Triumph exec to lead state aerospace board
A Spokane business executive has been tapped to lead a state board focused on supporting aerospace innovation.
Timothy Stevens, the president of Triumph Composite Systems’ factory in Spokane, has been appointed chairman of the Joint Center for Aerospace Innovation Technology by Gov. Chris Gregoire.
The board has nine members tasked with spurring new technologies by private companies and public universities.
The other Eastern Washington representative on the board is Candis Claiborn, dean of Washington State University’s College of Engineering and Architecture.
Fortune names STCU among best to work at
Liberty Lake-based Spokane Teachers Credit Union is called the 16th-best place to work in Fortune magazine’s recent rankings of medium-size U.S. companies.
STCU is the third-largest credit union in Washington and the largest credit union in the Inland Northwest. It has 110,000 members, with branches in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
The ranking at cnnmoney.com praises STCU for a culture of celebration, fun and commitment to employees. The review noted STCU provides a tuition reimbursement for its staff of up to $8,225 per year for related studies.
“It allows parents to take time off for their kids’ first day of kindergarten and first grade, as well as for parent-teacher conferences,” the magazine said.
The top medium-size business in the ranking was Acuity, an insurance company based in Sheboygan, Wis.
State cracking down on online lenders
State officials are cracking down on a group of questionable online lenders from the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota that have made thousands of loans to Washington residents.
Martin Webb, a tribal member, operated five unlicensed loan operations that have been fined $669,300 by Washington and prohibited from doing business in the state, according to the Washington Department of Financial Institutions.
Webb’s loan operations charged interest rates of 89 percent to 1,825 percent. The practices generated 22 complaints to state regulators.
Webb’s lending businesses include Western Sky Financial LLC; Payday Financial LLC, which also does business as Big Sky Cash and Lakota Cash; Great Sky Finance LLC, which does business as Great Sky Cash; Green Billow LLC, also called Four Seasons Cash; and Red Stone Financial LLC, also called Red Stone Cash.
Several other states and the Federal Trade Commission have taken legal action against Webb’s operations.