Business Beat
NEW FACES:
Marilou P. Hallquist has been named Spokane Division manager of West Coast Paper Co. Her responsibilities include general management of the division, including its sales, expenses, profit and investment performance. Hallquist joined West Coast Paper in 1989 and has held several positions, including inside sales representative, ISO 9000 coordinator, inside sales manager, outside industrial sales representative and industrial merchandiser. Most recently she was tax supported business specialist in the Seattle Division. She received a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Washington.
Eastern Washington University has appointed Mary Voves as vice president for business and finance. Voves, who has been vice president for administration and finance at Eastern Oregon University since 1992, assumes her new post July 1. At EWU, her responsibilities will include financial planning, university police, business services, financial services, facilities, human resources and benefits. Voves, who has 11 years of experience in higher education administration, earned a master’s degree in business administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
STARTING UP:
Dean Stuart has launched Market Smart Media, a full-service advertising agency. The business focuses on media placement services and creative services for television, radio and print. Stuart has more than eight years of experience in the advertising industry and previously worked for KREM TV.
Shannon Torrez has been named manager of the new Supercuts salon in Lewiston Orchards near Hastings. Torrez, a 1992 graduate of Mr. Leon’s Hair Design school in Moscow, has been working in the field in Lewiston since her graduation. The new salon, a franchise owned by Gina Lillie, has a staff of six hairstylists and three receptionists.
TRANSACTIONS:
David R. Coombs, owner of Downtown Toyota, has purchased the Lexus automobile franchise and moved the dealership to 1208 W. Third. Dealership staff include: Bob McLean, sales manager; Tom Campbell, service writer; and Tom Hatcher and John Alcazar, service technicians.
ELECTED:
Sandpoint attorney Ford Elsaesser has been named president of the 7,000-member American Bankruptcy Institute. The institute is the largest multidisciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. Elsaesser, who earned his law degree from the University of Idaho, is a senior partner with the law firm of Elsaesser, Jarzabek, Anderson & Marks Chtd. He also serves as a bankruptcy trustee in Sandpoint.
John Oakwright of Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene has been installed as president of the Idaho Psychological Association for 1999-2000.
Kerry Lynch, of Alliance Pacific, and Ginny Moos, a community volunteer, have been named co-chairs of the Spokane Sexual Assault Center Advisory Board for 1998-99. Advisory board members include: Patrick Clary, Sacred Heart Medical Center; Julie Clausen, community volunteer; Jackie Foss, Avista Corp.; Linda Herman, Tomlinson Black South; Trisha Kissler, Sterling Savings; Reginald Lee Sr., TCI of Washington; Jennifer Nelson, Sacred Heart; Mike Otis, FRP Benefits; Robi Railer, Allstate Insurance; and Kathi Reiha, Meidling Concrete.
Certifications:
Colleen M. Stevens, an agent with the Spokane office of the New York Life Insurance Co., has earned the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation from The American College. Candidates for the CLU designation must complete a 10-course curriculum of study and 20 hours of supervised examinations and fulfill stringent experience and ethics requirements.
General Agent Peter Mauritsen has been approved to serve as a LifeMap financial planner for the Lutheran Brotherhood. LifeMap planners weigh nonfinancial concerns such as defining purpose, values, relationships, gifts and talents. Mauritsen heads Lutheran Brotherhood’s Peter Mauritsen Agency in Spokane.
KUDOS:
B&B Sprinklers Inc. of Mead was named one of the top 100 irrigation contractors in the nation by Irrigation Business and Technology magazine. The 42-year-old company was the only contractor named in Eastern Washington and Idaho and one of only five companies chosen in all of Washington and Oregon.
Brian Allman, a technician for McCollum Ford, has been honored by Ford Motor Co. He received the Ford Quality Care Masters Award, the automaker’s highest award. To qualify for the honor, Allman completed more than 120 hours of Ford technical training and passed Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) testing. Allman, who attended Renton Technical College, was the first ASE certified student hired by McCollum Ford.
A holiday nutcracker from the Spokane-based Merck Family’s Old World Christmas won first place in the nutcrackers category of Collector Editions magazine’s ninth annual Awards of Excellence contest. Company co-founder E.M “Beth” Merck designed the hand-carved wooden collectible, titled “Santa with Reindeer.” The contest drew several hundred entries from around the world.