Business Beat

New faces:

Lisa Church has joined Quantum Pension Services Inc. as a pension consultant. She will handle pension plan design, administration, IRS/DOL compliance and member enrollment. Church earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Upper Iowa University and is an accredited pension administrator with the National Institute of Pension Administrators. She previously worked for Principal Financial Group in pension administration and management for eight years.

Patrick W. Caruso has joined the North Division office of Independent Counseling Services as a counselor/ therapist. He received a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University in 1991, a master’s of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1996 and a master’s degree in social work from Rutgers University in 1997. He previously practiced at the Family Guidance Center in Hamilton, N.J. His specialities in counseling and psychotherapy include couples therapy and disruptive behavioral problems of childhood and adolescence.

The following people have joined the staff of Spokane optometric physicians Gene O. Teigen and Dean C. Gray:

Michelle Gerber was named receptionist/scheduler. Her responsibilities include data entry, scheduling appointments and managing information data bases. She previously worked as an assistant pharmacist and supervisor.

Melissa McKnight was hired as accounts billing administrator. Her duties include insurance billing and accounts management. A graduate of Trend Business College, she is an experienced certified nursing assistant and previously worked for two years at U.S. Bancorp in Spokane.

Heidi Bahme joined the practice as contact lens technician. Her responsibilities include ordering, dispensing and counseling patients on proper wearing and care of contact lenses. She has five years of customer service experience and training in contact lens fitting, dispensing and testing.

Sabey Construction has hired John Warfield as assistant superintendent and David Nelson as project engineer. Warfield is working on the $11 million expansion of NorthTown Mall. He has more than 20 years of construction experience, including previously working for Sabey Corp. Nelson, who also is working on the NorthTown expansion, has 20 years of construction experience, most recently with Bob Wright Enterprises.

Moving up:

United Security Bank has promoted the following employees:

Jennifer Schneider, an employee since 1991, was named operations manager. She previously was executive assistant.

Kathi Evaneski was promoted to commercial loan officer. Evaneski, who joined United Security in 1995, previously was a commercial loan analyst.

Dean Bellamy, a University of Washington graduate and employee since 1997, was promoted to vice president/commercial loan officer from commercial loan officer.

Jeremy Long, who joined the bank in 1995, was named regional manager of Express Banking. He previously was operations manager.

John Egger has been named president of the Shepherd Management Group, a Marietta, Ga.-based retail consulting firm. Egger, who has been vice president for three years, assumes day-to-day management responsibilities from company founder Ted Shepherd, who retains his role as chief executive officer. Before joining Shepherd in 1994, Egger spent 20 years as president of Egger Furniture in Colville. He is relocating from Spokane to Atlanta.

Brent Wilcox has been promoted to director of information services at the law offices of Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke & Miller LLP. Wilcox had been the firm’s information systems manager since last November. He has more than 20 years of experience in information technologies and earned master’s degrees in management science and information systems from Troy State University and Webster University. Before joining Paine Hamblen, Wilcox was with Johnson Matthey Electronics and served in the Air Force as a signals intelligence officer.

Amy Meyers has been promoted to refractive surgery coordinator/doctor’s assistant for Drs. Gene O. Teigen and Dean C. Gray. Her responsibilities include managing and counseling preand post-surgery patients, scheduling and coordinating refractive surgery seminars and performing required testing and assisting in all other aspects of patient care. Meyers, who joined Teigen and Gray’s office in 1998, earned a bachelor’s degree in recreational management from Western Washington University.

Elected:

The Friends of Seven, the nonprofit, fund-raising arm of KSPS-TV, has elected the following officers and directors for 1999/2000: President, Dr. Eric Johnson; vice president, Grace Millay Ott, Lands Council; secretary, Carol Wendle, Wendle Ford; treasurer/ financial adviser, Howard Mahan, Quizno’s Classic Subs; immediate past president, Joel Ferris II, retired; school district representative, Ron Miller, retired; and president, Canada, George Brookman, West Canadian Graphics. Board members at large include: Brian McNaughton, Pemco Financial; Richard “Rick” White, retired; Ron Sims, ALSC Architects; Priscilla Gilkey, retired; Jim DeWalt, Metropolitan Mortgage; Jim Simmons, CFA; Claude Kistler, KSPS-TV general manager; Patty Starkey, Friends of Seven executive director; Gary Livingston, School District 81 superintendent, ex-officio member; and Donald Lukes, Witherspoon, Kelley, Davenport & Toole, legal adviser.

The Girl Scouts Inland Empire Council has installed the following new board members: Cynthia McMullen, second vice president; Danielle Burton-Williams, third vice president; Debra Takami, secretary; Shannon Yellin, senior Girl Scout; Shannon Young, senior Girl Scout; Bob Myklebust, Vicki Adams, Doug Evenson, Ann Koedding and Mary Ann Montague, members at large; Doug Kelley, member at large and nominating committee chairman; and Teri Wessels, nominating committee member. President June Sine, first vice president Sally Kramer and treasurer Sue Price are continuing in their three-year terms.

Marsha Stein of the Community Colleges of Spokane’s Institute for Extended Learning has been elected Region D coordinator for the Staff Training Association for Community Colleges. Mary G. Rivera, who works in the community colleges’ human resources office, will serve as the association’s secretary through August 2000.

Don Popejoy of Spokane has been elected to a three-year term on the national board of directors of the Oregon-California Trails Association. The association, based in Independence, Mo., is dedicated to education about and preservation of the 19th century westward emigrant trails. Popejoy, who is a member of the organization’s Northwest Chapter, has been involved in chapter trail-marking activities and serves as monitor for the trail segments from the border to Farewell Bend and from Flagstaff Hill to Ladd Canyon. He also helped form the Washington chapter of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in 1997 and serves on the chapter’s board of directors.

Kudos:

Kent H. Lupton earned a trip to the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Forum in Scottsdale, Ariz., based on his outstanding sales achievements. Lupton, who is affiliated with the Brian J. Hubbell general agency in Spokane, was one of 272 agents eligible to attend the event. The company has almost 7,500 agents. The Northwestern Forum is an educational and development symposium that focuses on life insurance industry issues and ways to enhance productivity for top producing agents.

Events:

Monday - Mark Dailey of Integrus Architecture will discuss “Spokane’s New Health Sciences Building” during a meeting of Associated Engineers at noon at Cavanaughs Inn at the Park, 303 W. North River Drive. Lunch cost: $10.

Monday through Wednesday - The Service Corps of Retired Executives offers free counseling to potential and existing small-business owners from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Business Information Center in Room 240 of the Spokane Regional Business Center, 801 W. Riverside. For appointments, call 353-2820. Counselors also are available on Tuesdays at the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, 8817 E. Mission. For appointments there, call 924-4994.

Tuesday - Spokane Community College presents a free business computer systems information session at 6 p.m. in the president’s conference room in the Administration and Student Services Building on the SCC campus, 1810 N. Greene. SCC counselors and instructors will provide information about two new evening programs available at the college, including MCSE certification training and CCNA certification training. For information, call Grace Leaf at 533-8196, Dorothy Hooley at 533-8827 or Mike Mires at 533-7352.

Tuesday - Power Networking meets at 7 a.m. to exchange business leads and other business information. For information on location and topics, call 468-9695 or 467-2081.

Tuesday - Leads Club, a networking organization for business leads and referrals, meets at 12:15 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel on Sullivan and Mission. For information, call Beth Ann at 921-9581.

Wednesday - The Service Corps of Retired Executives presents a workshop on “Effective Marketing to Increase Sales” from 8 a.m.-noon on the second floor of the Spokane Regional Business Center, 801 W. Riverside. Cost: $35; for information or to register, call 353-2820.

Nov. 29 - The Small Business Development Center presents an “Introduction to Construction Bidding” from 6-9 p.m. at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd. Cost: $35; call 358-7890 for information or to register.