Business Beat
NEW FACES:
The Spokane accounting firm of McDirmid, Mikkelsen & Secrest P.S. has added the following people to its staff:
Shawn O’Connell and Rebecca Greene joined the firm as staff accountants. Both are recent graduates of Eastern Washington University.
Irene Ecton was named firm administrator.
Recent additions to the staff of the Inland Northwest Area Office of Lutheran Social Services of Washington and Idaho include:
Wendy Blaisdell was appointed director of fundraising. Blaisdell, who fills a newly created position, is responsible for all fund-raiding activities and events as well as donor relations. She has held fund-raising positions with several local nonprofit organizations for the past five years, including the Spokane Food Bank and the EWU Substance Abuse Prevention Program. Blaisdell earned a bachelor’s degree in community health education at Eastern Washington University.
Debbie R. DuPey joined the Spokane office as the director of ACT for Kids, a child abuse prevention resource program. She will oversee the development and marketing of personal safety materials for the program. DuPey most recently worked for Ventures in Peace developing educational programs for women and children in Nepal. She has worked locally in community education and international marketing with Hanford Education Action League and Ambassador Programs. DuPey earned bachelor’s degrees in creative writing and education from Eastern Washington University and received a master’s in organizational leadership from Gonzaga University.
Rick Hutchins was hired as human resources director. He will oversee all human resources functions, activities and programs, which support professional development of staff. He has more than 25 years of experience in the human resources field and spent the past 20 years in western Montana working primarily in the health care and newspaper industries. Hutchins, who is certified as a senior professional in human resources by the Society for Human Resource Management, received a bachelor’s degree in political science from California State University and a master’s in health care administration.
Harry P. Rosenkrantz was hired as coordinator of the Youth Asset Program, a new initiative which works to educate and unite the greater Spokane community about building healthy, positive youth. He works in collaboration with Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in the Spokane Valley to network with schools, congregations, youth organizations and businesses. Rosenkrantz has worked the last 14 years in pastoral ministry, including a three-year stint at Lidgerwood Evangelical Church in Spokane. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies and counseling from Christian Heritage College and is currently studying for a master’s in guidance and counseling at Whitworth College.
Shaun Cross, managing partner and CEO of Paine, Hamblen, Coffin, Brooke & Miller, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Spokane Public Facilities District, which owns the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Cross joined Paine Hamblen in 1979 and heads its Bankruptcy Department. He is currently president of Christ the Redeemer Church and has been active with the Spokane Arts School, Spokane Jazz Society, Boy Scouts and the Spokane County and Washington state bar associations.
STARTING UP:
KinderCare Learning Centers Inc. has begun construction on a new facility at 1625 E. Farwell. The $1.5 million, 9,897-square-foot center is designed to accommodate 179 children. The center, which will accept children ages 6 weeks through 12 years, is expected to open in May. It will be the Portland-based company’s 55th KinderCare operating in Washington.
Gonzaga University and five area health care providers - Sacred Heart Medical Center, Deaconess Medical Center, Valley Hospital and Medical Center, Kootenai Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital - plan to establish a clinical pastoral education program. The program, set to begin in January and based at Gonzaga, will train professional health care chaplains and clergy-in-training to better understand death and dying. The nondenominational program also aims to reintegrate the spiritual discipline back into the healing arts. It is designed for chaplains in a broad range of institutional settings, including hospitals, nursing homes and prisons.
TRANSACTIONS:
KJM & Associates has been chosen to provide construction management services for Hospice of Spokane’s hospice house/administration building project. The project has completed the programming phase of design and will enter schematic design upon site selection. Plans call for a 25,000-square-foot facility with 20 beds/care units. Bellevue-based KJM, which recently opened a Spokane branch, is donating the time that its principal, Bill Grubich, will spend providing oversight on the project. KJM also will provide estimating, scheduling, value engineering and quality assurance inspection services during design and construction.
ELECTED:
Spokane civic activist Jean L. Beschel has been elected chair of the Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees for the third time. Beschel, who has been a trustee since 1985, also was chair in 1985-86 and 1991-92. She succeeds Spokane businessman Gordon Budke. Spokane attorney Michael Ormsby was elected vice chair.
Rob Lindsay, an environmental engineer, has been elected the 60th president of the Exchange Club of Downtown Spokane. Other officers include: Paul Olsen, Olsen Insurance Services, president-elect; Dr. Judy Grishaber, medical director, Inland Northwest Blood Center, secretary; Robert Closs Jr., recently retired from Wheelabrator Technologies, treasurer; and Rebecca Hille, First Security Bank loan officer, past president. Additional board members serving two-year terms are Dr. Rick Witter, Laura Beaudoin, Rocky Treppiedi, Sue Manfred and Don Bott.
KUDOS:
Coeur d’Alene attorney D. Sue Flammia and Sandpoint attorney J. Ford Elsaesser have been honored by the Idaho State Bar for their contributions to their communities and the legal profession. Flammia, of the firm Flammia & Solomon, received the Pro Bono Award in the bar’s first district. She was cited for providing legal services to the poor and disadvantaged. Flammia spearheaded the work of the Family Law Section for two terms and in 1998 guided the section through design, development and publication of “Protocol for Children of High Conflict Divorce,” “Family Law Formbook” and the “Family Law Handbook.” Elsaesser, who received the Professionalism Award, was lauded as the “premier bankruptcy practitioner in North Idaho.” He is past chairman of the Bonner County school board and was general counsel to the annual Festival at Sandpoint for many years. He is a past recipient of an Idaho State Bar Pro Bono Award.
EVENTS:
Monday through Friday - The Service Corps of Retired Executives offers free counseling to potential and existing small-business owners from 9 a.m.-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 - The Small Business Development Center presents a “Prebusiness Workshop” from 6-9 p.m. at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, 665 N. Riverpoint Blvd. Cost: $25; call 358-7890 for information or to register.
Tuesday - National Seminars Group presents a workshop on “Management Skills for First-Time Supervisors” from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel Spokane Valley. Cost: $99; call (800) 258-7246 to enroll. The same workshop will be offered Monday at the Red Lion Hotel in Lewiston.
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 921-9581.
Tuesday - Power Networking meets at 7 a.m. to exchange business leads and other business information. For information on topics and meeting location, call 468-9695 or 467-2081.
Wednesday - The Service Corps of Retired Executives presents a workshop on the “ABCs of Starting a Business” from 9 a.m.-noon on the second floor of the Spokane Regional Business Center, 801 W. Riverside. Cost: $20; for information or to register, call 353-2820.
Thursday - U.S. Bancorp economist John Mitchell and Shaun O’L Higgins, director of sales and marketing for Cowles Publishing Co., will be the featured speakers at a “Year 2000 Forecast” presented by Inland Northwest Partners, the Journal of Business and the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce at 7:30 a.m. at Cavanaughs Ridpath Hotel, 515 W. Sprague. Cost: $30, including breakfast, $40 after Monday; for information, call 459-4111.
Thursday - LeMaster & Daniels PLLC in conjunction with the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce presents a seminar on “Your Dance with Uncle Sam - Estate and Succession Planning” from 7:30-9 a.m. Cost: $25; for information, call 459-4111.
Thursday The Lake City Women’s Chapter of Leads Club meets from noon-1:15 p.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Inn, 414 W. Appleway in Coeur d’Alene. For more information and reservations, call Karen Welts at (208) 667-5606.
Thursday - The Downtown Spokane Chapter of LeTip International Inc. meets from 7-8:30 a.m. at the Ram Restaurant, 908 N. Howard. For reservations, call Pat Bishop at 926-0141.