Business Beat

Banking

State Bank Northwest has announced the promotion of Ashley Morales to vice president/commercial lender. Morales has 12 years of commercial lending experience and has been with State Bank since 2015.

Barb McCarley has been promoted to operations officer at Idaho Independent Bank’s Coeur d’Alene branch. McCarley has been employed with Idaho Independent Bank for a year and has 32 years of banking experience.

Law

Law firm Witherspoon Kelley has hired Kara L. Heikkila as a principal. Heikkila focuses on employment and labor law.

Engineering

Ward McDonald, a geologist and environmental scientist, has moved from Hart Crowser’s Seattle office to the firm’s office in Spokane. McDonald has been with the firm since 2010 and works to support large construction projects and investigate contaminated properties. Hart Crowser, an engineering, science and consulting firm headquartered in Seattle, has offices throughout the Northwest.

Medicine

Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists has announced John Braun, M.B.A., C.M.P.E. as the practice’s new CEO. Braun has 16 years of management experience and most recently worked as surgery division administrator for Revere Health in Utah, leading a group of 40 surgeons and more than 250 staff members.

Miscellaneous

Zak Designs has hired Melissa Kuntzmann as director of human resources. Kuntzmann has 10 years of related experience at MedData and Telect, and also has taught human resources management at Eastern Washington University.

Real Estate

McKenzie Bartle has been hired by Windermere Valley/Liberty Lake as a broker. Bartle came to Windermere from Aspen Ski Co.