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NEW HIRES

• Trios Health has hired Dr. Elizabeth Brallier as a family medicine residency core faculty member and family medicine physician. She will support the Trios Health Family Medicine Residency Program by supervising resident physicians as they see patients, providing education through the context of patient care and trainings, and, advising, mentoring, and coaching residents. Additionally, Brallier will see her own patients. She recently completed her family medicine residency with the University of Washington in Seattle, after earning her doctor of medicine degree at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and completing her bachelor of science in nursing at the University of Memphis Loewenberg School of Nursing. She most recently practiced at Harborview Family Medicine Clinic and University of Washington Montlake Hospital, providing comprehensive medical care to a diverse range of patient groups.
• Kennewick’s Trios Health has hired Dr. Zhiqing Xing as an orthopedic surgeon. He will see patients at the Trios Care Center at Southridge in the fifth-floor clinic at 3730 Plaza Way in Kennewick. Xing received his medical degree from Peking University Health Science Center (previous name: Beijing Medical University) in China. He completed his orthopedic residency training at the First Hospital of Peking University, then a visiting fellowship in Japan. He completed clinical fellowship training in orthopedic trauma at the University of New Mexico, adult reconstruction at the Virginia Commonwealth University, and musculoskeletal oncology at the University of Texas-MD Anderson Cancer Center. He then joined the faculty of orthopedic surgery at the University of South Alabama and practiced in the Gulf Coast area for more than seven years before he moved to Tacoma and practiced with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health system for 3.5 years. He specializes in adult reconstruction (hip/knee/shoulder joint replacement surgery) and musculoskeletal oncology, treating hip knee or shoulder arthritis, bone or soft tissue tumors, bone fractures and fracture malunion or nonunion.
• Miramar Health Center in Kennewick has hired Dr. Aaron Cheng and Dr. Beverly Khodra. Cheng received his doctor of osteopathic medicine from Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine in Henderson, Nevada. Khodra received her doctor of medicine from the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.
• Richland-based Gesa Credit Union has announced two new hires. Brooke Sexton is a new home loan officer for Gesa’s Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, region. Sexton brings 10 years of successful experience working in the financial services industry. In her new role, Sexton will originate mortgage loans for Gesa members across northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. Also joining the Gesa team is Paul Long as a Small Business Administration (SBA) lending manager and team leader. Long brings more than 25 years of banking experience to Gesa, including 10 years working in SBA lending. Long, a Yakima native, will lead Gesa’s SBA Lending Team to service commercial real estate and business acquisition lending to businesses across the Pacific Northwest.
• Dr. Jennifer Follwell has joined Trios Health as a family medicine physician. She will practice at the Trios Care Center at deBit, at 320 W. 10th Ave. in Kennewick. She treats patients for comprehensive medical care, preventive care, annual and sports physicals, immunizations, minor procedures, and child and adult acute and chronic illnesses. She has 20 years of clinical experience providing broad spectrum of family practice care in outpatient settings.

She comes to Trios from Anderson Medical Group in Illinois. She has practiced in Illinois, Florida and Missouri. She completed medical school at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine – now AT Still University – in Kirksville, Missouri, and then went on to a family practice internship at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans and then a general internship at Deaconess West Hospital – now Des Peres Hospital – in St. Louis. Her family practice residency was completed at Des Peres Hospital. She is board certified in family medicine.

• Christine De Carlo, a certified physician assistant, has joined Lourdes Urgent Care as a provider in Pasco. De Carlo earned her master of physician assistant studies from the CUNY School of Medicine in Harlem, New York, in 2019 and her bachelor of science, biology, from the CUNY College of Staten Island in New York in 2012. She has experience in emergency medicine and orthopedics. She is board certified and has certifications in basic life support and advanced cardiac life support from the American Heart Association.
• Kennewick Dental has hired Dr. Kyle Rowley. He grew up in Walla Walla and then went to Brigham Young University in Utah. He completed a doctor of dental surgery degree at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. He came to the Tri-Cities to begin his career as a dentist.

PROMOTIONS

• Franklin County has announced two promotions in the Auditor’s Office. Tim Anderson is the new director of finance, and Suleima Wallwin is the new election manager. Anderson served as an accounting supervisor with the Franklin County auditor’s office for more than 10 years. Prior to that, he served in the state auditor’s office. Wallwin was the administrative assistant to Auditor Matt Beaton and supervisor for the Franklin County licensing and recording departments for over five years before she took the position as election manager.

• The city of Pasco has announced three promotions for employees in the Finance Department and the Community & Economic Development Department.

Darcy Buckley was named the new finance director in September after the departure of previous director Richa Sigdel in August. A Pasco native, Buckley graduated from Pasco High in 1988 and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Florida in accounting. Buckley’s career in municipal government started at the city of Pasco in 1994 as the utility billing and customer service supervisor, then she moved over to senior accountant in 1998. In 2000, she went to work for the city of Richland as the utilities accountant for 16 years. In October 2016, Buckley returned to Pasco as a lead accountant. In 2020, when the finance manager position was created, Buckley was promoted to that position.

Griselda Garcia was named finance manager in September. A Grandview native, she graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, accounting, in 2012. The same year Garcia started working at the Washington State Auditor’s Office (SAO) on the Seattle team for six months, then moved to the Tri-Cities team. She worked at SAO for six years, four of which were in the assistant manager position, before coming to the city’s Finance Department in 2018.
After two and a half years of working as a senior engineer in the Public Works Engineering Division, Jon Padvorac has been selected to become the city’s next city engineer. Before working for the city, Padvorac lived in the Seattle area and worked in the private engineering consulting industry. He was the project manager, technical lead and engineer of record for various projects typically involving sub-consultants. Padvorac is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Washington and was formerly an AWS certified weld inspector.

• Columbia Industries has promoted Nathan Plung to assistant manager of CI Community Center. He has been with CI for over five years. He is a strong disability rights advocate and passionate supporter of working with individuals with disabilities.

CI also promoted Tyler Wiley to area manager of the four local Round Table Pizza restaurants. She has been with Round Table Pizza for over a decade, with seven of those years in a management position. She has experience running two of the highest-grossing stores in the Tri-Cities. Columbia Industries acquired Round Table Pizza in 2019.

AWARDS 

• The staff at Toyota of Tri-Cities presented a new 2022 Toyota Tacoma Double Cab Shortbed truck to representatives of DGR Grant Construction, the grand prize winner of the 2022 Rotary Mid-Columbia Duck Race on Oct. 18 at the dealership located at 6321 W. Canal Drive in Kennewick. This is the 17th year that Toyota of Tri-Cities has donated a new vehicle to the Rotary Mid-Columbia Duck Race. The vehicle provides a major incentive that drives ticket sales, proceeds of which are distributed to local Rotary clubs to fund their charitable projects. The number of tickets sold this year totaled 20,178, bringing tens of thousands of dollars into the community to support nonprofits.
• UScellular announced the winners of its second annual Hispanic Heritage Art Contest with the Boys & Girls Club of Benton and Franklin Counties. The winner of the contest participated in a celebration event at the Kennewick Clubhouse. The contest was comprised of Boys & Girls Club members who were encouraged to create artwork in honor of notable Latin or Hispanic STEM icons. From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the public was able to participate in online voting to determine the winners. Participants with the highest votes were given gift cards for the following amounts: first place, Alejandra, Kennewick Clubhouse, $250; second place, Andrea, Pasco Clubhouse, $150; and third place, Baylen, Richland Clubhouse, $100. Their last names were not provided.
• White Bluffs Brewing of Richland received a silver medal for its Montana Blanca Mexican-style lager in the American light lager category in the eighth Washington Beers Awards contest. This is the eighth medal received by White Bluffs over the years, including a gold medal for Nectar of the Gods IPA. The brewery also has received a gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival for its Red Alt German alt-style beer. White Bluffs Brewing was established in north Richland in 2010. Their taproom is at 2034 Logston Blvd. where they have 15 of their handcrafted beers available for tasting. This year 121 Washington breweries received recognition of gold, silver and bronze medals in 77 award category groupings.
• Lourdes Health’s Pediatrics Clinic has received a 2022 Immunize WA award from the state of Washington for child and adolescent immunizations. The clinic earned a Bronze Status Award, recognizing a vaccination rate of 70% or higher. Immunize WA is in its eighth year of its provider recognition program, and Lourdes Pediatrics has been recognized in each of those years. Immunize WA is hosted by the Washington Health Plan Partnership, comprised of the Washington State Department of Health, Washington State Health Care Authority, the Immunization Action Coalition of Washington and all major health plans in Washington.
• Kaylie McGuckin, a senior at Chiawana High School in Pasco, won the Eastern Washington League of Education Voters Foundation Student Advocate Award for promoting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in the Pasco School District. She received a plaque and $250 honorarium for winning the award. She is the creator of the STEM is FEM (fun, engaging, motivating) group at Chiawana, which advocates for women in STEM and creates activities that support increasing student access and excitement about STEM-related concepts and careers. Recently the group hosted a summer camp for local children and provided an opportunity for them to participate in hands-on STEM activities.
• Dr. Lewis Zirkle of SIGN Fracture Care in Richland received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the Orthopaedic Trauma Association. The award honors his military service, orthopaedic practice and global impact through SIGN. OTA board member Dr. Tom Higgins presented the award and said, “(Dr. Zirkle) has set a standard that none of us can live up to, but all of us can aspire to. Lew Zirkle is the best of us. And we salute him for that.”
• Pasco School District’s LeAnn Nunamaker has received the 2022 Washington Association of Educators for the Talented and Gifted (WAETAG) Distinguished Leadership Award. Nunamaker acts as the director of curriculum and professional development at the district where she supervises the district’s Highly Capable Program.

She is known for organizing, leading and supporting the district’s program reform with a focus on equitable and research-based identification. The result has led to increased access to services for underrepresented students, especially for English language learners who are highly capable. Each year WAETAG honors individuals within the state who exemplify outstanding dedication to empowering educators and communities in supporting the educational and emotional development of talented and gifted students.

• Three Tri-City companies recently received recognition when they placed on Inc. Magazine’s 5,000 list, a ranking of the fastest growing privately-held U.S. companies compiled each year.

Pasco’s Solgen Power ranked 1,383rd. 

Epic Trust Financial Group LLC of Richland placed 1,401st. Epic Trust earned its spot by recording 460% overall revenue growth over a three-year period. 

Fellow Richland company, Gravis Law, ranked 1,461st. 

Featured companies are self-nominated and must have cleared the following criteria to be considered: have generated revenue by March 31, 2018, have generated at least $100,000 in revenue in 2018 under one LLC and have generated at least $2 million in revenue in 2021.

APPOINTMENTS

• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has appointed Mike Gonzalez, economic development manager for the city of Pasco, to the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs. Gonzalez has been with the city of Pasco since 2021 after serving as Franklin PUD’s public relations/government affairs director. Before the PUD, Gonzalez had a long career in broadcast TV journalism, working in cities such as Phoenix, Spokane, Raleigh, Omaha, and a stint in the Tri-Cities at KVEW-TV as news director/anchor.

BOARDS

• Kiwanis Club of Kennewick recently installed new officers for 2033-23 at Canyon Lakes Clubhouse. New officers are: President, Tom Moak; President-elect, Any Coffman; Vice President, Patti Gunn; Secretary, Maureen Bell; Treasurer, Penny Gardner; Past President, Wayne Bell; and directors David Eakin, Pat Johnstone Jones, Alan Landers, Gus Kittson, Pete Rude, Gloria Seeley and Ron Walters.

DONATIONS 

• The Benton Franklin Fair donated $10,220 to cancer prevention efforts in the community as part of its Tough Enough to Wear Pink program. The money will be shared among several health care organizations: Tri-Cities Cancer Center Foundation, Prosser Memorial Hospital Foundation and Grace Clinic. The money will be used for a variety of prevention and treatment programs. Fair and rodeo attendees are asked to wear pink on the Thursday during the fair each year as part of the awareness effort, and fundraisers are held throughout the year. Over the past 15 years, the fair has donated more than $200,000 to help uninsured community members in the fight against breast cancer. Those dollars have provided more than 2,000 people with free mammograms and cancer screenings, follow-up care and other forms of assistance.
• Trios Health and Lourdes Health donated $3,282 to Grace Clinic to support its breast cancer programs. The donation comes from Lourdes’ and Trios’ joint sponsorship of the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Night at the 2022 Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo. The hospitals chose to give to the Grace Clinic as a community partner to help serve those in need in the Tri-City community.
• Bechtel National Inc. donated $10,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties to support mental health and wellness programs that help teens build healthy coping skills. These programs focus on self-esteem, self-expression, peer pressure, relationships, body image and other challenges youth face in their daily lives.
• Thanks to a $27,000 grant from Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation, the city of Walla Walla Fire Department was able to buy tools to help victims in motor vehicle accidents. The equipment also will give the department the capability to respond to complex incidents involving heavy trucks, as well as cut and spread ultra-hardened steels found in newer vehicles. The department received a check Oct. 13 at the Sunmarket Firehouse Subs restaurant in Burbank.
• Heartlinks of Grandview, a nonprofit hospice organization providing care throughout Benton and Yakima counties, raised over $212,000 at the 43rd annual Hospice Gala on Oct. 22. Donations during the Hospice Gala “Raise the Paddle” totaled $61,255 and will help fund Heartlinks’ growing pediatric palliative care program and renovations necessary to develop a Heartlinks adult family home in Sunnyside. The other donations will be used to cover Heartlinks’ daily operations of providing hospice, palliative and grief care.
• Columbia Industries, a Kennewick mission-based organization committed to supporting and empowering individuals with disabilities and other challenges, raised more than $125,000 to support its mission programs, at its Evening of Miracles fundraising gala on Oct. 20. More than 230 guests attended the fifth annual event.