Business Beat

New faces:

Michael J. McKinniss has joined Mountain West Bank as senior vice president and Boise area manager. He will be based at Mountain West’s Boise branch and will oversee the bank’s expansion and lending activities in the Boise market. McKinniss has more than 25 years of commercial, SBA and small-business lending experience. Most recently, he was a vice president at another bank in Boise.

First National Financial Group Inc. has added the following people to its home loan operation: Mat Maughan joined the company as a residential loan specialist at its Post Falls branch. Maughan has more than seven years of financial experience in securities, insurance and residential lending.

Ashley Wulff was hired as a processor at the company’s main office in downtown Spokane. Wulff, who has a background in credit reporting and customer service, is responsible for processing, verifying, documentation preparation and funding of residential loans.

Bill Grubich has joined KJM & Associates Ltd. as branch manager, as well as national correctional facilities director. He previously was vice president for an international construction management firm. Grubich has been providing program, project and construction management services for more than 28 years and is currently working on several projects for Washington State University, as well as a new project for Hospice of Spokane.

Moving up:

Ram Gopal has been promoted to president of First National Financial Group’s Business Development Division. Gopal, who previously taught college classes in finance, will oversee the division’s four commercial loan specialists. Additional responsibilities include SBA packaging, commercial analysis, business credit analysis and project development.

Starting up:

Gary Kopf, Tana Kopf and Lynn Cain have opened a Windermere Real Estate office in Pullman. The new office, located at 1001 Nye Street, will offer Windermere’s complete group of technology tools and special programs, including the Northwest Home Connections service, Web site listings with 360 virtual tours, the Windermere Bridge Loan and the new Sea, Sun & Snow program for vacation and second homes. The Kopfs and Cain also own and operate the Colfax Windermere office, which opened in January. The Pullman office is the 21st Windermere affiliate in Eastern Washington.

Elected:

Spokane attorney Richard D. Eymann has been installed as president of the 24,000-member Washington State Bar Association. Eymann, who will serve a one-year term, has been a member of the association’s Board of Governors since 1997. He is a past president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association and was named WSTLA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1995. He also is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Gonzaga University School of Law.

Spokane Chapter 143 of the National Association of Women in Construction has installed the following new officers: President, Lori Barrick, Inland Empire Contractors; vice president, Joyce Woodard, Woodard Construction; secretary, Becky McMahan, Bouten Construction; treasurer, Kelli Franco, Moss-Adams; and directors Merry Gregory, AT&T Cable Services; Pat Jeffries, SESCO; Carolyn Pierce, Randall & Hurley Inc.; Mary Johnson, Dupree Building Specialties; and Tricia Cloke, Moss-Adams.

Appointed:

Inland Northwest Partners, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic development in the region, has appointed three new members to its board of directors: Tom Von Muller is economic development director for Bonneville Power Administration. He also is a member of the Pacific Northwest Economic Development Council, the American Public Power Association, the International Development Research Council and the Oregon Economic Development Conference Planning Committee. Nancy Keller is a business retention and expansion specialist for ValleyVision 2001, a newly formed public/private economic development partnership in the Lewiston area. Earlier, she worked for Technic Tool Corp. for nine years, seven as marketing and sales manager. Gina Taruscio is an environmental design graduate from the University of Oklahoma who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Idaho. She is the new director of UI’s Business Technology Incubator, which provides business assistance to incubator companies and other Latah County businesses.

Gary Fox of Coldwell Banker Grand Realty has been named to represent the company’s Northeastern regional office on the company’s Regional Advisory Committee. Fox will serve a two-year term. He has been a member of the advisory group for two years and has been serving the Spokane market for 25 years.

Kudos:

VISX, a leading developer of laser vision correction systems, has presented its VISX Star award to Dr. Mark A. Kontos, a Spokane eye specialist. The award recognizes the top 50 refractive surgeons in the United States. Kontos, who has performed more than 4,000 procedures since 1996, has earned the honor two years in a row.