preparation of property procedure manuals.

Prior to joining Lorig, Goong served as the policy and procedure writer for the King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention where she was responsible for the preparation and revision of new policies and providing training to division staff.

William B. Grubich, KJM & Associates (Spokane, Wash.) vice president, has earned the designation Certified Construction Manager. CCMs are individuals who have voluntarily met the prescribed criteria of the Certified Construction Management Program with regard to formal education, field experience and demonstrated capability and understanding of the construction management body of knowledge.

For the past four years, Grubich has been in charge of managing all phases of KJM's Spokane office's key construction management projects, fulfilling the amount of experience needed for the certification. In addition to his working experience, Grubich completed a comprehensive and rigorous application process including a review and evaluation by the Certification Board of Governors, and completing the Capstone Course and passing a comprehensive six-hour exam.

Seattle engineering firm Abacus Engineered Systems recently added Alan Carter, Paul Meyer and Mark Merritt to the firm's expanding electrical engineering group.

Carter comes to Abacus with more than 10 years of experience in electrical engineering for healthcare, commercial, educational, retail, light industrial and military clients. Meyer has nine years of experience in mechanical and electrical design and project management, with an emphasis in commercial and institutional facilities. Merritt is a team member for the University of Washington's emergency power system expansion project, participating in the preliminary design, scope of work, and rough order of magnitude cost estimates.

Architectural, engineering and consulting firm HDR has named Gary Bleeker executive vice president and Larry Kyle senior vice president at the firm's Seattle office.

With HDR since 1980, Bleeker was recently named national director of HDR's water business class. Previously a department manager in the Seattle office and senior operating manager in the Northwest, Bleeker has more than 24 years of experience in water engineering.

An HDR employee for more than 20 years, Kyle is a roadway program manager with more than 31 years of industry experience, specializing in program management, design and planning of highways and bridges. Responsibilities have included detailed design, preparation of route studies, environmental reports and studies, plans, specifications and estimates.

Seattle design and engineering firm Otak Inc. recently hired Mark Cole as senior project manager, highlighting his experience with roadway and utility improvements as immediate benefits for the company's municipal and private sector clients. Cole, whose experience also includes drainage and stormwater detention facility projects, will serve the company's water and natural resources team as well.

Cole's roadway widening and reconstruction experience includes projects for the Seattle Department of Transportation, Port of Seattle, Kansas City and other municipalities in Washington, Kansas and Missouri.

Seattle architecture, interior design and planning firm Weber + Thompson announced that three employees have passed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) exam to become LEED Accredited Professionals. Mark McCarter, Tanya Kirova, and Jason Hanner are all members of Weber + Thompson's in-house sustainable design education program, the Green Resource Group.