Business Beat

New faces:

Dawn Myers has been named program coordinator for Coeur d’Alene-based Art on the Edge. Myers, who earned a bachelor’s degree in art education and references, will attend all Art on the Edge weekly classes in Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, plan and schedule classes, facilitate guest artists and assist with fund-raising events, as well as assisting with grant writing, volunteer coordination and outreach.

Ann Barr has been named administrator/operating room supervisor for Kootenai Outpatient Surgery, a joint venture of Kootenai Medical Center and a group of area physicians. Barr previously spent 11 years as a staff nurse, manager and product supervisor for surgical services for the ambulatory surgery division of Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Ore. Earlier, she held various posts at hospitals in the Willamette Valley.

Russ Patterson, former dean of the Washington State School for the Deaf, has joined the staff of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library as its new interpreter for the deaf. Patterson attended Clark College and taught American Sign Language at the school for five years. He later worked for the state School for the Deaf in Vancouver for 10 years and was dean of the school when he and his family moved to North Idaho two years ago. He will assist deaf library patrons, as well as provide assistance to sight-impaired individuals. Patterson also will continue working as a youth specialist at Anchor House in Coeur d’Alene. He replaces Donna Helmer, who has retired from the library after serving as interpreter for the deaf since 1993.

Moving up:

Northwest Architectural Co. P.S. has named Keith M. Comes a principal architect. Comes, who joined the firm in 1992, is a 1986 graduate of Montana State University. He worked in California before moving to Spokane. His current work includes Saint George’s Upper School in Spokane, WSU’s Animal Disease Biotechnology Facility and Hamilton-Lowe Aquatics Center in Moscow. He also is doing preliminary interior design for WSU’s proposed Apparel Merchandising, Interior Design and Landscape Architecture Building on the Pullman campus and is involved in master planning for the Riverpoint Higher Education Park in Spokane.

Northwest Architecture Co. has promoted the following employees to associate principals:

Tom Golden, a 1987 graduate of the University of Idaho, joined the firm in 1990.

Dana Harbaugh, a 1989 Montana State University graduate, joined the firm in 1994.

Brent Harding, who graduated from the University of Oregon in 1991, joined the firm in 1992.

Michael O’Malley joined the firm in 1983. He is a 1980 graduate of the Phoenix Institute of Technology.

Northwest Architectural Co. has named Jeani Natwick as an associate. Natwick, who is a 1993 graduate of Spokane Falls Community College, is director of interior design at the firm’s Spokane office. Her recent interiors projects include Liberty Lake Elementary School and Mount Spokane High School. Projects under construction include Mead High School modernization and Lewis and Clark High School renovation and addition. She also has an extensive portfolio of medical facility and office interior design work.

John Ruch, president and chief executive officer of Lewiston-based Regence BlueShield of Idaho, has been appointed to the same position at Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah. Ruch, who will work from offices in Idaho and Utah, replaces Ted Pitcher, who is the new president and chief executive officer of The Regence Group, the parent organization for both Regence BlueShield of Idaho and Regency BlueCross BlueShield of Utah. Ruch is responsible for the day-to-day operations at the Idaho and Utah plans. He is also executive vice president of The Regence Group and is responsible for medical management, pharmacy, payment integrity and e-business strategies.

Kudos:

Travel Management Inc. of Coeur d’Alene has been awarded the Platinum designation by Northwest Airlines/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The designation is limited to the airline’s top 30 international and domestic supporters out of the 41,000 travel agencies in the U.S. TMI ranked in the carrier’s top three performers for group travel in the nation.

Spokane County has been honored by ESRI of Redlands, Calif., for its work in geographic information system (GIS) technology. The county received the Special Achievement Award for providing a wide range of GIS products, applications, services and resources, including its Public Works Utility and Query and Notes. The applications provide the ability to quickly access county government data by simply clicking on a feature, such as a piece of property or a road, on its digital map.

Marian McDonnell Horton, coordinator for WSU Spokane enrollment services, has been elected to a three-year chairmanship series of the Regional Council of the Western Regional College Board.