Business Beat

New faces:

Post Falls-based Lifestream Technologies Inc. has added the following people to its staff:

Brian K. Packard was named vice president of business development. Packard most recently was business development manager of a new consumer health care initiative for Agilent Technologies. Earlier, he was a product manager for Gillette Co.’s Braun ThermoScan PRO brand. He also has held a variety of marketing, trade marketing and sales positions at consumer health care companies, including Bayer Corp. and Procter and Gamble Co. He earned an MBA in marketing and international business from the University of Notre Dame.

Paul Beatty was hired as vice president of consumer sales. He previously was an executive with Optiva Corp. where he helped orchestrate the retail sales effort for Optiva’s sonicare Power Toothbrush. Before joining Optiva, Beatty was a national accounts manager for Betty Crocker. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Central Washington University.

Brady Cass has joined Marsh as a consultant in its Employee Benefits Department. Cass, who has 15 years of sales, marketing and customer service experience, previously worked for QualMed Washington Health Plan Inc. as regional sales manager. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

Moving up:

Inland Power & Light Co. has promoted the following employees:

Dave Clinton was named assistant manager. He joined Inland Power in 1978 and was previously assistant general manager for engineering and operations.

Sandi McKee was promoted to controller. McKee, who has been with Inland for four years, previously was accounting supervisor.

Kent Doffing was named superintendent and will oversee all functions of the operations department. He joined Inland in 1971.

Dan Villalobos was promoted to marketing manager. Villalobos, who joined Inland in 1980, previously served as central area superintendent.

Grant Van Buren has assumed supervisory responsibility over technical services personnel, as well as safety and loss control. He has been in the utility business for 19 years, and at Inland since 1995.

Rick Durbin has been named director of membership development for the Better Business Bureau of the Inland Northwest. Durbin, who has been a marketing sales representative with the BBB for the past 4-1/2 years, now heads the bureau’s Membership Department.

Ryan Yohe and Cliff Walton have been named personal financial representatives for Allstate Financial Services LLC. Both are now able to market variable annuity, variable life and mutual fund products, as well as auto, homeowner and traditional life insurance products. To qualify as personal financial representatives, Walton and Yohe had to pass the Series 6 and Series 63 securities license exams and complete an extensive Allstate training curriculum.

Starting up:

Dr. Duncan Brown, a plastic surgeon who specializes in hair transplantation, has moved his practice from Chicago to the Inland Northwest. He opened a surgical suite at 1415 N. Houk in the Spokane Valley on Nov. 1. Brown has performed more than 5,000 hair transplant procedures in the last five years.

Transactions:

Global Travel in Spokane has been accepted for membership in Virtuoso, an exclusive travel network which accepts less than one percent of travel agencies in America. The relationship will allow Global to offer competitive pricing in luxury travel, as well as special value-added amenities, such as complimentary room upgrades, exclusive shore excursions and custom itineraries. It also reinforces the agency’s relationships with top hotels, spas, resorts, cruise lines and tour operators worldwide.

Kudos:

The Principal Financial Group Foundation Inc. has awarded $23,500 in grants to nonprofit arts, cultural and educational programs and projects in Spokane. Recipients of 2000 Arts and Culture Grants include: The Eastern Washington State Historical Society/Cheney Cowles Museum, $10,000 for a museum expansion and renovation project; Whitworth College, $3,500 to support the Whitworth Youth Jazz Clinic; and Spokane Art School Center for the Visual Arts, $1,000 for general operating support. The foundation also awarded a $9,000 Education Grant to the Independent Colleges of Washington for scholarships at Gonzaga University and Whitworth College and the annual fund program.

The Better Business Bureau serving the Inland Northwest received an Outstanding BBB Award at the 2000 International Assembly of Better Business Bureaus. BBB Inland Northwest won recognition in the Bureau to Business Communications category for its Membership Identification Program.